- 2 days ago
The great Roger Clemens hops on the show as our second guest in the history of 95.7 The Fan.
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00:00an exclusive club he wins his 300th game only the 21st man in big league history
00:07to accomplish that honor 7500 men have thrown a pitch in the big leagues
00:13and roger clemens only the 21st to pick up 300 wins congratulations to the rocket
00:20all right that was uh that was uh earlier this century that was back in the days of sports
00:26radio 610 as i like to say yeah we're now 95 7 the kids about those days it's a brand
00:31new day it's a
00:31brand new day uh of course roger clemens getting his 300th win i like that highlight even though
00:35it wasn't in an astros uniform it was in a yankees uniform because that club is closed now i think
00:40the 300 win club roger clemens 354 wins over 4600 strikeouts seven times cy young winner including
00:48one here in houston in 2004 he's one of the greatest pitchers in the history of baseball
00:52and we're proud to have him on here on pain and pendergast this morning on our first day ever
00:56is 95 7 the fan and he's joining us live from iowa he's there for the field of dreams game
01:01to watch
01:02his son cody play for the twins tonight roger we appreciate you jumping on with us on this big day
01:06and making time for what i know is a busy day for you thanks for hopping on with us man
01:09you got it
01:11guys yeah and that was back in the day when you're talking about it was back in the day when
01:14starters
01:15went seven innings okay yeah this is okay this is gonna turn into three grumpy old men
01:24i'm messing with you no way we did i mean they always ask that same question i said i don't
01:28know
01:29if anybody's gonna win 300 i don't know the complete games are probably history your uh quality start
01:34has to change i think our quality starts back then were seven innings two runs or less yeah like four
01:40four four innings you know whatever but i always said i was never gonna you know you know look back
01:45at that but uh yeah i try when i have opportunity to work with the guys at the astros or
01:49they'll send me
01:50some of their uh bullpen sessions to look at some things man just encourage them to to try and uh
01:56you know continue to work off your fastball so you can uh eat some innings uh late so you know
02:01by the
02:02fourth inning you got 100 pitches you're you're they're coming to get you well that was the you
02:06know and that was the cool thing when verlander got here to watch him and him being able to kind
02:10of probably teach a lot of the same lessons to the younger guys that you teach to younger guys
02:13about you know just pacing yourself knowing when you can it's okay to let up a hit here there and
02:19kind of having more of a a long-term mindset about it um but i guess i mean those those
02:24days are gone
02:25but part of your part of your success and your ability to get all those wins was the fact that
02:29you were just so durable in your career and i was looking back through your stats this morning and
02:33i you know i had completely forgotten that you were 41 when you got to houston um and then
02:40crazy what's that crazy yeah well is that was there a sense there too because like you've always
02:45had you've had an ability to keep a chip on your shoulder was there something about coming back to
02:49your hometown though that maybe gave you a little bit of an extra uh like pressure that you wanted
02:55like that you you want that pressure that okay i'm getting up there in years but i'm going to keep
03:00competing plus now i'm doing it in my hometown yeah good good call right there um you know there
03:06there was you know you're talking about playing baseball in the east you know i played uh you
03:10know obviously boston new york but when you come home there were several pitchers that pitched uh the
03:15hometown guys that pitched before me and they kind of came home and wet the bed a little bit i
03:20mean
03:20there's pressure because you know even my family that didn't have the means to come up all the time
03:26to the east to watch me perform um you know i was leaving uh boatloads of tickets for my high
03:31school
03:32college people obviously family and now you're pitching at home i mean it's you know there's
03:38pressure to do it now let me tell you what let me give you props to the fans because as
03:42you guys know
03:42those three years i was uh 43 44 and 45 years of age i still when i when you guys
03:50asked me the
03:51question i still think about the 18 inning game uh coming into that thing in relief and um just the
03:57fans how they showed up i mean we flipped the football town we i don't know what it was we
04:01had
04:0140 plus thousand that place was packed minute made was packed and i tip my hat to our fans because
04:07they made it fun for a hometown kid like me to come home and play in front of them and
04:13uh what a treat
04:14it was for me to come home and play with baggie and bij and lance and andy and and adam
04:19ever i mean
04:20list goes on and on we just had a great team and uh uh it was so much fun jeff
04:25kent i mean i just keep
04:27going innsburg you guys know awesome it's going to brad winning the cy young award at home at that
04:32age i tease the guys you know they get they gave me a lot of runs to work with like
04:37one and a half
04:38per start okay okay it's like roger it's like you're hey i still remember this story telling phil
04:46garner i think at one time boys i was hitting you know we're in the national league so uh i
04:51hit ninth
04:52and i think my average at one time was 228 and awesome was hitting 220 i told scrap iron i
04:59told
04:59scrap iron to uh hit hit me eighth and have awesomeness bump me over to second i'm hitting
05:04better than him and awesomeness ran out of the trainer's room said hey i hear what's going on
05:08if i come in here tomorrow and you're batting eighth and i'm batting ninth i'm retiring i said
05:12well get your damn speech ready that's great okay well roger clemens joining us on the show roger
05:17it's like you're looking at my rundown here because i wanted to ask you this i think i know
05:20the answer but i was going to ask you about you know you had you had some great seasons here
05:25including like i said the cy young in 2004 were you more happy about the cy young that you won
05:31in
05:312004 or were you more pissed off about the one you didn't win the next season when your era was
05:361.87
05:38yeah i didn't even think about that that's uh that's crazy yeah that was that was a good one i
05:43mean
05:43uh you know again i came home i was retired uh had a bunch of fans outside the gate at
05:49the house
05:50uh with uh signs and stuff to come on rocket pitch for you you know and uh i don't know
05:55who did it
05:55but somebody backdoored a call to deb my wife and and offered her something if she could convince me
06:02to come out of retirement and pitch and i guess the offer was good enough because she came in and
06:06goes
06:06hey how's your legs feel you need to start running over memorial park again because uh you're coming out
06:11of retirement to pitch for the hometown team so it was it was a treat like i said the boys
06:16uh were
06:17playing ball you know throughout around houston and they were able to catch some of the games but
06:21uh yeah to win a cy young for the guys and then go to the world series i mean uh
06:26i again i left out
06:28roy oswald i loved watching roy run out there too man he was electric and we just had it we
06:33we just fed
06:34off one another it was a special time and then of course we've been spoiled over the years too with
06:39what's been going on with our astros of late no doubt and uh and and now now they're hey they
06:44got
06:44a tough stretch coming up this next schedule the next two or three weeks they're really going to
06:48have to put uh button up their chin strap if you will since football season is getting ready to start
06:53they're going to need to button up yeah what does okay so what does roger clemens if you're an active
06:57player on that roster right now given the way the season's gone and where they sit in the division
07:01what's your what are you saying to your teammates as a as a leader in that clubhouse well if i'm
07:06opponent
07:07obviously i'm not pitching to your don right now because he's the straw that stirs the drink as
07:12they say um but uh you know the the injury bug has hit all the teams it does this time
07:17of year where
07:18you know just like i tell my son cody with the twins i stay out of his way but i
07:22said this is don't
07:23don't fall for the trap this is when everybody starts feeling a little bit tired and the injury bug
07:28pops up and so uh you know don't fall don't fall for that trap you know and and that's the
07:34way the
07:34astros have to do they're going to pitch it their bats need to get going a little bit but they're
07:37they're throwing it and um you know that's what's going to carry this time of year it's so important
07:42and it holds true just like you guys talking about a great defense in football you got to catch the
07:47ball and you got to pitch it and when one of your guys uh boot a ball behind you you're
07:51good
07:51enough you're a major league pitcher i stress to those guys you can get four outs don't don't let
07:56the game get away from you when somebody boots the ball or a ball that might should have been
08:01caught in the outfield drops in there you're good enough uh to you're a big league pitcher
08:06getting paid very nicely and you're good enough to get four out so do it roger clemens is joining
08:11us here on pain and pendergast 95.7 the fan i think you tipped your hand a little bit roger
08:16but
08:16you mentioned yordan what if you were pitching this is one of those things i'd love to see a
08:19computer be able to simulate prime roger clemens pitching to current yordan alvarez what would your
08:25what would your approach be to pitching to yordan alvarez right now well it was similar when i was in
08:29camp with the yankees and booney brought me over to by judge and and booney said tell tell him how
08:35you would pitch him and i said well of course somebody like uh you know obviously judge is
08:39right-handed yankee stadium i mean he can miss balls he misses balls at 110 miles an hour like
08:45yordan does so some of these guys got enough equipment i i you know they got not enough equipment
08:51on them to feel safe in a war somewhere you know all that stuff they wear and they hang over
08:54the plate but
08:55you got to when when the when you're coming down the home stretch in september definitely in october
09:01in the playoffs when you're playing for one thing you're playing for that ring and that world
09:05championship you got to make some guys feel uncomfortable i'm not saying you go inside to
09:09hit guys but you got to make a 17 inch plate a 24 inch plate and you have to pitch
09:14them in i told
09:15judge you know i'm not i'm not gonna i said am i gonna just keep throwing you away and let
09:19you just
09:19just absolutely flip pitching wedges out of you know right field at yankee stadium i said i'm gonna
09:25pitch you in and then i'm gonna pitch you in and then i'm gonna pitch you in until you hit
09:29a ball
09:29400 feet to left field then i'm gonna go back away and your don just he's got tremendous plate coverage
09:36he's so strong like i said he can miss balls in the crawford boxes uh with a pitching wedge so
09:42um you
09:43just have to be super careful and then it'll come down to the game situation i mean if it's you
09:47know i
09:47got a base open and and i got a one run lead he's he's probably not going to see anything
09:53on the
09:54plate you know i'm gonna you know hopefully you know stay on the edges i usually will attack and
09:59get strike one give you one good pitch to hit and a bat and if you miss it or foul
10:03it off i got you
10:04and mr and nowadays where they pinch you east and west as you guys know that little box on tv
10:09that you
10:09see they uh they pinch you east and west i love going north and south i would love how i
10:16love how
10:16they call the high fastball now because i could feature 95 97 up in the zone and then mr splitty
10:22would make an appearance down in the zone roger um when when mr splitty when i was when i was
10:29when
10:29i was playing for the texans um i remember reading an article about you and your preparation and how
10:35you were kind of you're kind of psychotic in a good way about the way you went about your
10:39preparation and your focus on game day and i and i loved it because i kind of i think i
10:43i used some of
10:44what i read about you because it worked with my mindset but when i got into my 30s and especially
10:50after i was done playing football i could tell that some part of that had died in me and i
10:54wasn't
10:54the same guy and that's why i've always been amazed that you were able to maintain that level of
10:58intensity on into your 40s was there did you have to think about that did you have to like find
11:03ways
11:03to put a chip on your shoulder yeah i was i was part i was focused you know i mean
11:09like i said i i did
11:10my homework back in the day when when it wasn't popular to you know have pitch calm or or all
11:15these
11:16stats i i'm kind of in the middle of the road i'm not high or not real low i'm kind
11:20of in the
11:20middle of the road on analytics but i kept i kept my players and umpires on three five three by
11:25five
11:26index cards then it went to my blackberry in the mid 90s then of course i started keeping notes on
11:31my iphone too so when i woke up that morning on game day when i'm taking a shower in the
11:35morning i'm
11:36going through the lineup in my mind i know the guys that i might have an issue with i also
11:41know that
11:41i'm going to have second and third and one out at some point in that game and i'm going to
11:45have
11:45the pitch to get out of that that's what they pay me to do i need a punch out and
11:48a pop-up to get out
11:49of that so when i get there next thing you know it's 7 30 8 o'clock and i got
11:54second and third i
11:55maybe walked the guy and next guy hit a gapper and here we go i've already prepared for this situation
12:00so it doesn't catch me by surprise and uh you know my mom was like my mom was stickler at
12:06education so
12:06yeah i was i was prepared and and bottom line is i had some wonderful catchers that made me look
12:13good
12:13they paid attention to detail because i called about 90 to 95 percent of my game from the mound with
12:19my looks and uh you know sometimes i would hitch my my belt like a an old gunslinger and he
12:25knew that
12:26i was calling the split finger right there or you know whatever i did i might show him my lips
12:31and
12:31that's when i would throw a curveball which i would throw my curveball was my fourth best pitch and 120
12:35pitch game i might throw it seven times just to get me over strike a quick strike so yeah there
12:41was
12:42you're detailed you know that you played at the highest level so you know when you're prepared
12:46you know when you you catch somebody or when you can like i've got i've already told four or five
12:51guys prominent starters i won't tell you their names but i called them after t-vone i'm on tv and
12:56i said dude you're tipping your pitches you don't even know it evidently your pitching coach doesn't
13:00know it but go take a look at and they're going good lord
13:05that's great i said i said and that makes somebody like al tubi if he's hitting you know if he's
13:10hitting uh 250 he's a 350 hitter because if they get onto it and and it's it's live and he's
13:17doing it
13:17uh when pressure especially when pressure starts when you get to the playoffs and pressure hits your
13:23bad habits are going to come right to the forefront so you gotta you practice perfect your bullpens are
13:28perfect uh they're quality bullpens not quantity and so you there's a purpose behind it when i walk
13:35through that door at at uh dyke and field that's my family now i'm with those guys for seven months
13:41out of the year so that's i mean that's just the way you you were brought up so i'm not
13:45i'm not going
13:45to be spending my wheels or wasting my time and again my catchers are my bread and butter they when
13:50when the batter's redoing his batting gloves looking down the third to get a sign my catcher behind
13:56the plate is staring at me we're putting the next one pitch maybe two pitches into play and we're
14:01attacking roger clemens joining us roger we got about 30 seconds we'll get you out of here but
14:06you're at the field of dreams game tonight to watch cody play and um i just from a dad's perspective
14:12you you were the star of the show for many many years people coming to see you what's it like
14:16to be
14:17a dad in the stands and are you more nervous as a dad or or an actual player yeah i'm
14:22pretty good
14:22i mean he's he's not i think if he pitched i'd be more nervous but he you know hitting and
14:27playing
14:27a position having a nice year we're gonna have some fun after the game i'm gonna go we're gonna
14:31go do a little field of dreams uh a little clip uh about dad playing catch with his son so
14:36we're
14:36gonna have some fun with that it was my mom's favorite movie and uh that's why i have a shoeless
14:41joe jackson bat as in my collection so it's gonna be fun this is gonna be a big deal taking
14:46the grand
14:47boys and my oldest son with me and uh we're gonna we're gonna do it up what a day man
14:51it's it's
14:52such a busy day and great day i couldn't we couldn't be more thankful that you made some
14:56time for us here on the first day of 95.7 the fan we know you've been in houston forever
15:00and you know
15:00all about sports radio 610 to be with us on this first day is a real honor thanks for coming
15:05on with
15:05us roger yeah congrats to you guys that's awesome don't big leave me now because you guys are over
15:09there on the fan now don't worry yeah no you're good you're good i've already confessed to being a little
15:14bit scared of you roger so i mean yeah hey we'll do one of these little clinics at the house
15:20you
15:20guys come get in the cage i'll throw you some room service i know yeah you've offered that before
15:24and i haven't taken you up on it all right there there you go roger clemens uh joining us here
15:31on
15:3195.7 the fan thanks roger we appreciate it all right guys see you yep thanks take care that was
15:36good stuff yeah that was uh that was great especially the stuff about tipping pitches
15:40it is amazing i could listen to him talk about pitching all day long there's so much i mean the
15:44uh the the things that and the fact that when he told those pitches but oh we got rudy too
15:47yep
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