Even at 54, Roger Clemens still hasn’t stopped thinking like a pitcher

Hearing Roger Clemens talk about pitching, it’s easy to forget that he’s about to turn 54 and that his next start isn’t in Game 7 of a postseason series or within the storied Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.

Clemens may have lost a bit off his fastball – though not as much as one might think – but he doesn’t appear to have lost any enthusiasm he has for his craft. He recognizes the physical limitations of pitching nine years after his retirement, but those constraints don’t appear to affect him psychologically.

A seven-time Cy Young Award winner, the 1986 American League MVP, a two-time World Series winner and 11-time All-Star whose 354 wins rank ninth all-time, Clemens headlines the roster of the Kansas Stars.

They debut in the National Baseball Congress World Series on Aug. 6, two days after Clemens’ birthday, with 27 former major-league players. The only non-MLB player is Clemens’ son Koby, a former Astros minor-leaguer who will catch Clemens in Wichita.

“You’ve got to keep your elasticity,” said Clemens, who won Cy Young Awards with Boston, Toronto, the Yankees and Houston. “Fortunately, I’ve been pretty blessed. I take pretty good care of myself. I enjoy throwing to the boys and different college guys who come to the house every January to get ready, and I’ll throw a little (batting practice).

“But this is a little different. This will be similar to what I did last year. I jumped down to Arizona in a league, and it was pretty competitive. It all sounds fun until you get out on the field and you’re trying to compete. You’re asking your body to do things it might normally not be able to do.”

Josh Beckett, another Stars pitcher and two-time World Series champion, is responsible for convincing Clemens to play. Clemens was an easy sell, but he playfully warned Beckett, who retired after the 2014 season, about opponents half most of the Stars’ ages.

“A little (less) than half my age,” Clemens said.

But unlike some of his teammates, Clemens, the oldest player on the Stars’ roster by more than 10 years over 43-year-old pitchers Brett Tomko and Jason Isringhausen, doesn’t need to work himself back into pitching shape.

Clemens pitched 24 major-league seasons and won his final Cy Young in 2004, 18 years after his first. He had a career-best 1.87 ERA at age 42 and has never stopped throwing – sometimes competitively, sometimes not. Asking about his velocity somehow remains a valid question.

“I’ve still got a couple weeks to kind of stretch it out a little bit,” said Clemens, who led the league in strikeouts five times and twice struck out a record 20 batters in one game. “I would imagine at least in the mid-80s, if not getting it close to 90.”

It’s certain Clemens will use the days before his first Stars appearance to maximize his potential performance. He is noted for his intense workouts and ability to stay healthy, as he made at least 29 starts in 18 of his final 20 full seasons, and he emerged from nearly a quarter-century career with a healthy right arm. He has pitched in independent baseball and other leagues since his major-league retirement in 2007.

“I’ve been throwing off a mound,” Clemens said. “I think my shoulder and elbow will be fine, it’s my legs I have to worry about. I had that worry when I made my other comebacks.”

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Clemens has been accused of maintaining his health and excelling later in his career with help from performance-enhancing drugs. He was named in the 2007 Mitchell Report that outlined the baseball-wide issue and his trainer, Brian McNamee, has said he injected Clemens with an anabolic steroid.

Clemens, known for an intense personality and fiery demeanor, has repeatedly denied steroid use. He was acquitted of perjury charges in 2012 after he testified before a Congressional committee that he never used performance-enhancing drugs.

The suspicions have kept Clemens out of the Hall of Fame in his first four years of eligibility. He earned 45 percent of the vote this winter, more than the previous three years but still well short of the 75 percent needed for induction.

“I have zero control over that,” Clemens said. “It’s something that you really don’t bat an eye at with what’s going on.”

Part of the appeal of playing in Wichita for many of the Stars is leaving behind the narratives and pressure that surrounded their careers. That’s almost certainly true for Clemens, who will catch up soon with former teammates such as Adam Everett and Roy Oswalt.

And he’ll get to pitch, which for someone who threw 31 shutouts during one six-season stretch, is really what it’s all about.

“It’s going to be, I think, a great deal of fun,” Clemens said. “I’m going to have an opportunity to throw to Koby again and see the guys. I enjoy it. I don’t know if my body’s going to enjoy it, we’ll be pretty sore after it’s done.

“I think it’s going be fun for the fans, fun for the (tournament). It looks like there’s some good golfing in the area, so we’ll go with that and we’ll make the most of it.”

This story was originally published July 30, 2016 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Even at 54, Roger Clemens still hasn’t stopped thinking like a pitcher."