Roger Clemens returned to Houston’s Minute Maid Park on Saturday, not to see one of his old clubs, but to take the mound at age 61.
Pitching for the Savannah Bananas, a breakthrough team, the Texas native received a shower of applause when he made a surprise relief appearance.
‘Eleven-time Major League All-Star, two-time World Series champion and seven-time Cy Young Award winner: The Rocket, Roger Clemens!’ announced the MC, who happened to be wearing a team-colored yellow tuxedo and a matching top hat.
Clemens then emerged from the dugout wearing a yellow T-shirt with “Rocket” emblazoned on the back.
The former Red Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees and Astros ace lumbered to the mound and warmed up before quickly delivering an RBI single to another novelty team, the Party Animals.
Savannah Bananas reliever Roger Clemens takes the mound at Minute Maid Park
Roger Clemens greets the crowd in Houston, where he once pitched for the Astros
Roger Clemens (right) joined his friend and fellow Texan Andy Pettitte (left) in Houston in 2004.
Clemens recovered, however, and induced a dribbler to the mound, which he relayed to first to end the inning.
And Clemens wasn’t the only former Astros player in attendance. Former Houston stars Roy Oswalt and Josh Reddick also appeared Saturday night.
The Bananas were founded in 2016 as a member of the Coastal Plains League, a summer circuit for college players. But Bananas owner Jesse Cole always had bigger ambitions and eventually formed a professional team alongside the amateur team so he could fully test out a version of the game he calls ‘Banana Ball.’
Among the rules: a two-hour time limit on games, no bunting, batters have the option of trying to steal first, no leaving the box, no mound visits and a scoring system that awards a point to the team that places. the most runs in each inning.
Another former Astros Ace, Roy Oswalt, also made an appearance for the Bananas.
Savannah Bananas MC is seen announcing Roger Clemens to the crowd in Houston
Red Sox Hall of Famer Bill Lee collapses during Bananas exhibition game in 2022
Lee (above, before the start of a Red Sox alumni game in 2018) was eventually saved by doctors.
But beyond the rules, Cole provides a barrage of entertainment on almost every field, including choreographed dances, bizarre skits, and players roaming the stands mingling with fans.
‘Some people who are more traditional may think this isn’t exactly baseball. And it’s different,” Rawich said. ‘At the same time, if you look at the exhibit we have about baseball in the 19th century, you’re talking about playing without gloves and throwing underhand. The game continues to evolve and I think Banana Ball is part of evolution.”
There have also been several former Major League players who participated in Bananas games, including another former Red Sox pitcher, Bill ‘Spaceman’ Lee.
Lee actually collapsed before taking the mound with the Bananas in 2022, but the 77-year-old was revived with a defibrillator. (He later collapsed before an appearance in a Triple-A game in 2023, but was saved again by paramedics.)
Other former Red Sox who played for the Bananas include Jake Peavy, Jonathan Papelbon and Jonny Gomes.
Former Oakland Athletics outfielder Eric Byrnes previously served as manager of the Bananas.
Clemens will be best remembered as a Red Sox ace, but he also pitched for the Blue Jays.
Clemens won a pair of World Series titles with the Yankees and returned to the Bronx in 2007.
Clemens’ legacy in baseball is complicated, to say the least.
He set a major league record with the Red Sox by striking out 20 batters in a game in 1986 and did so a decade later. Along the way, the former Texas Longhorns star established himself as one of the game’s best pitchers before moving to Toronto and New York, where he won a pair of World Series titles in the Bronx.
But Clemens will always be linked to baseball’s steroid era.
He was named in the infamous Mitchell Report, which was a 20-month investigation into steroid use in baseball. In the report, former Yankees manager Brian McNamee stated that he injected Clemens with steroids in 1998, 2000 and 2001. His former teammates Jose Canseco, Andy Pettitte and Jason Grimsley also claimed to know that Clemens also used steroids.
Clemens was eventually found not guilty of lying to Congress in 2008, when he testified that he did not take steroids.