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01/22/2005: The Rocket isn't retiring....
Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros have agreed to a 1 year, $18 million contract. This makes Clemens the highest paid pitcher in MLB history. And, if Clemens's son has anything to say about it, Clemens will be pitching for a bit longer after next season:
[T]he Rocket didn't rule out pitching beyond 2005.The Clemens boys had more to say about things than just that, though:
"I always leave that percentage point open because you never know," Clemens said Friday after agreeing to a one-year deal that gives him the highest salary for a pitcher in baseball history.
His incentive to stick around could be a chance to pitch against his 18-year-old son.
"Today, I was walking out the door and my oldest one, Koby, said, 'Dad, don't say something, anything, about retiring, because I might be in the big leagues in a couple of years and I want a piece of you,'" Clemens said in a tone that was half-serious and half-humorous.
"That might have to be a comeback," added the seven-time Cy Young Award winner, who turns 43 in August.
"I thank my family. Last night there were some smiles, there were some tears," Clemens, dressed in a black T-shirt, said at a news conference on the Minute Maid Park field, adding that sons Koby and Kory helped talk him into playing again.
"Just remember what it sounded like here, Dad, when you took the mound and what it sounded like during the playoffs when we were winning," Clemens said they told him. "Baseball captured this city in a so-called football town."
He wistfully remembered being honored at halftime of a Houston Texans' game in November.
"You got 60,000 people chanting, 'One more year!' That stuck with me," he said.
Len on 01.22.05 @ 07:49 PM CST
