“I know he’s coming, he hit me square in my chest, the spring training game” - Derek Jeter opens up about one time he got hit by Roger Clemens and the toughness of the game back in the day
Derek Jeter faced a variety of pitchers throughout his illustrious career with the New York Yankees. The Hall of Fame shortstop compiled 3,465 hits in his Major League career, and that's not even including the 200 hits he notched through all of his playoff games, and he has acquired those hits from a variety of pitchers ranging from fireballers to knuckleballers of all shapes and sizes. However, on the Knuckleheads podcast from the Player's Tribune, Derek Jeter revealed the toughest, most intimidating pitcher he ever faced.
Derek Jeter, on the Knuckleheads podcast revealed that the most intimidating pitcher he had ever faced was Roger Clemens
During the first segment of the podcast hosted by Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles, the hosts got right to the point, asking Jeter which pitchers busted him up during his career. Derek Jeter scanned the entire database of his career and arrived at two powerful Major League Basbeall legends. "You had the old-school guys, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens. They were intimidating...Rocket would hit you with no hesitation."
Roger Clemens was known for being incredibly aggressive while on the mound.
"He weighed 250 pounds," exclaimed Derek Jeter, "so you couldn't even charge the mound."
He was referred to by some Major Leaguers as a psychopath, as he fearlessly threw inside and had no reservations about throwing at an opposing hitter's head (something that would merit a minimum of two-games suspension, regardless of if the ball made contact or not). A loose cannon, Clemens was as dominant on the mound as he was crazy. The right-handed Texan won seven Cy Young Awards (one in each year that he pitched in - 1986, 1987, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2001, and 2004) in his career that started with the Boston Red Sox and involved two stints with the New York Yankees. Clemens struck out 4,672 hitters during his career, and he won the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1986. He also helped Derek Jeter win two World Series championships in 1999 and 2000.
The 2000 season was quite an interesting journey for Clemens as he gave New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza (who was slugging a mythical .955 against Clemens in his career) a concussion after drilling him with a pitch in the head.
The two would meet again in the 2000 World Series where Clemens didn't throw a pitch at Piazza...he threw a bat as a piece of Piazza's broken bat grounder was picked up by Clemens and hurled at the Hall of Fame catcher as he was running to first. Safe to say Derek was right, Clemens was certainly intimidating.