Roger Clemens can be a polarizing figure for many who follow baseball. Nevertheless, he was an overpowering mound presence with record numbers in many MLB pitching categories.
Long before “The Rocket” pitched for the Houston Astros, in the middle part of the first decade of this century, he and his wife, Debra, had four kids, all boys. I guess if you’re third all-time in strikeouts (4,672), you’ve gotta grow an affinity to Ks. It wouldn’t do for Roger’s boys to be named honoring bases on balls: Walt, Wesley, William or (gasp!) Walker (and we could certainly rule out Homer, not to mention Loss or Early Hook).
Thankfully, they weren’t. Speaking of thanks, Debra is no doubt appreciative of Roger not wanting to match kids with career Ks. Falling 4,668 kids short, though, Roger and Debra were blessed with Kody, Kacy, Kory, and Koby.
More than a couple of them have circled the bases on various diamonds, and a couple even had Astros ties.
Large Papi
Roger Clemens, 56, was born on August 4, 1962, in Dayton, Ohio. In 1984, he made his MLB debut with the Boston Red Sox, who drafted him 19th overall the year before out of the University of Texas in Austin.
In 1986, he reached a 24-4 record, earned the American League Cy Young Award and was named Most Valuable Player. In 2004, after stepping out of retirement, he pitched for the Astros.
Over the next three years, he led Houston to its first-ever World Series, with the Astros being swept by the Chicago White Sox, in 2005. He returned to the New York Yankees in 2007 (after five seasons for NY and two with Toronto before his Houston stint) for his final season.
Clemens actually took the mound in 2012 (at the age of 50) for the Sugar Land Skeeters, an Atlantic League of Professional Baseball team in Houston’s suburbs. Clemens’ fastball, clocked as high as 88 mph, had the Astros sending scouts to both of his outings with the Skeeters, considering a possible return to the team for that season, but nothing came of it.
In Clemens’ second start for the Skeeters in September 2012, against the Long Island Ducks, he pitched 4 .2 scoreless innings, with his son, Koby, catching. He got former New York Mets outfielder (and eight-year MLB veteran) Timo Perez for the final out in the fourth inning and was named the winning pitcher by the official scorer. Perez had faced Clemens before, going 0-for-4 against him in the second game of the 2000 World Series when Clemens pitched for the crosstown Yankees.
The elder Clemens retired the first two hitters in the fifth before he hugged his son and headed to the dugout to a standing ovation.
Koby Aaron Clemens
Koby, the oldest of the four Clemens boys, was born a scant few weeks after his dad won both the 1986 AL Cy Young Award and MVP with the Red Sox. Now 31, Koby became an eighth-round draft pick for Houston in that 2005 NL Championship year. He had signed to attend UT and play for the Longhorns but opted to begin his pro career in Houston’s system, instead.
He played baseball and football at Memorial High School in Houston but gave up football after a back injury. He hit .413 as a junior with four home runs and 23 RBIs for the Mustangs in 2004.
In 2009, Koby won the California League batting title with Houston’s Advanced-A Lancaster team, hitting .345 and leading all of MiLB in RBIs with 123.
He finished the 2009 season as Offensive Player of the Year for the Astros’ organization. In 2010, the 5’11”, 210-pound catcher was awarded Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks’ Co-Player of the Year, leading the team in home runs, RBIs, doubles, runs scored, and slugging. He never played a major league inning and retired after signing as a free agent with the Toronto Blue Jays for 2012, and finished his career in their system.
Koby is currently a coach in the Houston Astros system and runs Koby Clemens Baseball Clinics.
Kory Allen Clemens
“Batter up” has a different meaning for Kory, a trained chef. Eschewing the diamond, Kory, 29, has built his life around cooking and being a restaurateur. In 2013, he opened Houston’s Katch 22, an upscale sports bar (featuring bacon-wrapped quail) near Memorial Park, just west of downtown proper.
Despite splashy parties and events that brought in sports celebrities such as retired New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter, and dignitaries like former President George HW Bush, the year-old restaurant shuttered in 2014.
Kacy Austin Clemens
For Kacy and Kody, what their dad did for a living has colored just about every part of their lives, according to the April 11, 2016, San Antonio Express-News. Some of it, like skipping school to go to Spring Training and Disney World, was cool. Some of it, the taunts and jeers they initially didn’t understand, was maddening. The rest, like hanging out with Jeter and living as millionaires, always seemed normal.
Kacy, who just turned 24, was drafted out of UT by Toronto in the eighth round of the 2017 draft. He currently plays first base for the Blue Jays’ Advanced-A Florida State League Dunedin affiliate. The 6’2″, 200-pound left-handed hitter has the square-jawed countenance of a Clemens and is batting .206 with 10 doubles and four homers with a .600 OPS after 233 ABs with Dunedin.
“We’d get so mad,” Kacy said of those long-ago days when Roger took the mound in a Houston coach-pitch Little League. “He was actually trying to let them hit. But we would think he was striking them out on purpose, because that’s what he did for a living.”
As frustration grew in the home dugout, two of the only hitters to make contact that day decided they’d seen enough. So 6-year-old Kacy and 4-year-old Kody went to their father and told him to knock it off.
“When I was 4, I thought there were only two careers in life,” Kacy told the Express-News. “You were either a fan or a player. I wanted to be a player.”
Both Kacy and Kody served as regular batboys for the Yankees and Astros. One of Kody’s earliest memories is scooping dirt off the Yankee Stadium mound after Roger’s 300th victory in 2003.
As you might imagine (and the Clemens clan acknowledges) the two former Longhorns are not unlike their father. The intensity Roger regularly displayed in showdowns against the Mets or the Red Sox occasionally flashed in Kacy and Kody when they were facing the Aggies or the Sooners.
Kody Alec Clemens
Kody, 22, drafted just a few weeks ago by the Detroit Tigers in the third round, is beginning his pro career at second base with Detroit’s Class A Midwest League West Michigan Whitecaps. Through July 26, he’s hitting .265 with two doubles, three homers, and an .802 OPS in 23 games.
July 31, father pitched to son, as Roger was spotted throwing BP to Kody before that night’s Whitecaps game, according to the broadcast voice of the ‘Caps, Dan Hasty!
Prior to the draft, MLB Pipeline ranked the fourth-year junior as the 179th-ranked player available.
Kody showed power from the left side of the plate with UT this season, leading the Big 12 with 19 home runs on his way to becoming the conference player of the year. Kody was actually drafted in the 35th round out of Memorial High by the Astros in 2015. He started pulling more pitches and developed more pop in his bat with the Longhorns to move up 32 rounds in his selection by Detroit.
This past season, Kody helped the Longhorns claim the Big 12 Conference regular season title, before sweeping the Austin Regional and winning the Austin Super Regional to advance to the 2018 College World Series. This extended their record for most appearances in Omaha to 36. The Longhorns had not reached the ultimate event in college baseball since 2014.
In the July 25 Austin American-Statesman, Kody reflected on his upbringing: “My older brothers taught me a lot, and I still use that knowledge today. My dad taught me a lot. To have all boys in the family was a lot of fun,” he said. “As soon as I got an offer from UT, I immediately knew I was going there. My dad went there and my older brother was there.
“Being on the field and knowing your dad is up there watching you play the game that he loved is an awesome feeling,” Kody proudly continued. “When I grow up and have a family, I definitely want to be watching my kids play baseball. I bet it’s a really good feeling for him. I bet he is loving it.”
Longtime Houston Astros fans remember the countless years when annual triple-digit losses kept Astros caps and t-shirts hidden deep in our closets.
Now, Astro-bling of all types can be seen by just walking around Texas! The Astros' goal for 2020? To re-visit the magic of '17 and find a finger for championship ring #2!
As the Houston Astros Correspondent for TRS, it's been a blast meeting new fans and new friends, all of whom know where to turn for Astro news, prospect profiles, historical perspective, and a few surprises!
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