In that commercial for HEB Roger tells Koby to hurry and get to the big leagues so he can retire. Is he trying to imply he's coming back for a chance to see his son fielding hits from 3rd base next September? Obviously a HEB commercial is hardly a contract but at least it's a good sign.
Yup, he loves the game and as long as he's doing well he'll play. If we win the series this year I bet her retires though, and he should.
very much so... and rather accurate, that makeup crew around carr is pretty much equivalent to his offensive line.
how should i phrase this.. when he was talking about retiring.. were there any major reasons besides his mom? she seemed like the main reason he wanted to retire..
He makes so much money to do what he loves and only pitches like 40+ games a year... I think, something like that.
He'll be back. He's already on record as saying that this was the most fun team and season he's ever had. He'll milk us for some money but he'll be back.
Cuz he has already got like 6 of them from when he was a Yank. He keeps playing because of the home town fans and because he can without embarassing himself. Oh, and I suspect he does not mind making an extra $18 million.
Rocket cannot cook burgers on the grill. You aren't suppose the mash the meat on the grill. That will dry out your burger.
That and to be able to spend time w/ his family. But then it was his family that helped convince him to come back. I would hope that even if the Astros win this year he would come back. Because if he did and we could add another bat in the offseason, we'd have another great ride to enjoy.
Reading this article, especially towards the end, I get the feeling this will probably be his last season. ------------------------------------------------- http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3397482 Oct. 15, 2005, 1:56AM Rocket simply is the greatest By JOHN P. LOPEZ Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Mama called and Roger Clemens had to listen — that's just how Houston boys are brought up. Mama was the city he called home. And Mama was the woman whose warm hug and spitfire inspiration helped carry Clemens to places he never imagined. It was because of a mother who inspired him, a family that encouraged him and a friend named Andy Pettitte who prodded him that Clemens decided to pull on the hometown jersey two years ago. The game was talking to Clemens, too. It was chattering in his ear and stoking his competitive fire. Baseball told him, like Debbie Clemens told her husband and Bess Booher-Clemens told her son, it was not yet time. There was still more to do. There were goals that were important in this game — as much for baseball as for him. And there was a circle to close. He had won at Boston, Toronto and New York. He had won his 300th game in his 20th season. He had won the championships that for years eluded him. He had done just about everything there was to do and walked off a steamy Miami ballfield on Oct. 24, 2003, thinking those flashes popping in his face would be the lasting memory of a sweet goodbye. But he hadn't done what he always dreamed about as a kid, what his family always wanted and what could finally be the sweet goodbye for him, his home, his family, the Astros. Everything he ever loved. "I didn't want to come home to wave and tip my cap and just be there," Clemens said. "Those were my concerns. Do I want to go out and run these laps on those back fields in Kissimmee (in spring training)? Can I be a power pitcher still? Will my body hold up? "I thought with Roy (Oswalt), Andy and I, we had a better chance. I wasn't coming home to a sub-.500 team. My focus about coming home was, I wanted to come home and play and do something that mattered." Today, the circle is sweetly closing. When Clemens takes the hill today in a game that could carry the Astros halfway to their first National League championship and World Series berth, he takes it as the greatest sports figure this team and this city has known. "The guy is a gift from God," teammate and Houston icon Jeff Bagwell said. "To be able to get a Cy Young at 42 years old, to have an ERA under two at 43 years old, that's mind-boggling. It's ridiculous, really." Something else has happened in Clemens' two seasons in Houston, each of which have been unprecedented in the organization's history and spectacular for Clemens. When he walked off that field in Miami two years ago, Clemens undoubtedly was in the conversation of greatest pitcher of all time. Now, that conversation is over. There will always be numbers and eras to compare. The Dead Ball era versus the Live Ball era. Ballparks then versus ballparks now. Advances in technology, or hindrances for lack of it. Any such arguments are a sabermetrician's dream. Numbers are made for crunching into convenient little piles of evidence that this guy or that guy is better, or worse. 'The ultimate warrior' It's numbers, sure, that put Clemens among the likes of Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson. Numbers like his 341 wins, seven Cy Young awards and a career ERA of 3.12 over a 22-year career, which is 1.23 runs lower than the league average over the span of his career. But it's more. It's changing the way a club looks at itself and how others look at it. It's doing the seemingly impossible, leading the league in ERA (1.87) at age 43 and striking out 403 batters the past two years. It's knowing the Astros were shut out in nine of Clemens' starts this season and squandered at least a dozen more chances to win for him over the past two years. It is moments and drama like Game 4 of the NLDS, when Clemens pitched three innings of relief, his first relief appearance since 1984, in the clinching 18-inning game. It is etching his name on another plaque for Cooperstown. "The example of what Roger is, is Game 4," said Astros president Tal Smith, who has worked in Major League Baseball for nearly 50 years. "What he did was epic. He showed that he's not just the ultimate pitcher, he's the ultimate warrior." Hamstrings tell the tale Clemens avoids most of the best-ever talk, but acknowledges that he would have missed something had the decision not been made to come back first in 2004 and again this season. "I'm glad being home hasn't been just about me," he said. "It's my teammates and what they've done. They've made it fun for me. They don't miss a chance to give me some havoc and get on me about my age, but it makes you feel like you fit right in and I want those guys to feel the same way. "Individual-wise, I think it's awesome to be mentioned with these guys. Being ranked one or 10, to me, it's pretty amazing just being in there." And these could be the days a sweet goodbye really would be the last one. In a news conference Friday, Clemens was asked, as always, about plans beyond this Astros' playoff run. As always, he couldn't say. But there are moments Clemens looks back at everything that has happened this year, notably his mother's death, and hears the game talking to him, again. This has been a tough year physically as well. In his hotel room in Atlanta the night before his Division Series start last week, both of Clemens' hamstrings began tightening from soreness. "I've got guys getting the laundry bag out of my closet to go down and keep filling it with ice," Clemens said. "There's no way I should be icing down the night before I pitch. "I try to stay as young as I can around these guys. But when you're sitting on ice bags, both hamstrings, you're getting close (to the end)." End of discussion Messages are being sent at Clemens from every direction. "There's a big part of my heart that's missing now with my mother gone," Clemens said. "I knew I pitched for her, but I didn't realize how much I did that." Earlier, away from the media lights, Clemens seemed more reflective and resigned to this being a sweet and final goodbye, especially if the Astros advance to the World Series. "Factor in everything that went on with my mom and my family and I have a whole different outlook," he said. "I'm still programmed to do what I do, but ... I stand out there and I see her face. It doesn't diminish my fire. I'm trying to not let it do that. "But some days, when you lose a game, it doesn't mean as much to me anymore for some reason." Maybe he will surprise us, again. Maybe there will be another season, more marvels and another Astros run. Maybe Mama will call, again. The only certainty is coming home to end his career ended the discussion. The greatest of all time.
