12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost made me feel sympathetic for Roger. Almost., April 12, 2009
This review is from: The Rocket That Fell to Earth: Roger Clemens and the Rage for Baseball Immortality (Hardcover)
I'm a Mets fan. I have no great love for Roger Clemens. Naturally I eagerly awaited this book, and bought it on day one. I had fond memories from Jeff Pearlman's expose about the '86 Mets (
Bad Guys Won, and his tell-all about Barry Bonds (
Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero).
For the most part, "Rocket" hits its points and hits them well. Clemens used steroids to milk an extra eight or nine years out of a career that was about to end naturally; Clemens lied to the media about nearly everything; Clemens choked in big games, usually by exiting playoff games several innings too early.
"Rocket" takes as its starting point Clemens' Peter Gammons-ghosted autobiography,
Rocket Man, printed after the 1986 Cy Young/MVP dream season. Come to find out, many items from Roger's self-described past never happened. There was no idyllic Texas childhood, not when Roger spent his first 13 or 14 years living in Dayton, Ohio. Clemens was neither drafted by the Minnesota Twins nor scouted for other professional sports.
For proof of Roger's bad character, Pearlman reportedly interviewed about 500 people. You'll need an encyclopedic baseball memory to remember who a lot of them were -- for instance, Mike Figga, a teammate for two games on the 1999 Yankees, or Pat Dodson, who hit .202 over three years with the Red Sox. Pearlman subscribes to what might be called the "little man" theory of history -- he interviews the back ends of the rosters of Clemens' various teams, to see how Roger treated those far, far beneath him on the superstar track.
The problem Pearlman runs into is that he goes after Clemens not just on the easy targets, but on the below-the-belt ones, too. It's not enough for him to prove that Clemens lied about Brian McNamee and Mindy McCready. He also derides Clemens' native intelligence and mocks his devotion to his mother. Finally, printing the entire current home address for Clemens' troubled older brother is something that I can't believe made it past Legal.
However, Pearlman has a breezy, sarcastic prose style that makes all his books fun to read. He also does his research. Most baseball biographies uncritically retell game anecdotes that, it turns out, never happened (check out
Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends: The Truth, the Lies, and Everything Else for a look at how easily such stories are disproved). Pearlman here relays a story from Rick Cerone that could not possibly have happened -- Cerone describes in suspiciously clear detail what happened the first time he caught Clemens in 1988. However, according to Retrosheet, the game really did happen that way. In every detail. Props to Pearlman for doing his homework, and extra mad props to Rick Cerone, just for being Rick Cerone.
Of course, at the same time Pearlman does uncritically relay a story Clemens told about his failed audition for Joe Torre and Bob Gibson, then of the 1981 New York Mets. I'd love to have seen that story debunked, but Pearlman just lets it sit there, presumably true. Say it ain't so!
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33 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "THIS ROCKET USED ILLEGAL FUEL!", March 29, 2009
This review is from: The Rocket That Fell to Earth: Roger Clemens and the Rage for Baseball Immortality (Hardcover)
This is the life story of Roger Clemens who among other things is an all-time great baseball player... a cheater... an abuser of illegal drugs... a Father... a husband... an adulterer... a perjurer... a liar... and not real smart. In fact... if Charles Dickens hadn't made the following phrase famous back in 1859 it would be the perfect opening sentence in this book: "IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES!" The author Jeff Pearlman does an absolutely fantastic job in presenting all sides of this egomaniacal fabricator of deceptions that range from telling people that "he was offered dual football-baseball scholarships by North Texas State, Northeastern Louisiana and the University of Georgia. THIS IS NOT TRUE. He also tells the story of a scout with the Minnesota Twins coming to his house after the team selected him with their 22nd round pick. NOT ONLY WAS HE NOT DRAFTED by Minnesota in the 22nd round - he wasn't drafted at all." (That year) "Clemens told people he had played basketball at Texas and that the Seattle Supersonics and Boston Celtics had both been interested in his services. NOT TRUE." "Sean McAdam, who covered the Red Sox for "The Providence Journal" said: "ROGER WAS AS FULL OF "CRAP" AS ANY ATHLETE I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY CAREER. HE SAID WHATEVER WORKED FOR HIM, WHETHER IT WAS TRUTHFUL OR NOT. REALITY DIDN'T MATTER FOR ROGER CLEMENS IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM." Clemens who always rambled aimlessly in non-tangential flows about his great wife... was also an adulterer... thus exposing himself as a classic hypocrite... along with all his other character flaws.
When Clemens first started his sexual affair with future country singer Mindy McCready she was seventeen-years-old and Roger was thirty. "Based on Florida Statute 794.05 which states that a person twenty-four-years of age or older who engages in sexual activity with a person sixteen or seventeen years of age commits a felony of the second degree, their assignation constituted statutory rape. Clemens could have faced up to thirty years in a state penitentiary." While this affair continued... along with other extra marital liaisons... Clemens had the hubris to plan a second honeymoon with his wife and renew their wedding vows. And then of course there was the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs. And on top of that... and probably worse to most red blooded American fans... is the outright lying under oath... and in news conferences... and the nonsensical-non-grammatical-non-intellectual statement regarding his best friend in the world Andy Pettitte who came clean about their drug use and discussions... when Clemens said: "HE MUST HAVE MISREMEMBERED."
As I mentioned earlier the author shows all sides of Clemens, and one thing that absolutely everyone agrees on, is the fact that no one ever worked harder than Clemens physically. The reader is taken from Rogers early years in Ohio (not Texas) when he was an unpopular pudgy kid who idolized his older brother Randy who instilled in him his lifelong focus on wanting to be a winner. Weaved through the entire story is the sad fact that Randy became a drug addict and basically disappeared into the ether. From high school... to junior college (Roger got no four-year scholarship offers out of high school)... to stardom at the University of Texas... to the Boston Red Sox... to the defining game where he broke the Major League single game strikeout record by striking out twenty men... and the seven Cy Young awards... is all covered. But the reader is left with the queasy feeling that the cumulative totals of victories... records... and awards... are definitely tainted. In addition it's impossible not to come away with the belief that before... during... and after... the drug use... Clemens was a soulless individual lacking integrity... and also with a penchant to self-destruct in big games... such as the fourth game of the 1990 ALCS against the Oakland A's and their ace Dave Stewart... who going into that game was 6 and 1 in head to head matches with Clemens lifetime... and 3 and 0 that year. When the Red Sox needed him most Clemens literally went berserk and was thrown out of the game... one of many similar instances that have stained his career... but no such stain is as indelible as his drug use... and feeble falsehoods... that simply add insult to injury for all true baseball fans. The author Jeff Pearlman has proven to be a master of this genre of book... that openly displays what at first glance seems to be a success story... but when a strong light is shined on the perpetrator... the roaches scurry for cover.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Admit it Rah-jah! You juiced!!!, December 3, 2009
Ok, I will admit that right off the cuff I love to read biography tabloid books. The title on this one and watching all of the steroid scandal and media coverage on Roger Clemens (as he perjured himself) has kept me glued to the topic. Regardless, the man lied and he should just be forthright and come clean.
The book really tells the true character of Roger Clemens -- his arrogance. I am not saying he was not a good person and did not go charitable giving ... but I think he did it for his own purposes. The fact that he cannot tell the truth about his steroid use just shows what kind of person you are dealing with. The book really brings about some of the color in his character. I have always been intrigued by the Clemens intimidation factor on the mound. His intimidation and precision on the mound was fueled by steroids.
The book goes into the story of a chubby boy born in Ohio to a broken home who remakes himself into a "Texan" with more stability. Most people think of Clemens as a Texan ... not so. Just another facade that "The Rocket" puts on. Roger dreamt of going to the majors and was able to fulfill that dream (that is admirable). However, at what cost? This book delves into the life of a baseball star "The Rocket" who indeed is very human.
How much more admirable would he be if he came forward and told the truth. I don't think he has the truth in him or believes the truth. Read the book, it's a fast read and entertaining. A great baseball tabloid book up there with
Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big. Incidentally, Conseco held Roger's hand through the beginning of the juicing process.
5 stars for entertainment value.
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