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ALSO SEE
A look back: Wood fans 20
Most dominating pitching performances
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Monday, April 30, 2001
Roger Clemens: Playing by the numbers
By John McCollister
Special to ESPN.com
Baseball, more than any other sport, is enhanced by statistics. Even the most casual fan can cite certain key numbers:
|  | | Roger Clemens was the first major leaguer to strike out 20 in a nine-inning game. |
60 - the home runs hit by Babe Ruth in 1927;
61 - Roger Maris' home runs in 1961 (minus the asterisk);
70 - the homers slugged by Mark McGwire in 1998;
755 - the record for career home runs by Hank Aaron;
56 - the record-setting number of consecutive games in which Joe DiMaggio hit safely in 1941.
All these numbers involve hits. Long hits, for the most part.
But the lure of baseball consists of more than a Louisville Slugger meeting horsehide. Pitching, too, has its owns numbers of distinction.
Fifteen years ago, one man proved just that.
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ESPN Classic
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Monday at 9 p.m. ET - Classic Day in History: Roger Clemens' first 20-strikeout game
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Roger Clemens, a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, was in the early stages en route to the Cy Young and MVP Awards that year with a league-leading 24 wins and a 2.48 ERA.
Less than 14,000 fans braved the chilling temperatures that night as the 23-year-old sensation took the mound in Fenway Park against the Seattle Mariners.
Clemens began the evening with every indication that he meant business. The first three batters he faced -- Spike Owen, Phil Bradley and Ken Phelps -- went down swinging. He notched two more strikeouts the next inning, then added another in the third.
Owen broke up Clemens' potential no-hitter in the fourth by lining a single to right. Clemens appeared to get angry -- so angry that he proceeded to strikeout the next eight batters, tying an American League record.
Dan Shaughnessy, sportswriter for The Boston Globe, wrote: "Watching the Mariners try to hit Clemens was like watching a stack of waste paper diving into a shredder."
Two more Mariners fell victim to strikeouts in the seventh. But Gormon Thomas sent a Clemens fastball into the first row of the center-field bleachers. The crowd groaned. Behind 1-0, would the Red Sox suffer another hard-luck loss?
This night, the "curse of the Bambino" was lifted -- at least temporarily. With two outs and no runners on base, the Boston bats came alive. A single, a walk, and a long home run off the bat of Dwight Evans, gave the Bosox a 3-1 lead.
Tension in the stands mounted as Clemens racked up two more strikeout victims in the eighth.
The temperature hovered close to 40 degrees, but the Boston faithful forgot about sipping hot chocolate and blowing on their hands to keep warm. They focused solely on the strapping 6'4", 220-pound right-hander toeing the rubber to begin the ninth inning.
Clemens struck out a swinging Spike Owen. That was number 19. The standing crowd immediately let out a cheer lasting two solid minutes. Their Roger Clemens had just tied the all-time, major-league record.
The fans just as quickly fell silent as the big native of Dayton, Ohio, stared at his catcher and began his wind-up. Mariner Outfielder Phil Bradley took a called strike one.
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Top K performances
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K's
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Date
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Opp
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Roger Clemens
Red Sox
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20
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4/29/86
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Mariners
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Roger Clemens
Red Sox
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20
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9/18/96
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Tigers
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Kerry Wood
Cubs
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20
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5/6/98
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Astros
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Steve Carlton
Phillies
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19
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9/15/69
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Mets
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Tom Seaver
Mets
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19
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4/22/70
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Padres
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Nolan Ryan
Angels
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19
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8/12/74
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Red Sox
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David Cone
Mets
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19
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10/6/91
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Phillies
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Randy Johnson
Mariners
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19
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6/24/97
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A's
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Randy Johnson
Mariners
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19
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8/8/97
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White Sox
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The crowd cheered, again.
"Strike two!" yelled home-plate umpire Vic Voltaggio.
Another cheer. Then silence. Dead silence.
Clemens pumped ... kicked ... delivered ...
"Strike three!"
The crowd, along with all of baseball, celebrated with gusto.
The last batter for Seattle grounded out to short. Boston won the game 3-1. But that was not the story that would create newspaper headlines. Those who were there that evening knew they had seen history in the making.
An analysis of Clemens' record that night makes his performance even more spectacular. He threw 138 pitches (97 for strikes) in breaking the major-league record of 19 strikeouts shared by Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton and Tom Seaver.
Adding to his prowess was the fact that Clemens did not walk a batter and gave up just three hits. He also struck out the side three times, allowed only 10 balls hit in play-only two of which were pulled.
On April 29, 1986, Roger Clemens was the toast of Boston. In 111 years of major-league baseball, he became the first pitcher ever to fan 20 batters in a nine-inning game.
Now, there's another number we'll never forget.
John McCollister is the author of The Bucs! The Story of the Pittsburgh Pirates and The Tigers and Their Den.
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