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March 6, 2008

Schrodinger's Bat

Hitters v. Clemens

by Dan Fox

"No athlete goes through what Roger Clemens has put himself through in terms of conditioning and hard work not to win. Whatever your opinion of Clemens, there's never been any doubt about his competitive nature.
--from the Introduction to Facing Clemens by Jonathan Mayo

I'm sure Jonathan Mayo never anticipated that statements like these from his newly released book, Facing Clemens: Hitters on Confronting Baseball's Most Intimidating Pitcher, would be read in such a different light just months after he penned them. Surely there is, even now, no question about The Rocket's competitive nature. However, as the legal wrangling goes on and on, the questions now revolve around the exact makeup of that legendary workout regime. But Mayo, a senior writer for MLB.com who typically writes about the minor leagues, can hardly be blamed for picking a subject in Roger Clemens that not long ago seemed ideal for a book examining the inner workings of the confrontation between hitter and pitcher. After all, what could be more interesting than picking the minds of hitters who faced arguably the best pitcher of his era?

In short, Facing Clemens is a look at what it's like to compete against Clemens from the perspective of thirteen hitters who faced him at various points in his and their careers. Beginning with Dave Magadan, whose University of Alabama Crimson Tide faced off against Clemens' University of Texas squad in the 1983 College World Series, Mayo takes us all the way through the 2007 season with Torii Hunter's final three--ultimately unproductive--plate appearances that capped his unbroken string of futility. Along the way we hear from Hall of Famers like Cal Ripken Jr. and future member Ken Griffey Jr., star players including Gary Carter, Chipper Jones, and Luis Gonzales, to lesser-known hitters like Daryl Hamilton and Phil Bradley (Clemens' 20th strikeout victim in his 1986 record-setting performance), and finally culminating with the story of minor leaguer Johnny Drennan who homered off of Clemens during the pitcher's minor league stint in 2006 as well as Clemens' son Koby.