Well yesterday's Mitchell Report has brought to an end for me a looooooooooooong, sometimes rocky love of America's favorite past time. I never in my wildest, worst nightmares would have guessed that Rocket was a user. So much is made of his insanely vigorous work-out routine that I was sure that that was all he had done; after all he breaks down usually every second half of the year, and for a guy his age that made sense to me.

I grew up in a family (on both my mother's and father's side) of die hard Yankees fans, was one myself until that fateful season in 1986, when a young stud pitcher in red amazed, stunned, dazzled hitters and fans alike. As a boy of 10, I wanted nothing more than to be Roger Clemens, arguably the greatest pitcher ever to stand on a mound. I cheered that entire season, and as the Red Sox made their way to the World Series, I declared myself to my family to be a lifelong Red Sox fan, the ONLY non Yankees fan in the family! How I was not bludgeoned to death I'll never know. I cried right along Rocket, Schiraldi, Boggs as the World Title slipped away, but I stayed true to my word and followed the Sox every year.

I cannot even count how many hours I spent in the side yard of my parents house, pitching against our fireplace, on which I had traced a "strike zone," imagining I was Roger Clemens trying to win it all. I would pitch a whole 9 inning game out there, for both teams. I wore such a divot in the lawn that my father used to scream at me every night to stop my pitching. And sometimes I missed the fire place all together with the tennis ball that provided far more zip and bounce on the return than a normal baseball that dad would immediately come running to the window to check the vinyl siding for cracks, yelling "How many times have I told you to stop?!"

I played baseball for years growing up, always on the corners: first, third, left, and right, where I loved to play most, although I still longed to be on that mound with the fate of it all in my hands. Then, one year when my coach happened to notice me pitching before practice. That coach had me pitch a little during practice and decided that I was going to come in during our next game. I was ecstatic; here was my chance to emulate my hero! What a thrill, what an opportunity! I'm gonna strike em all out! Well......my chance came, and unfortunatey, adding the actual batter into the mix proved to be too much for me. The strikezone became nonexistent. I threw I don't even know how many wild pitches, hit 4 batters, and walked another 5. Needless to say I was pulled without recording a single out and before the game got too far out of our grasp, never to step on the mound again. My dreams dashed, I returned to the mound in my backyard, where I was still the awe-inspiring Cy Young award winner.

I stopped watching baseball after the '96 season because Boston said that Clemens was washed up, done, finished and refused to re-sign him. I was heartbroken that a team could be so cruel to the man who had taken them to the playoffs and World Series and who held so many records already. Only later would I learn that the sport was actually a business run like the insurance company for whom I now work as opposed to a little or senior league ball club. I vowed never to watch a ball game again, and I stuck to that more or less except for 1 or 2 Braves World Series games. How could the greatest pitcher be cut by his only team and then go to a Canadian team I thought? What did Canada know about baseball? When was the last time a Canadian team had won a World Series?? Stanley Cup sure, baseball, no - that was not their sport.

But then the unimaginable happened..........Rocket was going to join the Yankees!!!!!!!! My former favorite team's most hated rival, a team I'd once loved, rooting for Donnie Baseball in his early years and Dave Righetti too. A team my entire family loved and supported as much as I had once loved the Red Sox. Perhaps, just maybe, all might be right in the world of baseball again...And so with little fanfare I quietly slipped back into the Yankees clubhouse, silently looking around to see how things were, if my faith in my favorite sport could be restored, and what do you know? Rocket was still the Rocket, and he continued to amaze, even after 2 amazing seasons, now tainted, in a foreign country. He was still the man I remembered and worshipped, and now he was in pinstripes, helping the Yankees win World Series titles!! It was a new dream come true!!!

I cried again when Rocket was going to retire, but was overly excited when he decided to follow Pettite to Houston. I followed Houston almost as much as the Yankees, and sometimes even more. I watched every game he pitched that I could while he was in Houston those 3 years and even during that original "final" season with the Yankees. To me, Rocket still dazzled, all these years later. He hadn't lost anything except maybe a couple of miles off of his fastball, but I sure as hell still wouldn't have wanted to have been standing in the batters box with it coming at me. He was still just as ferocious as ever and afraid of no one.

To my elation, he came back to the Bronx one last time this year, for what I thought, like everyone else, would be the saving measure needed for this season, and it nearly was, but as I watched the greatest pitcher ever slowly break down before my eyes, I came to the realization that an era was now at its end, and I relished in all of the memories that the great Roger Clemens had given me over the years, from the post season dazzles, to the 20-strikeout game, to watching him try to break that record later in his career, The Piazza incident, to what was thought to be his final pitch in the World Series against the Marlins, to his first start for the Astros, and to his first and last games of the 2007 season.

The man, like Emmitt Smith, was more than a legend to me. He was someone I'd grown up idolizing, worshiping, whose career I followed almost entirely from start to finish (sorry Toronto, but I still don't think you count LOL). And I knew that once he finally retired for good, and all signs were pointing to this being the year, that my time with baseball, just like football before it when Emmitt had retired, would soon draw to a close and I would no longer have a need to turn on the television in anticipation of watching history.

Now, history of a different kind has been made, and all of my memories and childhood idolization has been shattered faster than a dropped glass hits the floor. I am left devastated, trying to find the strength to put aside the shock and carry on, knowing that my childhood idol cheated. Such things were reserved for the likes of Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, players who deserved what they got and didn't feel the need to work hard to gain the glory like Rocket had. I am left to re-evaluate life and what I once held dear.

And as I took down all of the Rocket memorabilia that I had up in my house - the limited edition photos, the autographed baseballs, the collage of the various baseball cards from over the years - I have vowed once again to never watch another baseball game. My love of the game is now gone forever, and I cannot do anything to recover that. I have nothing left to give to the sport. And I was planning on taking my 5 and 3 year olds to the Stadium this coming year before it is no more. Maybe I still will - hypocritical as it sounds - because that too will be history, but I will have a long way to come back in order to want to do that.

For now, I hang my head in disgrace, shocked that such a thing could ever have happened. For me, the Rocket has not landed, or even been grounded; the Rocket severely veered off course, crashing in no man's land, devouring the status of role model to thousands along the way.

I would have been shocked if Clemens wasn't named in the report. He was basically washed up, at 35, in 1996 after having gone 40 - 39 with an ERA above 4.00 for the previous 4 seasons. Then, out of no where, he goes 136-43 over the next 8 seasons including a record of 20 - 3 as a 39 year old. The guy's strike outs/9 innings was still above 8 well into his forties. Name one other pitcher in the 140 year history of the sport that has come even close to that kind of performance. No way do you get these kinds of results at his age without performance enhancing drugs. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs his bead examined.

I have a feeling that he is going to get almost as much scrutiny as Barry Bonds, and deservedly so.

Yet in 1997 one year prior to the abuse he had a phenomal season and won his first of two consecutive Cy Youngs.....

and where is Poppy? You tellin me he's el naturale? I aint buying that one.

The man's workout routine was well discussed everywhere. No one could keep up with him. Perhaps I was naive and ignorant, but I still didn't think he was doing anything. And perhaps I do need my bead examined.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-12-14 18:45 by VoodooLounge13.

no hall of fame and all of his records are tainted, same with bonds, they are both frauds

I'm not too surprised Rocket is a user. The guy was a legend, no doubt... and he always will be in my mind, but he also will always be kind of a jerk in my mind too. Ever since the time in the 80's when I read in a local paper how a kid from up here in Maine had gone down to Fenway with his parents to see RC pitch, and actually met him later that night in Boston... and was charged $11 for his autograph...

Then of course, there's always the 2007 season, asking the Yankees for that kind of money, already a third of the way into the season, is as totally pompous as it gets!

I have to admit, as a life-long Red Sox fan admittedly, that I was psyched to see him flounder out there this year. But no wonder he had the confidence to return!

It's so ridiculous that these guys dope up so much. What a horrible, horrible message that sends to young fans of baseball all over.

Voodoo13-- Don't give up on the sport... Try following the minors at least. We have the Portland Sea Dogs (Former Marlins affiliate, now Red Sox) up here, where the prospects who AREN'T millionaires yet play, and we get to see real legends... Over the past 10 yrs I've seen Kevin Millar, Josh Beckett, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Papelbon, Jon Lester, Clay Buckholz, etc, etc, etc, play there... for $6!! Nothing like a GREAT seat in a GREAT ballpark, watching future GREATS play ball for $6!! Less than a movie!

Tate,
I wish I could share your enthusiasm but I cannot. I feel like I've been robbed, cheated, lied to, and beat up with a big ol' can of dumb a@@. Whenever I thought baseball, I thought Rocket. Even my kids know who he is and can identify him by sight. I used to ask them whenever he was pitching, "hey you know who's pitching for the Yankees tonight??!" and they'd always answer, "Rocket?!"

It's a shame and leaves my faith in the sport in shambles.
VL13

Who knows if the evidence will come out, but its hard to be surprised by any new steroid-related developments in baseball today. Its a shame Clemens did (or may have done) it, but a 43 year old starting pitcher throwing the ball like he does SHOULD raise eyebrows.

Don't let a few rotten apples take away your joy for the game. There will always be the cheaters and the the Tony Gwynns, the Cal Rypken Jr and many other great players that seem to be clean.

I think that the whole situaion is very hypocritic. Some just turn the other way while this peolple endanger their lives, is just for the money....

ah, but Rocket went hand in hand with my love of the game. Therein lies the problem.

VoodooLounge13 - Roger's workouts were well publicized but there is no natural way a guy in his mid-forties performs at that level. As for Big Poppy, ask yourself this...Does Big Poppy look like he's on the juice?

Well yeah Poppy does to me. But then so does Pujols, Bagwell, and a bunch of others whose omission I find surprising.

Goldsmith Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> VoodooLounge13 - Roger's workouts were well
> publicized but there is no natural way a guy in
> his mid-forties performs at that level. As for
> Big Poppy, ask yourself this...Does Big Poppy look
> like he's on the juice?

Big Papi is a big FAT guy who looks like Shrek and is Babe Ruth reincarnated. He's not a musclebound steroid type body like Bonds once had or McGuire had with the big muscles. Same goes for Sosa when he hit all those home runs, he had a lean muscular physique.

By the way, I LOVE BIG PAPI and the Red Sox!! The BEST!!

I was a huge Clemens fan until 1997...he's a jackass.

Punk and Cheater and traitor

Hey VL, sorry you've been so disillusioned. I can tell by your writing that your love of the game and the heros is child-like (not childish), a good but fragile thing. Baseball still seems to hold an aura of dreams and romance that most other sports don't. I was a fan briefly, especially in the years when the Blue Jays were new and kicking ass, with Ernie Whitt behind the plate. The years leading up to the back-to-back World Series wins were quite a ride and, of course, those 2 years were killer. But for me, the strike killed it and I couldn't even tell you one person who plays for the Jays today.

But I do relate to your love of the game, even if I really don't remember, or care about the Infield Fly Rule anymore. If you want to tuck yourself in and remember the glory and romance of baseball this winter, and forget the idiots (think of it as riding out the Black Sox scandal if that makes you feel better), I can recommend some books that may rekindle your love of the game.

A Canuck author named W P Kinsella wrote the book Shoeless Joe, upon which Field of Dreams was based. The lyrical writing makes the book much better than the movie, even though the movie was unusually good for one based on a good book.

He also wrote The Iowa Baseball Confederacy and two collections of short stories - The Further Adventures of Slugger McBatt and The Thrill of the Grass. There may be others, but these were the ones I could grab from my bookcase.

Recommend some hot chocolate and oreos and a wallow in some writing that will justify your love of the game before you give it all up for a bunch of cash grabbing a-holes who really don't understand what it's about.

Cheers,

STG

?????????? Is this a stones thread??



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-12-15 00:07 by wild_horse_pete.

wild_horse_pete Wrote: ?????????? Is this a stones thread??


It is now...



ENTERTAINMENT
Sir Mick Jagger turns baseball fan
Tuesday, March 21, 2006 at 07:44 EST

The Rolling Stones attend a news conference Monday.
TOKYO — The Rolling Stones kick off their first tour of Japan in three years Wednesday at Tokyo Dome, but before that, Sir Mick Jagger said there is one thing he wants to do — watch Japan play Cuba in the final of the World Baseball Classic.

"I hope we're going to be up," said Jagger, 62, known to be a cricket rather than baseball fan. "The two teams are really different. Japan is a very professional team. And Cuba is more an amateur team. A little bit scruffy, maybe — I'm not being mean to them, but a completely different style."
Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ron Wood are making their 5th tour of Japan. "It's incredible to think we'll be playing to our 1 millionth fan this week in Japan," said Jagger.
The band will play five concerts in Japan (two at Tokyo Dome, one each in Saitama, Nagoya and Sapporo) as part of its A Bigger Band world tour which will also include two concerts in China for the first time.
Jagger said the band is looking forward to seeing cherry blossoms and also to playing in Sapporo for the first time, "even though it is freezing, but we'll take our skis."

wild_horse_pete Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ?????????? Is this a stones thread??

Well sort of, Pete...
It's a "throwing stones" at Roger Clemens thread...

Welcome to the in-between Rolling Stones tours blues. boredome and lack of otherwise relevant topics.

:-)

I'm glad to see Mick is a baseball fan. I always wondered if the Stones and Beatles ever were hip to America's other great contribution (besides music) to world culture.

VL13,I can feel your pain. I don't want to get into a whole big serious sports discussion. But as a big SF Giants fan. It has been very hard to defend Barry Bonds. But now that this half-assed report has finally been released,I feel slightly vindicated. Not only are thier a lot of big names on the report,thier are many journeyman players. Which just proves that it doesn't matter what substances you take. At some point you do need talent to succeed.
As for this report. Are you telling me that the commissioner's office knew nothing of the widespread use of steroids? Bull,everybody knew. As for George Mitchell,can you say conflict of interest? He is on the board of directors of the Boston Red Sox and no current Red Sox were named in this report. A load of crap from the start.
Anyway VL13,I think a general rule of thumb to help you through this is: Root for the team in general. Not specific players.

I was surprised that Eric Gagne was on there.
Even though I used to live an LA, I was never a Dodger fan,
and I was always a bit suspicious about that guy.
I only saw him pitch in person once. He struck out the side
on about 10 pitches, but the game went into extra innings
and the Dodgers left him in for the 10th.
Well, they hit everything he threw at them.
Singles, doubles, walks, a home run.
It seems he was good for one inning and that was it.
The LA Times has s story about him getting a receipt for the juice.
Put an * by his name.
Then again, according to political correct people,
we should put an * next to Joe Dimaggio's name.
He smoked cigarettes in the dugout between innings.

Gagne would have been alright if the fans in LA hadn't been so ruthless. Granted, it was as if the batters knew all his soft spots and were using that knowledge that really brutalize him.

I hear he might re-sign with LA, but might take less money to go someplace he likes less just to avoid the fans.

Send It To me Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gagne would have been alright if the fans in LA
> hadn't been so ruthless. Granted, it was as if
> the batters knew all his soft spots and were using
> that knowledge that really brutalize him.
>
> I hear he might re-sign with LA, but might take
> less money to go someplace he likes less just to
> avoid the fans.

Ruthless? What do you mean?
He could do no wrong when he was in LA.
He was like the second coming.

It was odd the way the fans turned on him like that.

LA is fickle I suppose.

But then, I dont' think Dodger fans are that fickle.

Send It To me Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It was odd the way the fans turned on him like
> that.
>
> LA is fickle I suppose.
>
> But then, I dont' think Dodger fans are that
> fickle.
I don't know if fickle is the right word although it may be but I know for sure L.A. Dodgers and Angels fans are fair weather fans. The fans show up in the 3rd inning and leave in the 7th and the stadiums are empty most of the time.

Boston has sold out every game going back to 2003, it's tough to get tickets to Wrigley (Cubs) and the Yankees always draw big home crowds. Loyal fans, no matter if the team is great or not.

... ahhh, check yer stats...... dodger stadium is farrrr from "empty most of the time",, in fact, quit the contrary........

I have Dodgers season tickets I sell, so I know the demand is low except for certain games. I get the Dodgers games out here on TV too and there's entire sections open, and plenty of those nice big yellow field box seats in the infield are open.
Sure, they sell out some weekend games here and there but it's very easy to get Dodger tickets at face value. Whereas you'll pay up to 4 times face value for games at Fenway, Wrigley and Yankee stadium.

2007 - Attendance Home Road Overall
RNK TEAM GMS TOTAL AVG PCT GMS AVG PCT GMS AVG PCT
1 NY Yankees 81 4,271,867 52,739 91.8 80 37,227 83.4 161 45,031 88.1

2 LA Dodgers 81 3,856,753 47,614 85.0 81 33,252 74.0 162 40,433 80.1

3 NY Mets 81 3,853,955 47,579 82.9 81 35,885 79.5 162 41,732 81.4

4 St. Louis 81 3,552,166 43,853 93.6 81 33,019 75.5 162 38,436 84.9

5 LA Angels 81 3,365,632 41,551 92.2 81 31,208 68.0 162 36,379 80.0


11 Boston 81 2,970,755 36,675 101.4 81 38,641 81.5 162 37,658 90.1

This mercenary was never a Yankee. I ve hated him his whole career. I m not shocked at all about this clown. I was happy to know that his military work outs were all BS. The stats don t lie after he took injections. From 5-6 to 15-0 in '98 with 3 complete gms in August in a row. For all those Mets fans when he hit Piazza it was right after another session. You could see the roid rage in his face. In the WS, throwing the bat at Piazza. At the time they claimed he was intense and focused. My ass, no one is that focused without the aid of performance enhancing drugs. Baseball is such a joke. The real culprit is Selig. They knew what was going on and they looked away because the stadiums were packed. I just root for the team I like and not the players. I ve done this since the last strike in '94. I suggest that if you like baseball to root for the uniform and not the players, they will only hurt you in the end.

ok, my apologies...the dodgers draw far more than it appears on TV as they operate at an 85% average capacity. Do Dodger fans show up in the third inning and leave after the 6th inning like the fans do at Angels stadium? That might explain the empty looking park despite the high ticket sales. Did you see where Fenway/Boston Red Sox avgs 101% attendance avg? Fenway is a small park so it's very difficult to get a ticket at face value.

LA baseball fans are front running clowns. Even when they are good they show up late and leave early.