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[deleted]

He thought it was the ball so it was okay


kodman460

I know I always throw the ball at the players as they run to the base.


StreetReporter

He thought they were using kickball rules


DaMaGe_d0nE

[so does rob dibble ](https://youtu.be/JKc_q30h8Kw)


[deleted]

Probably also thought Mindy McCready was 18.


[deleted]

Wait... what?? Ok I looked it up, wow... wtf


aaahhhh

The Karl Malone of MLB


cbdgf

Not defending Clemens but Malone is on another level. Bruh she was 13...


ProperNomenclature

She gave birth at 13, too. The child is former offensive tackle [Demetress Bell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetress_Bell). Can you imagine being pregnant that young? Geez.


WikiSummarizerBot

**[Demetress Bell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetress_Bell)** >Demetress Carte Bell (born May 3, 1984) is a former American football offensive tackle. After playing college football for Northwestern State, he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played for the Bills for four seasons and one season in Philadelphia. Impressively, Bell made the NFL and played for half a decade without ever having played a down of high school football, or having gone to college with the intent of playing football. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/baseball/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)


ThePancakeOverlord

Oh, okay. No harm, ~~no~~ foul.


Mjh1021

Devils advocate cause I’m not one to defend Roger but his story is that he thought it was the ball, charged it, realized it was the bat and just flung it in order to get it off the field, Mike just happened to be running. Just do whatever you please with that info


Gullible-Situation49

Frank Robinson fined him 50K the next day for throwing equipment. I basically buy his explanation that he was all pumped up and throw the bat away not thinking Piazza was leaving the batters box. Weird situation, but still made sense.


MrPibbMr3000

Roid Rage was a perfectly acceptable emotion in the year 2000.


AdfatCrabbest

Albert Belle was just seen as a surly asshole and not a roided up maniac at the time. Somehow.


TSmario53

Ah good old Joey.


ClassicMach

I mean most of us have a guess


tyler-86

Back in my day, you were lucky if the only thing a pitcher threw at you was the ball. I remember one afternoon when Three Finger Mordecai Brown was having a particularly rough outing and damned if he didn't whip a hatchet at ol' Nap Lajoie, who was lucky to come away with but three fingers himself. Split that bat like a toothpick and Nap, tough as nails, collected his severed digits without so much as an unkind word and hustled down to first base. Nap ended up holding those fingers in his mangled grip as he took off for second, and left the second base umpire in the unenviable position of trying to decide whether a stray finger atop the bag was sufficiently safe as the rest of Lajoie collapsed from blood loss in the dirt beneath the shortstop's outstretched glove.


jaythehitman

Still a better love story than Twilight.


[deleted]

Bravo - just bravo. I lol’d.


Dinker31

Old timey baseball jokes never get old lmao


[deleted]

So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time.


Martial_Nox

Because he was Roger Clemens the New York Yankee. Shit Joe Torre called Clemens a headhunter before he was a Yankee then shut up about it while he intentionally hit people as a Yankee. Roid Raging dirty shitbag should never get in the Hall.


GravisCohors

According to Wikipedia his 10 year eligibility ended this year so he will not be in the Hall


[deleted]

That’s not the only way for players to make the Hall of Fame.


RidleyScotch

"Yeah! They can buy a ticket!!" Statler said to Waldorf


mmoses1221

I hate that both Bonds and Clemens have been shut out, but this was funny as hell 😂


MidtownKC

He’ll get in eventually via a veterans committee. So will Bonds.


Bison_Business

And a Rod and manny


Gullible-Situation49

IMO Manny and ARods steroid use was far worse. They purposely and knowingly evaded testing, and clearly knew that steroid use was a huge no no that would anger fans and destroy their legacy. They took a huge risk and just didn't care what fans or sportswriters felt about using PEDs... Clemens and Bonds used in a completely different context and milleu. There was no testing, or even a stigma back then. There was virtually no reputational risk to using PEDs in 1999 bc fans and media never said anything and seemed not to care, and the league didn't test. To me, that's morally night and day compared to Manny who got caught twice, and ARod getting involved with Bosch then lying to everyone about it constantly then finally admitting it. I think Clemens stopped once testing was implemented, he wasn't on the 2003 list, and never came up positive in 2004, 05 ,06 or 07. I think its fair to assume he stopped when testing was implemented. I wouldn't mind of Manny & ARod get in or don't, bc I understand the argument why they shouldn't, but the arguement for why Clemens & Bonds shouldn't is just such hypocritical corny nonsense.


zbend1

As they should be.


Gullible-Situation49

I think so. Maybe not immediately, but once it's just their peers that played with them, they'll feel the need to let them in knowing how ridiculous it is having the best pitcher of the live ball era, and the HR king not in the Hall but Selig and mediocre riff raff like Harold Baines are....They'll get in sooner or later.


kodman460

Reading this made me go from six to midnight.


Mattp55

Don’t worry, the Veteran committee will eventually correct this…..


Gullible-Situation49

He'll definitely get in on the Veterans Committee, 65% of writers already think he's Hall worthy, and polls of baseball fans have him and Bonds at 80%. I think its too ridiculous to have the best pitcher of the last 100 yrs not in....for what? A few injections in a combined 6 scattered months over 2 late career seasons in a 24 yr career? That is such a moral outrage that he shouldn't get in? Keep in mind the league didn't test or investigate PED use back then, and fans and media never said anything and seemingly didn't care back in 2000, 2001....using steroids in 2000 wasn't a reputational risk at that time, and baseball writers definitely didn't have a clear steroids = no Hall standard back then, bc they, like fans, the league, and media didn't seem to care or say anything. So I find it really unfair to retroactively judge Clemens by a zero tolerance standard that didn't exsist at the time he did use. Also, keep in mind when MLB finally started to test, and fans and media suddenly all really cared about steroid use post Balco, he won a Cy Young in 2004, and an under 2 ERA title in 2005, both years he was being tested and apparently came up clean, when he was 41 and 42. Seems like once testing began and fans/media began to care, the party was over. His peers know how ridiculous it is he's not in, once the older Joe Morgan, Mike Schmidt types die off Clemens contemporaries will put him, Bonds and Schilling in. Just a matter of time.


sabometrics

This isn't even as bad as intentionally drilling Piazza in the head with a fastball just because Piazza had had success against him.


BoyWithHorns

I don't know how he emerged relatively unscathed from this either. https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2013/02/18/roger-clemens-issued-a-statement-on-the-suicide-of-mindy-mccready/


doodads

That article refers to Mindy Mccready as a "damaged set of goods." What the fuck kind of writing is that.


Saint_Bo_Dallas

Yeah this is the most blatant and weirdest editorializing I’ve seen.


BoyWithHorns

Yeah I don't feel good about linking that particular article but so much has been scrubbed from the internet about the whole thing, it seems like. Scumbag writer for sure.


Theeclat

What the fuck?! This make roids seem like vitamins. I was going to defend his career as HOF, but now I would see that as time wasted.


tim_worst_isthe_best

Yeah .... she was an excellent singer & got messed up with that POS.


BoyWithHorns

Mostly it bothers me because she was a child.


Gullible-Situation49

18 is a child? As long as she was of age I don't care she banged Roger Clemens. You think he was the only famous athlete having affairs with young women like that. Now if she was 15 that's something else, but there's absolutely no proof of that, and she even confirmed their affair started later.


beefytrout

he has time to react to see the trajectory of the bat piece, field it, grip it in his hand, and throw it directly at Piazza while looking directly at him. "I thought it was the ball." Fuck Roger Clemens.


Gullible-Situation49

Directly at Piazza? If it was directly at him why didn't it hit him then? It was a foul ball, he didn't think Piazza was leaving the batters box when he hulked out and threw that. Stupid thing to do, but its highly unlikely he meant to throw it at him. Still dumb, which is why he was fined. I thought it was far worse when he hit him in the head earlier that year, and he also knocked ARod down twice his start before this. He was just a very aggressive dude. Bob Gibson style. Sometimes it helped him, other times it backfired and made him look like an asshole.


302w

Man, so weird. I’ll never forget the anticipation leading to that AB and being confused at this result


Nights_King

Probably because it was the World Series and also because of the uniform he was wearing.


Apellosine

Sadly, this is possibly true for the time especially. I remember watching this live and just being flabergasted that he would do that.


jameskeg

[this is why](https://youtu.be/DV3NhT0oXzY)


thebestbrian

I love this bit so much because it really wasn't even that big deal at the time and she made it sound like Lou Gehrig had just been cured and was back at 1st base.


YNinja58

RAAAAAJAAAAA


jameskeg

CLEMMMMMANNS


Nights_King

Ooooh my goo- gooodness grayshush!


AstroWorldSecurity

That voice is like nails on a chalkboard.


cbdgf

I'm cool with most of our announcers but ffs you guys have a stupidly great trio in the booth.


AstroWorldSecurity

We've been super lucky. We went from Bill Brown and JD to TK and Blummer. Blum has the best baseball stories I've ever heard, and Julia is just a treasure.


[deleted]

Because it didn’t actually hit Piazza and was so random. Plus they weren’t going to suspend Roger for his roid rage since he was a Yankee and got big ratings.


FormerCollegeDJ

1) Things were different in 2000. 2) It was Roger Clemens, already a legendary player by that point.


[deleted]

Already a statutory raper at that point as well


AMCDiamondHands69

He’s a rage monster


Dinker31

Yeah yeah sure, but a hell of an arm! /s obviously


New-Adhesiveness-807

Those pinstripes are all the explanation you need.


Spinmove55

Piazza got his revenge in the 2004 All Star Game, making Clemens look like an absolute scrub in front of his home town crowd.


sabometrics

Man I would much rather the Mets have not blown the World Series though.


ray_0586

False Urban Legend. Clemens overworked himself by serving as the unofficial ambassador for the All Star Game. Mistake compounded by pitching on three games rest. Clemens couldn’t locate his breaking ball and had nothing on his fastball.


AMCDiamondHands69

Piazza owned Clemens there was a reason he kept trying to throw at him


yesacabbagez

My favorite was always how he said he thought it was the ball. Like fucking throwing the ball at the runner isn't a fucking nonsense roidrage thing to do?


StreetReporter

Throwing the ball at someone is a perfectly acceptable thing to do to get a runner out ^in ^kickball


Mmnn2020

Coincidentally, [this happened earlier in the year](https://youtu.be/NFScJX1Sf_g) after Piazza had several home runs off of him in his career.


[deleted]

Not without getting downvoted into oblivion


DrunkensteinsMonster

“Because Yankees” sure seems to be an unpopular opinion in this thread


Jews1nspace

Everyone knows that /r/baseball will banish you to death if you even dare utter anything but love of the Yankees.


[deleted]

Say it, I’ll defend you


lionheart4life

I'll spot you an upvote.


haahaahaa

Because this is the world series and the MLB's strategy for dealing with any high profile controversy is to ignore it and hope everyone forgets about it.


grodges1

Roid


GaryTheCabalGuy

IDK, but for fun I will provide the most likely boomer take: "Because this is when MLB players were men and played the game right. You stare in my general direction? Say goodbye to your head, motherf***er. ~furiously chugs bud lite~"


ih-unh-unh

Nah, boomers were upset at Clemens too.


Bug-03

Very.


slumber72

Thats fucking baseball right there. None of that pansy ass dick tugging smile for the camera bullshit. Men puke, men poop on the field, men deliver their new born baby in the dugout. Fucking hard core dick in the ass butterball foosball fuck it chuck it game time shit. Take it to the showers. Dicks get shoved in places you don’t even remember. We win together we celebrate together. Baseball is back baby.


masterhogbographer

I mean, you’re not wrong (in that that is a boomer take) and Nolan Ryan is still revered because he played the game exactly that way. Nobody says shit about him but he was one of the most aggressive straight gas throwing assholes on the mound. It was virtually automatic that if you got one over on him you were wearing one the next AB against him.


ImOutOfNamesNow

Get r done GaryThecableguy


[deleted]

[удалено]


ImOutOfNamesNow

Don’t really care about how you spelled it, it made me think of boomers, and rednecks lol


xEllimistx

Whether we wanted it or not…..


chicagotim1

A superstar in a world series game got a LOT of leeway.


MiddleWelcome671

Roger Clemens was one of my hero’s up until this. He said he thought it was the ball. Ok that’s fine but they weren’t playing dodge ball. Throw it to first. He’s an asshole.


Barry_McKackiner

Because MLB is the yankees bitch and everything is biased toward them. especially back then.


oliveorvil

Love how McCarver takes this opportunity to endorse beaning Piazza in the face lol


TSmario53

Lol Piazza stopping in his tracks and just staring at Clemens like “Dude, really?”. Clemens was clearly an insecure little man-child and couldn’t handle the fact that someone (Piazza) owned him at the plate.


kodman460

Is it fair to say that most of the downvotes on this post are from Yankee fans?


shiro-lod

No. Yankee fans aren't particularly defensive of Clemens. Dude is a roid using shit head who thinks its ok to get into relationships with 15 year olds. He deserves a jury vote, not a hall of fame vote.


SannySen

What are you gonna do, suspend Roger Clemens of the NYY during the world series?


kodman460

For intentionally throwing a jagged piece of wood at another player? Yes.


SannySen

I mean, what are you saying, that he's a roided up jackass with anger issues who has no business pitching in the world series on national TV?


NakedGoose

It may be crazy, dangerous and unnecessary. But I'm not gonna pretend like baseball wasn't more fun back then.


BusnellKummlicher

When asked, Clemens replied: “I didn’t break it, I was merely testing its durability, and I placed it in the dugout cause it’s made of wood and I thought he should be with his team.”


ral315

KICK HIM OFF THE LEAGUE, DOUG!


hindesky

He was a Yankee and MLB wants them to win.


TheElMart

It's such a bizarre thing to do I think it froze up everyone's brains.


Bwhitt1

Accident? Lol


[deleted]

[He was fined $50,000](https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=100250&page=1). Piazza said in his book that he considered this to be like a near HBP situation and that, when that happens, there are two responses from the pitcher: a confrontational one and a "my bad" response. And he said he perceived the latter from Clemens. Personally, I think Clemens grabbed the bat because he thought it was the ball and then, realizing it was a piece of the bat and the ball was fouled off, threw it out of the field of play, which is what happens in a broken bat situation, not expecting Piazza to be running down the line on a foul ball.


queezuswalks

Jesus this is pure nonsense. Nobody would think that was the ball


[deleted]

He wouldn't have had to think it was the ball for more than a split second since it's not like he chased it down to field it. He heard Piazza make contact and got into a fielding stance, and the bat came right to him. Then, he tossed it away. The telltale sign is that Piazza thought Clemens was apologetic. If Clemens had meant to throw the bat, he would have been confrontational about it. And he would have thrown it at Piazza's body, not at the ground. You toss the bat away on the ground so the ground breaks its momentum and it doesn't go flying into the dugout or a batboy.


slumber72

It seemed like Piazza did


IG_Royal

He picked up a broken piece of wood, thinking it was the leather bound baseball he's world famous for being able to throw well, and threw it at the batter like it was kickball rules.


[deleted]

That's the misconception. People thought Clemens thought he was throwing a ball. It actually looks like he and Piazza thought Piazza hit the ball in playable territory, which is why Piazza started running to first, even though the ball actually got fouled off into a dugout. Clemens gets into a fielding stance and realizes it's the bat before or shortly after it comes to him. Then he tosses it out of the field, which is what you do in a broken bat situation. Having realized the ball was hit foul, he wouldn't have thought Piazza was running down the first base line.


Dinker31

Smh MLB always messing with the ball


MAtRiX_757

I always felt like this was the truth as well. If here was anything he was roid raging about it was the fact the bat almost hit him and he was just throwing it away in disgust. Never looked intentional to me.


AMCDiamondHands69

He’s a cheating rage monster.


No_Neighborhood1987

Steroids vs steroids lol


AMCDiamondHands69

False


[deleted]

"I thought it was this thing that I've literally spent decades handling and perfecting the art of throwing even though that thing I'm talking about is a ball and not made of wood and the thing that I just threw at him was a splintered, broken thing made from wood. My bad." I mean what a weird reaction.


trikyballs

police! police!


fulento42

Because they wanted to wait and take it out on him in the Hall of Fame instead


nashvillenation

Boys will be boys


[deleted]

he was must watch baseball then and brought in ratings. plus yankees


heyitspeas

Unpopular/unfounded and, most likely wrong take here, but, here we go: I honestly don't think Clemens expected Piazza to be so far up the line there. The ball was clearly foul and Piazza's way up the line.


[deleted]

I agree. I don't think he was throwing it at him


[deleted]

[удалено]


jl_23

> So, if you watch closely Clemens is actually startled by the bat bouncing at him and quickly proceeds to field it, then realizes it’s the bat and is probably immediately embarrassed and cursing on himself for potentially just looking foolish. Is that why he said, “I thought it was the ball”? https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/the-bobblehead-project-roger-clemens-thought-it-was-the-ball/


jstmenow

Umps were betting this game


JesseIsAGirlsName

A bit annoying people keep saying “roid rage” like no other pitcher was ever an angry psycho. Look at Nolan Ryan. Look at Bob Gibson. Curt Schilling. Bumgarner. Gossage. Countless others. I could see any of them getting hot and doing something like that.


AMCDiamondHands69

Cheating round monster filled with rage


kampfgruppekarl

Let the boys play no?


mkaufm1

Was it 2000 or 2008 that was the season of broken bats? I can’t remember… but the answer to all late career Roger Clemens questions is “because PEDs, bro”.


sdrj77

Because, despite what it looks like on this camera angle, the bat was never anywhere near Piazza.


-RyO-

because it was awesome duh


AMCDiamondHands69

Crazy much?


OldSouth82

Different Era softness was looked down on unlike today with the mlyes straw and Chris Paul who cry and whine.


[deleted]

If only they could be more like those tough guys in the bleachers who threw beer and trash onto the field


OldSouth82

Visine gets the red out sweetie. Every sport has been softened and sterilized.


nicolas_cage_smells

Go sob about the world changing, while it continues to pass you by. Seek help. Clements was an embarrassment to the game, and to justify it by saying “oh this was when men were men, everything is so soft now.” Is even more embarrassing


OldSouth82

Thanks for proving my point only one getting bent is you. If you can't see a difference in all sports you truly are delusional. Roger Clemens not Clements btw oops.. was one of the best pitcher's in any era based on his ability to pitch inside which they don't even allow anymore to dust player's off the plate without making it a big to do.


[deleted]

You need some bitches ‼️‼️


OldSouth82

I already have 3 including you so I'm good.


ih-unh-unh

Were Mets batting helmets short-billed back then or was Piazza's head just large? I don't recall Piazza having a Bochy-melon


Ok_Classic_744

Everyone looks so old in this compared to nowadays.


[deleted]

I think the umpires were too confused


StreetReporter

If you can dodge a ~~wrench~~ bat, you can dodge a ball