Roger Clemens was back at Houston’s Minute Maid Park on Saturday, not to watch any of his former clubs, but to actually take the mound at the age of 61.
Pitching for the Savannah Bananas, a new barnstorming team, the Texas native was showered with applause when he made a surprise appearance in relief.
“Eleven-time Major League All-Star, two-time World Series champion and seven-time Cy Young Award winner: The Rocket, Roger Clemens!” announced the MC, who happened to be wearing a team-colored yellow tuxedo and matching top hat.
Clemens then emerged from the dugout wearing a yellow jersey with “Rocket” on the back.
The former standouts from the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees and Astros trudged to the mound and warmed up before promptly surrendering an RBI single to another new team, the Party Animals.
Savannah Bananas relief pitcher Roger Clemens takes the mound at Minute Maid Park
Roger Clemens acknowledges the crowd in Houston, where he once pitched for the Astros
Roger Clemens (right) joined friend and fellow Texan Andy Pettitte (left) in Houston in 2004
However, Clemens would recover and draw a dribbler to the mound, which he passed on first to end the inning.
And Clemens wasn’t the only former Astros player in attendance. Ex-Houston stars Roy Oswalt and Josh Reddick were also in attendance Saturday night.
The Bananas were founded in 2016 as a member of Coastal Plains League, a summer circuit for college players. But Bananas owner Jesse Cole always had bigger ambitions and eventually created a professional team alongside the amateur team so he could fully try out a version of the game he calls ‘Banana Ball’.
Among the rules: a two-hour time limit for games, no bunts, batters having the opportunity to try to steal first, no stepping out of the penalty box, no mound visits, and a scoring system that awards a point to the team that hits the ball places. scored the most runs each inning.
The Savannah Bananas MC announces Roger Clemens to the crowd in Houston
Red Sox Hall of Famer Bill Lee collapsed during an exhibition game for the Bananas in 2022
Lee (above, before the start of a Red Sox alumni game in 2018) was ultimately saved by medics
But beyond the rules, Cole provides a barrage of entertainment on almost every field, including choreographed dances, bizarre skits and players wandering through the stands among fans.
“Some people who are more traditional might think this isn’t really baseball. And it’s different,” Rawitch said. “At the same time, if you look at the exhibit we have on baseball in the 19th century, you’re talking about playing the game without a glove and underhand pitching. The game continues to evolve and I think Banana Ball is part of the evolution.”
A number of former Major Leaguers have also participated in Bananas games, including another former Red Sox pitcher, Bill “Spaceman” Lee.
Lee even collapsed before climbing the hill for the Bananas in 2022, but the 77-year-old was resuscitated using a defibrillator. (He later collapsed before appearing at a Triple-A game in 2023, but was again saved by paramedics)
Other former Red Sox playing for the Bananas include Jake Peavy, Jonathan Papelbon and Jonny Gomes.
Former Oakland Athletics outfielder Eric Byrnes previously managed the Bananas.
Clemens will be best remembered as a Red Sox standout, but also pitched for the Blue Jays
Clemens won a pair of World Series titles with the Yankees and returned to the Bronx in 2007
Clemens’ legacy in baseball is complicated, to say the least. He set a Major League record with the Red Sox by striking out 20 batters in a game in 1986, and did the same ten years later. Along the way, the former Texas Longhorns star established himself as one of the game’s best pitchers before moving on to Toronto and New York, where he won a pair of World Series titles in the Bronx.
But Clemens will forever be linked to baseball’s steroid era.
He was named in the infamous Mitchell Report, a twenty-month investigation into steroid use in baseball. In the report, former Yankees coach Brian McNamee stated that he injected Clemens with steroids in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Former teammates Jose Canseco, Andy Pettitte and Jason Grimsley also claimed to know Clemens was also using steroids.
Clemens was ultimately found not guilty of lying to Congress in 2008, when he testified that he did not use steroids.
