Roger Clemens: Where Does The Rocket Rank in Baseball History?

Roger Clemens is clearly one of the best pitchers of all time. Whether he ever throws another major league pitch or not, his record is outstanding. How does he currently rank against his peers, and historically against the greats of the game?

Here is the Rocket's record to date:

Lifetime record of 348-178. Good for a winning percentage of .662, which ranks 18th all time on the current list, and 14th all time on the retired list. His win total of 348 ranks 8th all time.

His K rate is 8.6, while his BB rate is 2.9. That works out to a 3.0 K to BB ratio. Superb, especially considering the length of the Rocket's career.

Career ERA of 3.10, which is just 70% of the League ERA over his career. A number that has been bested by just four retired pitchers, Ed Walsh, Walter Johnson, Smokey Joe Wood and Lefty Grove. That is some company.

Roger Clemens has won an incredible 7 Cy Young Awards. Three for the Boston Red Sox (1986, 1987, 1991), two for the Toronto Blue Jays (1997, 1998) and one each for the New York Yankees (2001), and the Houston Astros (2004). He is one of the very few to have won the Award in both leagues.

Clemens was the MVP in the American League in 1986. He has been an All-Star 11 times.

The Rocket currently has 4,604 strikeouts, which ranks him second behind the all time strikeout king, Nolan Ryan.

Clemens post season record is 12-8, with a 3.66 ERA in 33 starts. His teams have gone 14-9 in the series he's pitched in. In 6 World Series, Clemens has gone 3-0, with a 2.37 ERA in 8 starts. His teams have gone 2-4 in the World Series.

Over the course of his career, his teams have gone a combined 1973-1693 (.538). Clemens record is 348-178 (.662). So he has pitched .124 better than the teams he played for.

A tremendous number, currently bested only by Pedro Martinez (.146) and Randy Johnson (.137).

The jury is still out on whether Roger Clemens will pitch in 2007, but regardless he ranks as one of the greatest pitchers in Major League baseball history.

In my opinion, he currently ranks as the 3rd best percentage pitcher of all time, behind Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson. Anybody who wants to argue that Roger Clemens is the greatest pitcher of all time, certainly has a ton of ground to stand on.