Boston General Manager Dan Duquette said Roger Clemens was "in the twilight of his career" when the Red Sox allowed the right-hander to leave as a free agent after the 1996 season.
Three Cy Young Awards, three 20-victory seasons and two World Series rings later, darkness still has not fallen on the future Hall of Fame pitcher.
Clemens, 39, won the 2001 American League Cy Young Award on Thursday, the sixth time the New York Yankee ace has won pitching's most prestigious honor and the third time he has won since leaving Boston after a 10-13 season in '96.
Does Clemens hold a grudge against the Red Sox? One comment during a conference call spoke volumes.
"I hope to get my 300th win in pinstripes, and I'm still leaning toward wearing a Yankee cap into the Hall of Fame," said Clemens, who has played three seasons in New York but spent 13 years in Boston. "[Yankee owner] George Steinbrenner gave me the opportunity to pitch in some extremely exciting games."
They don't get any more exciting than Clemens' last game. Squaring off against Arizona right-hander Curt Schilling in Game 7 of the World Series on Nov. 4, Clemens held the Diamondbacks to one run on seven hits in 61/3 innings, striking out 10 and walking one.
The game was tied, 1-1, when Clemens left. New York took a 2-1 lead on Alfonso Soriano's eighth-inning homer, but Arizona rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth off closer Mariano Rivera for a thrilling 3-2 victory that closed one of the most dramatic World Series in recent history.
"Sometimes you get spoiled and you expect it to happen," said Clemens, who helped the Yankees win World Series titles in 1999 and 2000. "When [Rivera] struck out the side in the eighth inning, I thought we'd do it again. Cy Young Awards are great, but they don't compare to winning those championships and the memories you have from those times."
Clemens, who went 20-3 with a 3.51 earned run average and 213 strikeouts this season, is the only pitcher to have won more than four Cy Young Awards and to have won it with three teams. Arizona's Randy Johnson won his fourth Cy Young on Tuesday, matching Steve Carlton and Greg Maddux.
Clemens received 21 of 28 first-place votes, five second-place votes and two third-place votes from a panel of the Baseball Writers Assn. of America for 122 points.
Oakland's Mark Mulder finished second with 60 points, and Seattle's Freddy Garcia was third with 55 points.
