Clemens Has Entered Another Zone in the Twilight of His Career

By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: August 21, 2005
The New York Times

In this season of steroids, every other baseball story has been pushed to the background. It is time for one of them to start getting some real attention.

At age 43, Roger Clemens is having one of the best four or five seasons any pitcher has ever had. He has probably clinched the title of best pitcher since World War II, as well as earning a place in any serious conversation about the best ever.

Even after his worst outing of the year, in which he gave up five runs against the Brewers on Thursday, Clemens's earned run average is just 1.53. It is a mark reminiscent of Bob Gibson, Christy Mathewson and a time when mounds were higher and ballparks were bigger.

In fact, Clemens has a chance to post the lowest E.R.A. in history relative to his peers. No pitcher - not Gibson, not Mathewson, not Dutch Leonard during his great 1914 campaign (19-5, 0.96) - has ever posted an E.R.A. less than a third as big as his league's average. The National League E.R.A. is now 2.8 times greater than Clemens's. To finish the season with the best ratio of all time, Clemens would need to reduce his E.R.A. below 1.50.

"I think he's the best pitcher that I've seen in the 40 years that I've been in the major leagues," said Larry Dierker, a former Astros pitcher and manager who is now a television commentator for many of Clemens's games. "It's amazing. It's been so much fun to watch."

The most striking part of it might be that this is the second age-defying renaissance of Clemens's career. Almost a decade ago, the Red Sox did not re-sign him after two disappointing seasons, and their general manager, Dan Duquette, suggested that Clemens was entering "the twilight of his career." Then, Clemens won the Cy Young award in Toronto in each of the next two seasons.

Then came five up-and-down years with the Yankees, an announced retirement and an unretirement to join the Astros, who play a 15-minute drive from his house. He seemed to be making a kind of sentimental goodbye. Instead, he has re-emerged as the game's top pitcher.
Psychology certainly seems to play some role in the cycles of Clemens's career. He made it clear that Duquette's "twilight" line motivated him in Toronto. In Houston, the team allows him to skip some road games, and Clemens seems more relaxed as a result.

But Tim Purpura, the Astros' general manager, said Clemens was also better rested because of the unusual arrangement. Before the team signed him, Purpura asked Nolan Ryan - the Hall of Fame pitcher who is now a special assistant to the general manager for the Astros - whether less travel would have helped Ryan's body when he was pitching in his 40's. Ryan said it definitely would have. In an age of private planes, he encouraged the team to make the deal.

"The freedoms we give him - he has used them to our advantage," Purpura said. "Baseball can be somewhat monotonous, day after day, the same places, the same people. We get into a grind. I think to break up that grind may be a positive for him."

Purpura added, "He's a very happy man, and it shows in his work."

The accumulated experience of 21 seasons probably helps, too. Clemens now uses the first couple of innings of a game to figure out which of his pitches are working that night, Dierker noted, then picks his spots with those pitches for the rest of the game.

"He almost never throws a ball over the middle of the plate, and still doesn't walk anyone," Dierker said.

Clemens is chasing Leonard of the 1914 Red Sox for the best season compared to his peers. The American League E.R.A. in 1914 was about 2.8 times higher than Leonard's, according to numbers from baseball-reference.com, an online encyclopedia. The modern record holder is Pedro Martínez, who had a 1.74 E.R.A. in 2000 with a ratio just under Leonard's. Clemens's finest showing until this year was a ratio of 2.2 in 1997 (2.05 E.R.A.) one of the best 15 seasons ever.

Still, Clemens might be denied the Cy Young award this year. The sportswriters who vote on it tend to focus on victories, and the Astros' paltry offense has denied him a bunch this year.

But that would not alter Clemens's place in history. He already has seven Cy Youngs, two more than anybody else. At his peak - all three peaks, more precisely - he has been about as good as anyone. Over his career, he has been far more durable than Leonard, Gibson, Mathewson, Sandy Koufax, Lefty Grove and others who dominated as he has.

Only Walter Johnson and Cy Young himself, who each pitched more than 20 seasons, can match Clemens for greatness and longevity. That is not bad company as it is, and Clemens might have another season or two - a twilight - left in him.

Saving His Best for Close to Last


Email: keepingscore@nytimes.com