CANTON — Roger Clemens was 45 when he pitched the last game of his Major League Baseball career, a playoff start against Cleveland on Oct. 7, 2007.
Clemens, who amassed 354 regular-season pitching wins in a 24-year Major League Baseball career, has made few public appearances since then, but he is scheduled to be the main speaker in Canton on Thursday, Aug. 20 at the Thurman Munson Scholarship Dinner.
The visit to Canton is connected to Clemens’ relationship with Tommy John, the 288-game winner who died Aug. 15.
The Munson dinner honors the former Canton Lehman High School athlete who became a New York Yankees catcher and captain in the 1970s, winning American League Rookie of the Year and an AL MVP award.
Past speakers have included Tommy John, National Baseball Hall of Famer Goose Gossage and, last year, Bucky Dent.
Dinner co-chairman Steve Fettman, who operates Davies Pharmacy in Canton, formed a friendship with John and his wife, Cheryl.
“They’ve really helped make the dinner what it is,” Fettman said. “Last November, I called Cheryl to see how she and Tommy are doing. In talking about the dinner, she asked if we had a 2026 speaker yet. We didn’t. She said, ‘Let me help you get Roger Clemens.’”
Fettman and Tim Haverstock of Canton’s J. Babe Stearn Boys and Girls Club work together on the dinner.
Tommy John has endured health issues for a while and was in hospice care in Bradenton, Florida, recently before dying, at age 83. Fettman said he and Haverstock are grateful to have spoken to John late last month.
The Munson dinner will be at the DoubleTree by Hilton in downtown Canton. It sold out some time ago, and Fettman expects guests from various parts of the country.
John began his MLB career in Cleveland. He was part of a 1965 trade that sent him to the White Sox and brought Rocky Colavito back to Cleveland, where he was a popular slugger in the 1950s.
John missed the 1975 season after an elbow repair now famously known as Tommy John surgery, after which he pitched another 14 years, including as Munson’s New York teammate in 1979.
Clemens closed his 24-year career with the Yankees when he made that 2007 playoff start against Cleveland in an American League Division Series. Clemens was the starter in New York's lone win of the best-of-five series, which Cleveland won 3-1. Clemens became a major star early on with the Red Sox.
He and John were 19 years apart in age, but John was a Yankees pitcher in four different seasons when Clemens threw for Boston.
Clemens grew up in Vandalia, Ohio, about an hour’s drive west of Columbus. He was 14 when Munson was American League MVP in 1976, and 15 when he moved to Texas.
Clemens became a football star at defensive end and was heading into his senior year at Houston Spring Woods High School when Munson died in a plane crash near Akron-Canton Airport on Aug. 2, 1979.
Munson helped the Yankees win the World Series in 1977 and 1978. Clemens pitched for Yankees teams that won World Series in 1999 and 2000.
One aim of the Munson dinner is to keep Munson’s name alive for Baseball Hall of Fame consideration. Scholarships also will be presented to two Stark County high school catchers, one from boys baseball and one from girls softball
Clemens has not been elected to the Hall of Fame for complicated reasons tied to alleged use of performance-enhancing substances. He is not expected to address that issue in Canton.
Clemens won a Major League-record seven Cy Young Awards during his career, winning at least two in three different decades, the first coming in 1986 with Boston and the last coming in 2004 with Houston. He also won Cy Youngs with New York and Toronto, won the 1986 AL MVP, was an 11-time MLB All-Star and ranks third all-time with 4,672 career strikeouts.
Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Tommy John connection leads Roger Clemens to Munson dinner in Canton
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