Wednesday, June 07, 2006

A story to tell the grandkids


The Rocket




If you haven't heard about Roger Clemens coming out of retirement again, then you haven't been watching the news. Roger Clemens, no surprise, couldn't stay retired again. But the cool thing about it, is now he begins his comeback in the minor leagues. Arguably the greatest active pitcher, Roger Clemens pitched for the Single A Lexington Legends last night. I think it demonstrates one of the cool things about baseball. Major League stars every once in a while come back and play a few games in the minors to rehab. Thus, players and fans alike get to see people like Roger Clemens play baseball. Personally, it reminds me a couple of great nights in the bold new city Jackson, Mississippi. Back in the day when the Astros Double A team was located in Jackson, it was a always a big night when a major leaguer would do a rehab assignment in town. Partly because nothing is ever going on in Jackson anyway, so anything is a big deal, but partly because its just cool. I mean who can forget when Steve Finley or Jeff Bagwell came and played for the might Jackson Generals. Smith Wills was packed.

Anyway, in the first inning, some Single A Indians prospect named Johnny Drennen took Roger Clemens deep. Who knows, maybe this guy will make it to the majors one day, but most don't. The point is, little ole Johnny Drennen gets to tell everyone that he hit a homerun off Roger Clemens. Needless to say, the Rocket fanned him in the 3rd inning, but regardless, it had to be pretty neat.

2 Comments:

At 12:11 PM, Blogger Alex said...

beautiful...u stole my blog idea, i definitely thought that story was awesome...if i was that kid who hit that home run off clemens, i would have run straight to the outfield and find that ball...how many balls can you wall that say "homer off Roger Clemens".....maybe he'll find it on ebay??

 
At 9:41 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree that in any small town that whenever a major leaguer comes on a rehab assignment or for some other reason to play, it always makes for an exciting night.

I think the main attraction of minor league baseball (to me at least) is to be able to go to the park and see these young kids and then follow them for the rest of their careers. Almost every time I watch Baseball Tonight I see someone who I recognize from either the Jackson Mets (the list is too long to name) and Generals (Bobby Abreu, Lance Berkman, etc.) or more recently the M-Braves (McCann, Francouer).

Who could forget watching Mookie Wilson get married on the field of Smith-Wills before one of the games, with his teammates (Strawberry, Dykstra, Kevin Mitchell, etc. serving as groomsmen), then just a short time later hit the infamous ball under Buckner's legs ("There's a slow roller to first. It's behind the bag!" - Al Michaels)?

I would argue that the countless stories like that and the one you wrote about are the real appeal of minor league baseball.

 

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