This Day In New York Yankees History 2/18: Roger Clemens Era Begins in the Bronx

On this day in 1999 the Toronto Blue Jays traded pitcher Roger Clemens to the New York Yankees for David Wells, Graeme Lloyd, and Homer Bush. The rest is history, no pun intended.

This Day in New York Yankees History 5/29: Roger Clemens Strikes Out 10 Batters, Again

On this day in 2002 the New York Yankees Roger Clemens becomes the third major league pitcher to strike out 10 or more batters in at least 100 games. Nolan Ryan did it 215 times and Randy Johnson did it 175 times.


Also on this day in 2000 the Oakland Athletics second baseman, and former Yankee, Randy Velarde completed the tenth unassisted triple play in Major League history. The New York Yankees had runners on first and second when Shane Spencer hits a line drive to Velarde who catches the ball, tags out Jorge Posada, and then tagged Tino Martinez to complete the triple play. No, CC Sabathia was not on the mound for the play.



Finally on this day in 1997 the Hideki Irabu Era started in the Bronx with the New York Yankees. The Padres sent Irabu to the Yankees to complete an April 22nd trade that sent Gordon Amerson and Homer Bush to New York in exchange for Rafael Medina, Ruben Rivera, and $3 million. Irabu was purchased by the Padres from the Chiba Lotte Mariners in January but refused to sign with San Diego, or any team not named the Yankees. In three years Irabu compiled a 29-20 record and was called a fat toad by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner once, publicly.

This Day In New York Yankees History 2/18: Roger Clemens Era Begins in the Bronx

On this day in 1999 the Toronto Blue Jays traded pitcher Roger Clemens to the New York Yankees for David Wells, Graeme Lloyd, and Homer Bush. The rest is history, no pun intended.

Call me Crazy: What about Roger Clemens Day in 2016?

The New York Yankees have made it a habit of holding a day to honor their stars from past and present and have even seemingly made it a yearly thing in the Bronx. New York has held days for Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, Tino Martinez, Jorge Posada, Joe Torre and others in recent years as the team acknowledges and honors the “Core Four” and the “Dynasty Yankees” but the team has done little to honor the pitching staff that toed the line for many of those World Series Championships. I know this is going to be an unpopular decision, and call me crazy, but what about a Roger Clemens Day in 2016?

Before you click the little red “X” at the top of your browser hear me out a second. I didn’t say induct the guy into the Hall of Fame and I didn’t say retire the guy’s number inside Monument Park. All I’m saying is honor the guy for what he did in the Bronx with the Yankees. Clemens came to the Yankees before the 1999 season from the Toronto Blue Jays in a deal that sent David Wells, Homer Bush and Graeme Lloyd back to the Blue Jays and immediately won a pair of World Series with the team in 1999 and 2000.

Clemens enjoyed many accolades, milestones and achievements inside a Yankees uniform that in my opinion should be honored by the team in some capacity. Clemens set the ALCS record for strikeouts in a game against the Seattle Mariners in 2000 when he struck out 15 batters while he followed it up with his sixth Cy Young Award in 2001 with a 20-win season. Clemens also won his 300^th game inside a Yankees uniform and recorded his 4,000^th strikeout in the same game becoming the 21^st pitcher in MLB history to win 300 games and just the third ever (at the time) to record 4,000 strikeouts joining Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton and eventually Randy Johnson, now all Hall of Fame pitchers. Clemens also went on, after a short stint with the Houston Astros and retirement thrown in the middle, to win his 350^th game in a Yankees uniform including 83 wins inside of a Yankees uniform.

Clemens was no slouch in the postseason either posting a career 12-8 record in 34 starts with a 3.75 ERA, 173 strikeouts and a 3-0 World Series record with a 2.37 ERA. Clemens may have had his struggles with steroids, former trainers trying to ruin his image and tarnish his career and he may have even fallen short every year in the Hall of Fame voting but that doesn’t mean he is any less of a person. Clemens has since been cleared of any perjury charges and, for what it’s worth, never failed a steroid or drug test in his career. And lastly, before you mention how few years he pitched for the Yankees and before you bring up his recruitment of Andy Pettitte to the Astros I want you to go Wikipedia the name “Reggie Jackson.” Enough said.

Hey if the Cincinnati Reds can do it with Pete Rose then why can’t the Yankees, right?

This Day in New York Yankees History 5/29: Roger Clemens Strikes Out 10 Batters, Again

On this day in 2002 the New York Yankees Roger Clemens becomes the third major league pitcher to strike out 10 or more batters in at least 100 games. Nolan Ryan did it 215 times and Randy Johnson did it 175 times.

Also on this day in 2000 the Oakland Athletics second baseman, and former Yankee, Randy Velarde completed the tenth unassisted triple play in Major League history. The New York Yankees had runners on first and second when Shane Spencer hits a line drive to Velarde who catches the ball, tags out Jorge Posada, and then tagged Tino Martinez to complete the triple play. No, CC Sabathia was not on the mound for the play.

Finally on this day in 1997 the Hideki Irabu Era started in the Bronx with the New York Yankees. The Padres sent Irabu to the Yankees to complete an April 22nd trade that sent Gordon Amerson and Homer Bush to New York in exchange for Rafael Medina, Ruben Rivera, and $3 million. Irabu was purchased by the Padres from the Chiba Lotte Mariners in January but refused to sign with San Diego, or any team not named the Yankees. In three years Irabu compiled a 29-20 record and was called a fat toad by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner once, publicly.

This Day In New York Yankees History 2/18: Roger Clemens Era Begins in the Bronx

On this day in 1999 the Toronto Blue Jays traded pitcher Roger Clemens to the New York Yankees for David Wells, Graeme Lloyd, and Homer Bush. The rest is history, no pun intended.

Major League Baseball Players Born on November, 12

As you can see by the graph below there were more than a few notable players in Major League Baseball history born on this day. That list includes the former corked bat using, PED abusing, home run hitting Sammy Sosa and former Yankees Homer Bush, Don Johnson, and Carl Mays.

Rk	Name	Born	ASG	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	W	L	ERA	WHIP	SO
1	Marcell Ozuna	1990	0	223	840	103	225	26	117	8	.268	.313	.433	.746						FLA
2	Adrian Nieto	1989	0	48	106	8	25	2	7	0	.236	.296	.340	.635						CHW
3	Mike Leake	1987	0	172	295	37	69	4	15	0	.234	.261	.325	.587	53	42	3.92	1.294	611	CIN
4	Cesar Jimenez	1984	0	78	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	2	3	4.32	1.426	55	SEA,PHI
5	Charlie Morton	1983	0	135	213	3	17	0	5	0	.080	.088	.099	.186	36	61	4.50	1.454	515	ATL,PIT
6	Aaron Heilman	1978	0	477	47	1	1	0	1	0	.021	.061	.021	.083	35	46	4.40	1.362	548	NYM,CHC,ARI
7	J.D. Smart	1973	0	44	3	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	1	3	5.35	1.426	31	WSN,TEX
8	Homer Bush	1972	0	409	1274	176	363	11	115	65	.285	.324	.358	.682						NYY,TOR,FLA
9	Randy Knorr	1968	0	253	676	82	153	24	88	0	.226	.278	.382	.660						TOR,HOU,FLA,TEX,WSN
10	Sammy Sosa	1968	7	2354	8813	1475	2408	609	1667	234	.273	.344	.534	.878						CHW,TEX,CHC,BAL
11	Donald Harris	1967	0	82	117	17	24	2	11	2	.205	.248	.282	.530						TEX
12	Mark Small	1967	0	16	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	1	5.92	1.890	16	HOU
13	Dave Otto	1964	0	109	20	0	4	0	4	0	.200	.200	.350	.550	10	22	5.06	1.568	144	OAK,CLE,PIT,CHC
14	Gary Thurman	1964	0	424	798	121	194	2	64	65	.243	.297	.299	.597						KCR,DET,SEA,NYM
15	Wilfredo Tejada	1962	0	18	40	2	10	0	4	0	.250	.279	.325	.604						WSN
16	Jeff Reed	1962	0	1234	3101	311	774	61	323	7	.250	.334	.361	.695						MIN,WSN,CIN,SFG,COL,CHC
17	Greg Gagne	1961	0	1798	5673	712	1440	111	604	108	.254	.302	.382	.684						MIN,KCR,LAD
18	Donnie Hill	1960	0	756	2307	276	594	26	228	22	.257	.308	.343	.651	0	0	0.00	1.000	1	OAK,CHW,ANA,MIN
19	Jody Davis	1956	2	1082	3585	364	877	127	490	7	.245	.307	.403	.710						CHC,ATL
20	Bruce Bochte	1950	1	1538	5233	643	1478	100	658	43	.282	.360	.396	.756						ANA,CLE,SEA,OAK
21	Ron Bryant	1947	0	206	291	27	48	0	20	0	.165	.210	.179	.389	57	56	4.02	1.384	509	SFG,STL
22	Al Schmelz	1943	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0					0	0	3.00	1.667	2	NYM
23	Damaso Blanco	1941	0	72	33	9	7	0	2	3	.212	.308	.242	.550						SFG
24	Joe Hoerner	1936	1	493	59	2	6	1	3	0	.102	.131	.169	.301	39	34	2.99	1.243	412	HOU,STL,PHI,ATL,KCR,TEX,CIN
25	Harry Hanebrink	1927	0	177	317	32	71	6	25	1	.224	.279	.315	.594						ATL,PHI
26	Don Johnson	1926	0	198	155	1	9	0	7	0	.058	.087	.065	.151	27	38	4.78	1.580	262	NYY,BAL,MIN,CHW,SFG
27	Andy Hansen	1924	0	271	118	11	12	0	3	0	.102	.209	.110	.319	23	30	4.22	1.411	188	SFG,PHI
28	Billy Reed	1922	0	15	52	4	13	0	0	0	.250	.264	.250	.514						ATL
29	Emerson Dickman	1914	0	125	110	12	16	1	4	0	.145	.210	.200	.410	22	15	5.33	1.590	126	BOS
30	Gene Lillard	1913	0	44	44	9	8	0	2	0	.182	.321	.205	.525	3	6	7.09	1.944	33	CHC,STL
31	Red Evans	1906	0	42	28	3	6	0	2	0	.214	.241	.214	.456	1	11	6.21	1.719	47	CHW,LAD
32	Herm Merritt	1900	0	20	46	3	17	0	6	1	.370	.396	.478	.874						DET
33	Carl Mays	1891	0	502	1085	113	291	5	110	1	.268	.313	.350	.663	207	126	2.92	1.207	862	BOS,NYY,CIN,SFG
34	Elmer Leonard	1888	0	5	7	3	2	0	2	0	.286	.375	.286	.661	2	2	2.84	1.895	10	OAK
35	Red McDermott	1888	0	5	15	2	4	0	0	1	.267	.313	.333	.646						DET
36	Clyde Goodwin	1886	0	4	5	0	1	0	0	0	.200	.200	.200	.400	0	2	4.43	1.478	9	MIN
37	Moonlight Graham	1877	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0										SFG
38	Ed Killian	1876	0	220	609	56	127	0	47	6	.209	.230	.268	.498	103	78	2.38	1.217	516	CLE,DET
39	Solly Salisbury	1876	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	13.50	2.833	0	PHI
40	Fred Raymer	1875	0	371	1380	95	301	1	101	50	.218	.242	.259	.501						CHC,ATL
41	Jack Ryan	1868	0	616	2192	245	476	4	189	32	.217	.249	.281	.529						LOU,ATL,LAD,BLO,STL,MIN
42	Harry DeMiller	1867	0	4	10	2	3	0	5	2	.300	.417	.300	.717	1	1	6.38	1.875	15	CHC
43	Pat Dealy	1861	0	131	469	71	113	2	34	45	.241	.275	.301	.576						STP,ATL,WNL,SYS
44	John Humphries	1861	0	98	364	34	52	0	6		.143	.188	.151	.339						SFG,WST
45	Bill Gleason	1858	0	798	3395	613	907	7	298	70	.267	.313	.327	.640						STL,PHA,LOU

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/11/2014.