Today in Sports History: September 18

In 1996, Boston Red Sox pitcher, Roger Clemens, tied his own major league record with 20 strikeouts. 

Clemens played with the Boston Red Sox from 1984 until 1996, he was then traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in 1997 and played with them until 1998. He was then traded to the New York Yankees where he played with them from 1999 until 2003. He was then traded to the Houston Astros for three seasons from 2004 until 2006 and then ended his career with the New York Yankees in 2007 for his last season. 

Throughout his career, he played 709 games with a record of 354-184. His Earned Run Average (ERA) was 3.12, he pitched a total of 4,916.2 innings (IP), had a total of 4,672 Strikeouts (SO), and an average of 1.12 for Walks And Hits Per Inning (WHIP). He had a total of 179 at-bats (AB), a batting average of .173, 12 Runs Batted In (RBI), and an average of .443 for on-base and slugging percentage (OPS). 

He led the Yankees to two World Series Championships in 1999 and 2000. He was named AL Pitcher of the Month 14 times and AL Pitcher of the Week 11 times. He was a 9-time AL All-Star and won the All-Star Most Valuable Player award in 1986. He was also awarded the AL Cy Young award 6 times and was awarded the AL MVP in 1986. 

Later in his career when he played with the Houston Astros, he was awarded the NL Pitcher of the month once and was named two-time NL All-Star in 2004 and 2005. He was also awarded the NL Cy Young Award and the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award in 2004. 

After his 24-year career, Clemons retired in 2007, ending his career as a New York Yankee. As Clemons is arguably one of the best pitchers within the last 50 years, unfortunately, was not voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). As this is his tenth and final year of eligibility to be inducted, it was shown he did not reach the 75 percent threshold needed in order to be enshrined. 

Currently, Clemens is still involved with the sport as he has four sons who all play professionally. While he is spending time with family and playing baseball with them, he is very involved with his longtime charity, The Roger Clemens Foundation, which is dedicated to helping children.