Subpar - Do pitchers or quarterbacks make for the better golfer? MLB Legend Roger Clemens weighs in on that and talks his preparation for the celebrity golf circuit

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, legendary MLB pitcher Roger Clemens joins Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz for an exclusive interview. The Rocket talks his annual prep for Tahoe and the celebrity circuit, the Yankees not allowing him to golf on the road and if pitchers or quarterbacks make for the better golfer. -- We are excited to share our listener offer from Ship Sticks, who gets you from your front door to “fore” easier than ever. They’ll pick up your golf clubs from your home or office and deliver them on time, guaranteed, to golf destinations anywhere, in and outside the U.S. No more airport headaches, no more lugging heavy bags. Just easy, stress-free travel for golfers like you.Ship Sticks. Because golf is hard enough.Use code SUBPAR or visit www.shipsticks.com/subpar to learn more and take 20% off your shipment -- Thank you to Rhoback for being the official apparel provider of GOLF’s Subpar.  Use the code “SUB” on Rhoback.com for a generous 20% off your first order.” -- Thank you to Callaway Golf for partnering with GOLF’s Subpar.  Visit www.callawaygolf.com to shop the Odyssey Ai-ONE and learn more about the line. -- GOLF’s Subpar is proud to partner with Schweppes - the official Ginger Ale and mixer of the 2024 PGA Championship.  Swing by your local grocery store to pick up Schweppes ginger ale or Schweppes’ Watermelon Mint Tonic to elevate your cocktail. -- A Special thanks to our official sponsor Zone Nicotine Pouches.  Warning: This product contains nicotine.  Nicotine is an additive chemical.  Underage sale prohibited.  Introducing Zone Nicotine Pouches - the perfect balance of unparalleled comfort - longer-lasting flavor - and nicotine that satisfies.  Whether you’re zoning in for an important putt or zoning out after a tough day at work, Zone gets you there faster and keeps you there longer.  Available in seven flavors and in six and nine milligram strengths.  Find Zone at zonepouches.com and retailers near you.  Own your zone with Zone Nicotine pouches.  -- Subscribe Now: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt5ESUx6omMUsMoEKvMTzlA Shop The Birdie Juice Collection: https://fairwayjockey.com/collections/birdie-juice Follow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/golf_subpar/?hl=en Follow Twitter: https://twitter.com/golf_subpar?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

All right, here we go. Time for another episode of Golf Subpar with Colt Nost and Drew Stoltz. The 88th Masters is in the books and surprise, surprise, Scotty Sheffler is your champion. Before we dive into that though, first, I want to tell you about the new Callaway Odyssey AI-1 putter, designed to help you putt smarter. Slees, I use one of these. You've seen it in action. I don't miss very often. The putter is absolutely incredible. The revolutionary AI-1 urane insert delivers more consistent ball speeds and across the face, even on off-center hits. So for all you hackers out there. This putter will help you make more putts. This technology leaves you up to

21% closer to the hole. If you want to get yourself one, you can visit Callawaygolf.com to shop the Odyssey AI1 and learn more about the lime. All right, let's get the Scotty Sheplers Sleeves, because, I mean, the man was a massive favorite going in and he delivered. Went out there on Thursday, shot a little 66,

no big deal, one back. We're like, this is a problem for the rest of the field. Goes out there, doesn't have his best ball striking stats the next couple of days, still leading the golf tournament and cruises to victory on Sunday. Let me get in the zone real quick here, BG. This feels like an intense conversation we're about to have. You're exactly right. Turns out the boys in Vegas knew what they were talking about. I feel like I've been Scotty's personal fluffer for about the last

four days on radio, just heaping praise, praise, praise, but at this point, I don't know what else to do and I don't know what else to say. He is so much, he is so far and away the best player on the planet right now. It's him, everybody else after a big gap. And the scary part, Cole, I think, is like you just said, that wasn't his best. That wasn't his best stuff. Ball striking-wise, he can be a lot better, and I know that it was really, really tough out there, specifically on Friday.

But I thought he won this thing on the back of his short game. He had some huge holeouts. You know, just go into the Sunday final round where it was kind of, you know, still up in the air at that point. He could have easily been one or two over through three holes and yet he was one under. And that would have changed the whole thing. And it's just any time he did miss,

I felt like he got up and down. And I don't know, if you're Rory, Colt, or Zander or Rom, and you're watching what he's doing right now. Like, what do you do? What do you do to close the gap? I said, I mean, he was paired with Roy McElroy and Zander Schaulay the first two days. And Roy McElroy, the second best player in the world, by the way, the gap between number one and number two hasn't been this big since Tiger Woods.

And if you look, the distance he's ahead of Roy McElroy in the world rankings is the same distance as Rory to the number 80 player in the world, Robert McIntyre. That's how Domney Scottie Sheffler has been. It's ridiculous. round two and three, he actually lost strokes approach, which never happens. I mean, two of his worst ball striking stats of the season, and he had a one-shot lead going into Sunday. I was like, guys, he's not even playing good, and he is winning a major championship. If he, I talked to his coach Randy Smith before the round on Sunday, he's like, it's no big deal. Like, we figured it out. The

wind was a little swirly, made a couple wrong decisions with the win. He goes, he's going to be just fine. Goes out there and shoots the low round of the day, or second low round of the day, with the lead and just cruises to victory. It was close there for a while. But then once we got to the second nine, a couple guys made mistakes. Scotty didn't really blink other than the bogey on 11, and then just put on a clinic the last seven holes.

Yeah, when Scotty was coming up eight on Sunday, I was like, we got a ball game. We got a ball game right here. I think there were three tied, another one back. We had four guys within one shot of the lead. You know, he birdies eight. He damn near hoops it on nine, which feels like gave him a lot of mo.

Then he goes in birdies 10. And after the 11th hole, like by that point, Max had already hit his T shot on 12. It was like two holes later, I was like, this thing's over. It's not who's going to win. It's by how many is he going to win? And props, by the way, to Ludwig Obergh, who had that, you know, the one bad swing he makes on 11, it costs him. He makes a double bogey, but he bounces back, makes two quick birdies.

Actually, you know, if Scotty had played it safe and played it close to the vest, like, he could have made it a ball game. But Scotty didn't do that. He goes out and birdie's 13. It knocks it on into birdie's 14. And then just for good measure, throws another one, aiming directly at the flag on 16, by the way. No need to play it out safe to the hill. the slope. Just threw it right at it, eight feet underneath it and made a bucket. Like, like I said earlier, man, I, at this point, I feel like we're all kind of in an echo chamber

when it comes to Scotty Schaeffler. It's just he's that much better than everyone else right now. And if you're one of those guys trying to chase him down right now, I don't know, I don't know what you do personally, other than hope that Scotty plays terribly, which he's not going to. Good luck. Yeah. I mean, he just went first, first should have won, Houston, and then wins the Masters by four. I mean, he's playing some unbelievable golf. I don't see it slowing down anytime soon. He's just, he's just better. I'm actually at Walgreens, picking up some stuff, his putting coach.

And he's so pumped up for Scott. He's like, man, this is good. This kid is so good. It's just ridiculous. And he went home to Dallas Sunday night. He's flying out to Hilton Head Tuesday night. He's tan it up. And he's, once again, like a 3.6 to one favorite to win the RBC Heritage.

And look at what, like, he just comes off one of the biggest golf courses on the PGA tour, right? Big, long, tough golf. course going to one of the smallest, like, more precision-based golf courses. And I think he's going to win this week, too. It doesn't matter. Like, he could play any style of golf right now. And the scary thing, too, quote, when you think about it, he just won by four. Like, anybody else would like, oh, my God, runaway victory. It's just kind of become carte blanche for Scotty. But he's won numerous times now in like runaway victories, players, Bay Hill, you can go back and find some of these big ones. And I still, to this day, I don't know that we've seen Scotty at his

best on a Thursday through a Sunday. I think we get it in glimpses. We don't think he's put a whole tournament together. And if he does, it's just, I mean, it's night night for everybody. But once again, the Masters didn't disappoint. I mean, the weather was crazy with the wind. It was warm at least, but the wind was nuts on Thursday, Friday, had a little bit of wind on Saturday as well that really dried that place out. And Sunday was just perfect. I want to give a big shout out. You mentioned Ludwig, who played unbelievable. Finish second in his major championship debut. Look like a veteran out there. Him and Joe's Gobbren. Congratulations to them on a great finish. And our guy, Max Homer,

man, friend of the program. He is, this is now back-to-back top tens for him. He was in the mix. Looked incredible. Played with Tiger the first two days. Shot six under. Tied for the lead. And, you know, didn't play his best. But talking to him, he didn't play his best on the weekend, but he's like, I didn't make really any mistakes.

I made one bad swing on Sunday that I didn't like, and that was on the seventh hole. Other than that, he played great. And Scotty just played better. But Max's time is coming, man. He keeps getting better and better. He looks so comfortable out there. I was so pumped for him.

His ball striking was spectacular. I mean, at the end of the day, he just made virtually nothing. He went a huge long stretch without making a birdie, and he had tons of looks. In his defense, very few people were making puts outside of 10 feet. I felt like there was the occasional bomb. We saw Ludwig on 9. We saw a couple on 12, but like there weren't people just holding 15 footers out there. Those things were so shiny, so glossy.

I feel like everyone struggled on the greens, but Max completely in control of his game. And just a shit break, honestly, on 12, that ball lands a yard short. It stays up. If it flies a yard longer, I think it stays short. Maybe it gets to the pine straw and rolls back down, but it definitely doesn't go up into the bush and stay there. That was a good golf swing. Maybe that was a little bit of adrenaline, maybe a little wind. I don't know, but like he can hang has had on a hell of a week.

And also, Colt, sleeping near the top of the leaderboard the entire week is a big difference than shooting a 65 on Sunday back during your way into a third place finish. Look, I finished third at the Masters. It's completely different. He was there throughout. Yeah, love it, man. He played so great. And I really do think his time is coming. but the Masters was awesome.

Just love being there at Augustine National. It's so much fun being on the coverage for the feature groups there in the morning with Shane Bacon and Billy Crasser. We had a blast. But, man, it's one major down, three to go. I can't wait for the next one to get here. Did we ever get to the bottom of the whole Notegate situation with Neil Shipley? What the hell is going on?

That was the strangest thing I've ever seen. I was like, what could he have possibly handed him that would cause this type of a reaction? I was like a hostage investigation at that point. Yeah, that was so weird. Like, I didn't see, I went out to T, our spot T-Bones Sunday right after that. So I didn't get to see the whole interview and everything and the look he gave the person in the press room. Like, I was like, what just happened? Like, was that what, I mean, he obviously saw him hand you something and like, why is it some big deal?

It's just the way he answered it too. He was like, no, no, that didn't happen. That didn't, not like, dude, I don't know what you're talking about. Like, I don't think he handed me. It was like, nope, that never happened. Next question. Proceed with some glances over to the side. Like, am I, am I handling this okay?

You want me to... And then in the Butler Cabin, too, he had some crazy eye movements, too. The guy was going, there's a lot of mystery around Mr. Shipley. But damn, hell of a day for the kid. Butler Cabin paired with Tiger the final round. He swings it fucking nice, dude. Yeah. That's a good action.

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golf clubs, or discounted tea times. I'm thirsty. Hello, sweetheart. All right, well, let's get to our interview this week. We've got one of the baddest some bitches to ever take the pitchers mound. The one, the only, Roger Clemens, the Rocket, joins us on subpar. Here he is. Okay, we are now lucky enough to have one of the greatest slingers of the Rockers of the Rock. in the history of baseball with us. 11-time All-Stars, seven-Sye Young Awards, two World Series rings,

a couple triple crowns. He's done it all. Now he's a dedicated golfer. The Rocket. Roger Clemens, how we doing, bud? Thanks for having me, guys. I appreciate it. Thanks for coming on.

Thank you so much for joining us. This is going to be a lot of fun. Let's talk a little bit about your golf game. I was actually doing some research on the USGA handicap app. Saw you're right around like a 5.2 index, I believe, out at Carlton Woods. There you go.

You did your homework. So I float between the lowest I've ever been is a five, and I probably hover between a five and a seven. And I really don't want to get any lower because then these other dudes I'm giving shots to beat me to death. But yeah, when we play in the celebrity events, you don't get any pops. But, you know, it's fun deal. And like you guys say, you guys are in Scottsdale, so you know the game of golf. I've really, I met some of the coolest guys, you know, on the professional tour now on the champions tour.

And really, I've met more business opportunities by learning and playing the game of golf than I ever have playing Major League Baseball. So many business opportunities have come my way on the golf course playing with guys, CEOs, and stuff like that. And I love to get outdoor. I was fortunate that three of the four teams I played with allowed us to take our clubs with us. One didn't, but if we were playing, you know, a special course, we're playing an Olympic club or, or, or, you know, pebble or something. We had a day off where we could get to one of these big-time courses. We'd always, you know, ship our sticks and our shoes out there so we could play.

But, you know, it was my gig. I hated staying in the hotel room. I like getting up early, especially the day after I pitched because I knew I was going to be sore. I'd get my roadwork in two to three miles. And then I'd hit the course. If it was only even nine holes, I'd go out and hit balls, pound balls, if there was a really nice course that was close. So, and really learned.

I had one lesson from Butch Harmon way back. when he was here in Houston and then, you know, picked up the game by just kind of, you know, playing with the pros and getting tips from those guys. So, yeah, love golf. Was it the Yanke, it was the Yankees, right, that didn't allow the pitchers to bring their clubs? That seems like a big rule.

Like, did you know that before you went to New York? Like, this might have changed things. Yeah, no. Yeah, Mr. Steinberg didn't want to see golf clubs coming out. But, you know, the way I look at it, if I was managing, I wouldn't want my guys out running around late all the time. I'd rather them, you know, we've got a tea time. We're shutting it down 40 minutes.

after we get back to the hotel and the team bus, and we're getting up, getting after it, and getting the body moving. So, you know, I put all that the rest. It makes you tired. I go, both games, both prior to the day before I played, one time I played 27 holes, and the next time I played 18 holes, the next night I pitched and I punched out 20 batters. There you go. I mean, you're driving up in a golf cart.

You're getting out, got a little music playing, you're playing, you know, maybe gambling with the boys. and so yeah i mean i just again i like getting outdoors i hate being in that freaking hotel room i don't blame you give me your favorite like city when y'all were on the road for golf and then also which one of your teammates did you just absolutely wear out over the years on the golf course well there's a lot of guys we sent to the ATM because we don't we don't take checks we don't take checks so there there was we had some great uh guys that on on every team that i played with every year that we had at least probably eight dudes that liked the golf.

And if we had an off day, even some of the everyday players would jump in. But yeah, I mean, it was, we would get after quite a big. I'm not a card player, so I didn't play cards on the plane. I didn't do all that. But, you know, like I tell my buddies that take me to Vegas, they get on me because I don't gamble that much. I'll chase some color every now and then and do that. But I'd rather bet on my eight iron instead if a jack's going to

flip over in my favor. So, again, love the tournaments that we play in. Best town, you know, I tell everybody, when I get the question, you know, obviously, for me being a history buff, I loved, you know, Fenway Park, the history there. I loved old Yankee Stadium. New Yankee Stadium's cool. Old Yankee Stadium, I tell people we got ghosts running around in that place. We had so many come from behind wins.

I was fortunate to pitch in Rigley a number of times, another cathedral. But as far as a condition of the golf course, I'm not seeing a better in-field outfield than when we go to play the Angels out in Anaheim. And the weather's perfect. Again, how they take care of their field. I tease people, you could throw your turkey sandwich in the infield or outfield grass and picking up to eat it. It's perfect.

I think the ballpark food gets rated in the top five just about every year. and again, I talked about the weather and there's many, many golf courses in the area you can play. It's like Scottsdale Phoenix. I mean, you don't have to drive five miles on each corner and there's a nice track. You play a lot of the celebrity events like you talked about. Two-part question.

One, can we expect you in Tahoe at the American Century this year? And B, when does the preparation for that start being that it is the fifth major? Yeah, good question. Yeah, I love, Taho is still the granddaddy of them all. You know, we play, it's three days. They did add an event. We've been doing the last couple of years in Orlando at Lake Nona with the girls, the LPGA girls, which they can flat out play too.

It's fun playing with them. But that's four days. That gets a little long for some of us. They've added one. The Invited in Dallas. We play with the seniors there. But I start preparing. I don't play a lot as much as I should.

The wife has 10 club championships. Let's just get that out of the way. She's put all my trophies in the attic and all my Sy Youngs. They're up there collecting dust. She says, get that crap out of here. You're done. And she's putting her crystal everywhere. I got enough crystal and stuff behind me to eat my M&Ms out of for about a year.

And, but, yeah, so I'll start playing, you know, about 10 days before that. I'll try and get as many rounds I can in and do a lot of. practicing and just not trying to be too pretty you know when I'm throwing BP to the guys in the gym we've got a lot of professional minor league guys show up here about January 2nd and when I'm throwing BP a lot my right hand wants to go so I get a little steep which I've had some pros tell me don't worry about it just go with what you have which was nice to hear it makes me really good out of the rough and really good out of the sand bunkers obviously with my steepness and the impact um but again It's like I said you talked to you know like I said meeting and having Tom Weiskoff around doing a thing every year with Jack Nicholas and getting to golf with him and then really cool thing happened this past year where he I had one of the guys in my group had a baseball and Jack wanted me to show him the pitches and the grips of a baseball and so but yeah we'll start getting ready for Tahoe it's it's a fun event I think some of the guys still get nervous they tell me on the tee they ask you if you're nervous

I said, I'm not nervous. I just want to make sure this thing's going where I want it to go, especially when you get in a situation where there's so many people lying in a fairway, and you're coming out, you know, out of the rough between some trees, and they think, you know, I tell them, if you let me throw it, I'd feel pretty good about this, but back up, please, I've got to hit it. And, but yeah, it's a great game. I love the game of golf.

There's no doubt about it. And it's such a cool sport. and again, meeting the guys that play it for a living. Now I'm kind of going through it right now. My older two boys are right-handed players, and they play, and they're probably a 12 and a 13 handicap. My younger two are really into it. They both played professionally.

They played at Texas, University of Texas, but baseball. They throw right, bat left, and golf left. And Cody, my youngest, is with the Phillies. He's probably about a six. maybe. And now number three, Casey just retired from the Blue Jays. He's doing some finance. And he's out trying to qualify for the U.S. mid-ims right now. He's really taking his game to another level. He's training here at home at our track here at home with Patrick Reed's coach. And he's getting serious about it. So he's going to find out how hard that is. But,

you know, the sky's the limit. Look out, Lee. You got another one coming for you. I know. The champ coming. Tell them not they're too good, you know. Leave some. something for us. Let's go, baby. I love it. Well, you mentioned Texas Longhorns. I know you're a very proud Texas Longhorn. Absolutely. Tell us a little bit how you ended up there and what was your time like. Well, I came out. I graduated early out of high school. I think you have to, you know, where you have my personality on the mound where I was super serious on the mound. And, you know, my pops died when I was nine. I was raised by my mom and my grandmother. And my mom worked three jobs. So, you know, I felt like we were rich. We weren't. But I could have a badass glove.

and, you know, a sweet pair of cleats each season. But anyway, I took classes, graduated early, graduated at 17, and it wasn't really probably ready to go to a four-year school, but it worked out perfect because I had three wonderful coaches growing up. My high school coach, I tell them, they were great baseball men, but they're better teachers of the game and teachers of life. And so I went to a junior college out of high school afterwards. I was probably a better defensive end, excuse me,

and better, you know, first baseman. I pitched because I threw strikes. I threw about 85, 86 miles an hour. Like I said, I was 16, 17 years old. We had two dudes that could really turn it loose. Scouts would come watch them. And that's how I kind of got looked at because they would wet the bed in a playoff game

and coach would bring me in the fifth inning. I threw a little two seamer in there and I had a really nice curveball and I threw strikes. And that's what carried me through, jumping along in my story. That's what I was a, I'm a power pitcher. don't throw, I pitch, and that's what I preach to the guys with each camp that I go to that I just came back from in spring training is that with the pitch calm, you're starting

to be a power thrower. You're just hearing this little, you know, fastball away in your ear, and you grab the ball and you heave it without any purpose of what you're doing or how you're going to break a guy down. So left high school and went to a juco, grew two inches. Got my legs going a little bit. Did a lot of running by body mature. I matured and my fastball jumped to about 95 and then that's when Texas started. We did really well. I'd be remissed. I mentioned my junior college coach at the time.

He was in our high school district, took the job at San Jack. His name was Coach Wayne Graham, another baseball lifer. I don't know if Coach Graham, he's kind of like Don Zimmer. I don't think either one of them cast to check outside the game of baseball. But again, life lessons from Coach Graham. He went on to go take over the program. University at Rice University and won a national title. I ended up at Texas playing for the winning his coach and of all time coach Cliff Gutson. And you know, Gus gave me, gave you

some life lessons and we're playing at the University of Texas in a stadium that was just killed every other college stadium. I mean, we had AstroTurf. It looked like a spaceship. I mean, my high school coach, when we were playing a tournament, the state tournament, We'd have to drive through Austin. He would pull over and let us walk in through the walkways and see Texas's field. And it's like, oh, my gosh, the first time you've seen Astor Turp. And it was spectacular. So go to Texas, join a lot of great dudes.

Again, we didn't have a baseball lifting program. We lifted with the football team. So we got strong and went to the College World Series in 82, got bounced out of there. And then I thought it was kind of over for us, but we came right back the next year. I pitched a final game in Omaha and we beat Alabama. I get drafted by the Boston Red Sox. So that's kind of how my career, my path went. And, you know, just pretty fortunate, again, playing, you know, for a team and a system where we always say, we don't rebuild.

We reloaded Texas. And that's what we did, man. We brought in some other Jukal players, some great players and ended up winning the national title. And that's something like you guys said. I'm loud and proud with it all the time. Kind of got my, that's kind of really. I got kickstarted there. And then when I got the professional ball,

it kind of carried over, the winning tradition. And it was all about winning once I got the Bean Town. Before we get back to the Rocket, Roger Clemens, I want to tell you about Roeback. By the way, Rocket is rocking a rowback, and he looks fantastic in it. I got the hoodie on sleeves. You got the quarter zip.

You look great. They make the best polos, hoodies, QZips. They do it all, and it is by far the most comfortable thing I have ever worn. And if you want to get some, go to rowback.com. That's R-H-O-B-A-C-K-com for a generous 20% off your first order. If you use the code sub, just SUV. That's R-H-O-B-A-C-K dot com.

And 20% off all polos, hoodies, and cusips with code sub. Back to Roger Clemens. I'm curious about this. You have the Monster Career at Texas, top 20 overall draft pick, only spent a little bit of time in the minors. Then you go to Red Sox in 84. What's the locker room reception? from the vets when kind of like a young hot shot like this is the next guy steps into the locker

room for the first time. Oh, it was cool, man. They were, you know, you're right, the likes of Dwight Evans and Jim Rice, Bruce Hurst, you know, these guys, I mean, and the history of the guys before there, you know, you're having a spring training game in in walks Ted Williams and Carl you're like, oh my gosh. And but the guys, yeah, took me right under, right under their wing, showed me how to do it. You know, both, Hirstie, you know, gave me some great advice. Jim Rice, Jimmy showed me not only things on the field, but how to handle yourself off the field, how to, you know, tip the guys in the clubhouse, what you're supposed to do, what you're not supposed to do.

So it was really good, being real receptive and really just watching and keeping my mouth shut, like you said, as a 21-year-old, whatever I was. And then it was pretty cool that championship season in 86, you know, we trade for Tom Seaver, one of the guys that I watched. along with Nolan Ryan. And I could still consider today Tom Seaver to be the ultimate power pitcher. I mean, I was watching a 43, 44-year-old man out there, you know, grunt balls in there, 88, 89 miles an hour, and then he gets in trouble, men on second and third, needs a strikeout. And next thing you know, you see 93, 94 on the gun, and he gets a punchout or two. So, I mean, just the ultimate pitcher.

And I had the luxury of having him on my team to talk to him for, you know, a couple months. So yeah, it was cool. It was cool that I got there and they had 21 hanging up in my locker that I had at the university. And man, I just thought it was all about winning. When you turn pro, yes, I want to earn some money and I'm worried about get my feet in the ground and earning some money so I can pay off my mom's town home and take care of my older brothers and sisters, help them out a little bit. And then after I got myself established, then it was about, hey, I want to get to October and win. There's a lot of great players like you're seeing right now,

like an Otani or Trout. I played against and with the guys that played, gosh, probably eight to ten years and never experienced one bit of postseason play. So you just hope those guys can get there and do that. But it was great. I punched out 20 and really showed everybody where I was at in 86 in that championship season. That was the game right after that game

is when Bruce Hurst gave me the nickname the Rocket. And when everybody else left the stadium, I was there with my pitching coach Bill Fisher. And Hurstie and Hurstie leaned into me, gave me another hug before he left. And he goes, two things. He goes, I don't think you understand, but your life just changed tonight.

And he goes, in our lives as a team changed tonight. He goes, before you got here, pitching was a second class citizen. And he goes, you've changed all that. So it was pretty cool to, you know, know, have a compliment again from him. You know, I played golf at the Bob Hope a number of years, and Yogi Bear was my partner one time, and Yogi might have given me one of the best compliments when he leaned.

He said, kid, you could have pitched in our air. And I said, Yogi coming from you, that's huge. So I appreciate it. So just some good, you know, just some good history. I'll throw this in there while we're talking about it. I mean, my goal was to get to the big leagues, and I want to get the big leagues and pitch against Reggie Jackson before he retired. And I was able to do that when he was a California Angel. And Reggie and I are super close. I actually have a mural out here in my gym. There's glass

windows, and he's one of them hitting his third home run in the World Series. And I let him auction me off at his Mr. October Foundation to about 12 guys come down here. They pay for my foundation. and I throw to them, feed them Mexican food and margaritas, and they go home and rest. And we bring them back for, put them in a suite at MinuteMade Park for this. It's a nice little auction package, and Reggie does that. So, again, it was really cool for me to have the opportunity to face him. That's a really cool story.

I was actually doing the TV for CBS a couple of years ago at the AT&T, Pebble Beach Pro Am, and I'm behind the 16th green, and all of a sudden, get a tap on my shoulder. He says, excuse me, do you know if Justin Thomas's father is here? And I turn around, it's Reggie Jackson. And I'm like, who gives this shit about Mike? Who gives the shit about Mike Thomas? You're Reggie Jackson. I want to talk to you.

That was really cool. That's the first time I ever met him. That's awesome. Yeah, Reggie's great. Great competitor. Share some knowledge with listening when he's staying around the batting cage talking to some of the guys. So he's a piece of history of that guy.

Yes, he is. Let me ask you this, because we've had several baseball guys on the show. Most recently, the young pitcher for the Diamondback, Zach Gallen. and it always seems like the baseball guys are the most superstitious guys. So give me Roger Clemens, like, pre-start routine. Like, did you have anything weird you did before each game? Yeah, so I got, if yogi's got 50 yogi, 15 yogism, I gave him his 16th one. I always tell people I'm not superstitious.

I think they're all bad luck. No, we, yeah, so, you know, I don't know if it's superstitious. I had a routine, you know, I had a routine. You know, I had a really good routine that I tried to stick to and not deviate from because it worked. And, you know, on the day I pitch, well, I had a saying, first of all, it tells you how hard you work behind. It's actually hanging in the pitching lab at the University of Texas and two or three of the other stadiums where I played. And my saying was my only day off was the day I pitched. And that was basically it because the work you've got to do between to get ready.

I was just getting on the guys last week on some of these starters. And they're big names. I'm not going to share it who it was. but I got after him a little bit. I said, you guys, you guys don't even run like poles anymore or distance run. You guys go on and ride a bike for eight minutes. I go, and you wonder where your elbow and shoulders killing you. I said, put your headset on and bust it for about two miles.

I'd run a two mile in just a little under 15 minutes, and it'd be under 22 minutes on my three-mile track. So you're getting it. I mean, after the first couple laps, then you're turning it on and you're flushing your body out. I said, guys need to play long toss again. and work on your core work. I mean, that's where you get, you know, Nolan Ryan kick his leg up in the first inning. You can hear him grunting like you're watching Wimbledon or something

when these guys are hitting these tennis balls back there coming at them at about a buck 30. So, you know, all that's, you know, all that's important. The routine that I have, I usually at night games where they were at 7.30 early in my career, they went to 7 o'clock. I would eat around. I would have a little something very light, hardly anything, maybe a, you know, a protein drink or something in the morning. But I would eat at about 2 or 2.30, and then that was it because I didn't want to get out on the mound and feel sluggish.

By the second inning, I'm starving and I'm burning. So underneath the stadium in between innings, I'd have two bananas and knock down some, you know, vitamin water, protein drink, whatever it is. and that got me through. And then I didn't feel like eating sometimes even after game, but I try and force myself to do that. So that was real important. When I got to Boston, we had three or four guys like Dwight Evans. That was way back in the 80s when it was that Eat the Win program.

So you got your chicken, you're eating certain stuff. So we watched with those guys. I pitched just as many shutouts on a nice big cheeseburger sometimes at 2 o'clock. but as I got older in my 30s, little things changed. And that's when I'm talking to these older pitchers now. I said, your routine has to change. Sometimes you might have to spend a little more time in a pool doing therapy work

instead of busting it. Here in Houston, when I came home and I was pitching when I was 43, 44, I had a nice little track, and I love the humidity. I love it when it's 100 degrees in the humidity. And you can run two miles and, you know, you've gone through one or two t-shirts, just soaking wet. But I had a great little deal. I could come out the back of the stadium where nobody could see me,

and I'd get on this road, and it was about a mile and a half to I-10, and then I'd circle around and come back. So that would be my little three-mile John outside. I never really enjoyed running at the stadium after they opened the gates for the fans or anything like that. I tried to do a lot of it underneath the stadium or outside the stadium once I could get away. But never really too superstitious, man. I mean, I, you know, I have a couple times when I'm driving down the road and a black cat goes in front of me, I stop, turn around and go back. Nothing wrong with that?

I have to admit to that one. I've done that several times. Let me ask you this, Roger, because your name gets brought up for baseball when they talk about like most intimidating athletes, right? There's other athletes in different sports that they bring up, but you're one of the pitchers that they bring up in baseball. And I believe I heard in an interview Derek Jeter say when you would make it to All-Star Games and you would pitch. Like everyone's friendly, right? It's like, all right, it's the break and everyone. You'd get in the dugout and like purposely not talk to the batters on your team

because you knew like, I'm going to face these dudes and I still want them to be scared to me. Was that something you like tried to nurture, I guess, was like your intimidation factor? Yeah, you know, that's from the Ted Williams School of Baseball. You know, he said you never talked to pitchers. All-Star games are fun. You're messing around on the Monday, doing all the signing, doing all the interviews. If you're starting, you know, you're doing all that.

come Tuesday you come so fast if you're starting or you're pitching second slot or whatever and the main thing that I was always protecting I got locked in quick because I didn't want to get hurt so I was trying to find time to get you know you got family you got friends back in the day when you could have your you know guys were bringing six seven guys their posse or whatever with them in the locker room they finally shut that down which is great because guys are I mean I'm walking to the bullpen to warm up and I got three or four other guys family members, you know, hammer me for autographs. I'm trying to rush to the bullpen. Being intimidating, like I said, I did a thing every year with Jack, the great Jack Nicholas.

And after about four or five questions about, hey, you're intimidating, this intimidating, Jack, you're intimidating. He leaned over and he said, Rock. He goes, you know why we're intimidated? I go, no, sir. He goes, because we win. I said, you can throw 100 miles an hour. If you don't throw strikes, you get beat around. And really, guys in the big leagues can put wood on a bullet. So it doesn't matter how hard you throw. We've always said that pitching is like buying property or house, location, location, location. And I locate even when I don't have my plus plus fastball, I'm still going to figure out a way to how to get you out. I know what's your best thing that you do. And I want to take that away immediately in that game if I can do it. And, you know,

when I pitched inside, people are talking about you hit by, I said, I, there's, you know, probably in 24 years, there was probably 12 games that I had to clean up that got out of hand where somebody hit one of my teammates and, you know, I look at the guy would come sitting next to me. I go, hey, you got a problem with this guy? And he goes, yeah. So you have to clean the game up, you know, here or there. But other than that, I tried to make a 17-inch plate, a 24-inch plate. I found out real quick when I was young at Fenway Park.

I mean, I'm facing guys like Dave Kingman, Greg Luzinski, Carlton Fisk, Don Baylor. I mean, these guys are monsters. And if you don't get the ball in, let them to get extended, it's going a long way over that green monster. And there have been many times where I wanted to go in there, and my head wanted to go in there, but my backside didn't, left it over the middle, and it's won nothing real quick.

So you learn real fast that you've got to survive. Nobody pitches inside now. They pinch you east and west. I love the north and south zone because I could elevate, and then Mr. Splitty would show up and drop down there and joggle their eye level. So that was something that what they're doing right now, I really enjoy because they'd call the high strike now, which they didn't before. I love that. Mr. Splitty.

Mr. Splitty. I like that. Yeah. You want Mr. Splitty show up. That's awesome. Well, you mentioned Fenway Park. You obviously played for the Yankees as well. Two teams that don't really like each other, two fan bases that hate each other for you, starting at Boston, then going to New York.

York. The first time you went to pitch at Fenway Park as a Yankee, what was that reception like? It was unbelievable. I mean, and the same thing works. I mean, you feel the difference in the crowds because it's one of the greatest rivalries in the history of sports. But when I was with Boston, yeah, I'd get railed by Yankee fans, but you come out of the stadium or go to a restaurant, those same Yankee fans are, you know, they want you to sign something. You know, you know, and I hear it even when I'm retired, hey, I loved you when you were at the Red Sucks, Haiti with the Yankees, love you, the Yankees, Haiti with Red Sox. But you got to understand, in the 80s, and even late 80s, the Yankees weren't much

of a rival force because they were horrible. I mean, they had Donnie Ball game and a couple other guys. They weren't very competitive. Our rival was the Blue Jays. They were winning late 80s, early 90s. And so we're chasing those guys down. When I got traded over to Steinbrenner came calling. actually came to the house here and looked at me and said you want to be a yankee here don't you i've

been trying to get you for years and so i said all right let's do it uh when i went to new york red sox changed their ownership they got more competitive and then the good the good fun stuff started it wasn't like this you know 1975 guys sliding across second base blowing somebody's knee out running guys over at home plate but it got it got intense and it got hairy a couple times but that's what makes the rivalry good that both teams were competitive and again playing for mr steinbrunner i got him when he was a little more older a little more mellow maybe uh but still i mean dude had a heart of a lion wanted to win and when you have an owner that you know has five bucks in his pocket and there's a player out there that's going to help us and he's 10 bucks and in george would

go getting that just that says everything you want to hear is a player about winning and why you're there to win yeah that's what the you're there to win yeah Yankees do about as damn near as good as anybody. And I want to go back to New York for a minute. They better start winning pretty quick. Start getting back to that a little bit. Yeah. All right, before we get back to our interview, a quick break to tell you, if you haven't done it yet, go check out our YouTube page. It's golf underscore subpar. We've got some new content coming up at the ASU facility. We're going to have some more stuff coming out as the year goes on. So if you haven't yet, go to YouTube, subscribe, golf underscore subpar, and now back to our interview.

Go back to New York. You threw a lot of memorable pitches in your day, but I think you witnessed maybe the most memorable event I can think of since I've been alive in sports. And that was game three World Series. After 9-11, President Bush comes out, throws that thing. Can you talk about what that game was like, that moment was like? And did you offer any advice to the president before he went out there and threw that strike? Yeah, so very emotional. We're dead on. You know, I was scheduled to pitch the night of 9-11 when we got, when all hell broke loose in New York. And a buddy of mine woke me up that morning. Actually, I was going, I think, for my 20th win against my former team, the Red Sox, it was a big deal. I had a bunch of people in town.

And when everything went down, we were able to navigate our way through the city. And we ended up in Danbury, Connecticut at my buddy's place. And we all know what happened to that. came of it for for me before i get back to the game was um general myires our four-star general at time went to high school with my agents and he called after the fact and said hey i'd like you know rocket to go to the middle east and and do some stuff for us and see some of our troops obviously i answered immediately yes um and i tell people 24 years pitching in the major leagues those seven eight days that i was in the middle east going to different bases and bases where they had just

bombed and in meeting our military men and women. Unbelievable. The coolest thing that I've done in my lifetime, hands down, I made sure I told them how thankful we were for our men and women and how I felt protected, you know, out there on a center stage, 55,000 people and knowing that they've got our back. Just a triple lifetime. I met Red Sox fans. I met Yankee fans, Longhorn fans, everybody.

And we had taken some baseballs and stuff. The Pentagon ended up printing up like a thousand photos, and they had a couple, two or three hundred baseballs. I signed on the flight over to. We landed in Shannon, Ireland, refueled there. They put me on a C-17 transport plane with 25 of the badass Marines that you've ever seen. I stood next to a couple of these guys.

No disrespect to NFL punters, but I look like an NFL punters standing next to these guys. But it was awesome. Now, fast forward to the game that you just talked about. I'm pitching game three. We got our butts handed to us in Arizona. And I'm pitching the swing game.

And Joe would always fire me in maybe sometimes game three, and then he knew if all hell broke loose, I would have game seven. But game three was one of those games where I knew that when I woke up and I was taking a shower going through the lineups, that there's no way I could go out there and have a hiccup and give up a two-run shot early or something like that. So it was a mistake-free game for me right out of the gate.

Then I didn't realize it, but George had brought back about 300 firemen, police officers, first responders, families of they lost in the, in the Twin Towers. They were outside of our locker room in the tunnel. He was going to march him out there. And when I got ready to warm up, in comes President of Bush, 43. Now, we know the family real well. We know 41. I know 41 better than I know 43.

And but 43 comes through, comes up, give him a hug. He asked where he can go warm up, showed the bulletproof vest that he had underneath his jacket. I said, Mr. President, you've got to go out the door and go down to the right. The batting cages here at Yankee Stadium are a pretty good walk. but there's some guys down there warming up, getting ready. He went down there and threw a few pitches and was ready to go. Had some small, funny talk with Derek Jeter.

Jeter, put a little pressure on him, told him not to bounce it, or he's going to get booed. And so I busted it out with Mel Stottomier, our pitching coach, to the bullpen, had the best seat in the house because you just see the arc of the stadium of Yankee Stadium, and I'm out in the bullpen warming up. So I stopped, and Mel's like, what's up? and I go, let's turn around. I want to watch this.

And President Bush came out just like you said. You could see the snipers on top of the stadium. There's about 10 or so snipers sitting on top of the stadium. And you could see their silhouettes. And President Bush, as everybody is seen, and you guys know, came out, kicked that leg up through a friggin perfect strike right down Broadway. The stadium lit up like a Christmas tree. And it was a pretty cool moment to be an American.

One of the coolest moments I can think of in sports. It's like the rare, weird one where it's a sports moment, but it transcends sports, too. Absolutely. That was awesome. Well, man, what a story of that issue. We just get to the E9 now. I don't know if we can top that. We got a little E9 here, just nine kind of bullshit questions, just fun ones, you know what I mean, kind of all over the place.

So Colt leads it off. Yeah, I'll leave it off for you. You can be anyone else for a day, dead or alive, anybody in the history of time, who would it be? Man, it's hard to know. narrow it down to one because like I told you I love history. To be somebody else, I don't know if I'd want to be somebody else. I've been pretty blessed in my life. But I would probably want to, I definitely would want to, I'm not really answering your question directly. I would definitely like to sit down across from a table to the guy who I won the most awards. I'm Sy Young.

Awesome. And we have the opportunity to visit with Cy Young winning his award. as many times as I did. Just seven of them. Your wife has three more club championships, but whatever. You got to get back in the league. Thanks, guys. Hey, take that out of this. You got to get back with the sign of 10-day with the bananas.

Yeah, oh, my God. Hey, listen, listen. That was sweet, by the way. Hey, let me just give you the cliff notes on that real quick. My man, Jesse, running the show, calls me, and I blame it on Roy Oswald and Jake Peavy, who put his, put my, that bug in his ear that I would come out. And I did. I said, no problem. Judge, I'll come out. He goes, man, I just need you at the game. And I go, no problem. I'll throw out a first pitch about

75, 80 miles an hour. If you want to make it fun, give me an old man's wig, white wig or something, and a rocker. And I walk out there like I can't barely move, and I'll rip all that off, and I whistle you want in there. And he goes, now that would be great and funny, but I'd really like you to pitch in the game. And I said, dude, are you crazy? I said, you think I'm Satchel page. I think Satch pitched in a professional game when he was 60. And anyway, I ended up throwing way too many pitches.

I tried to stay at about 80%. And I had to friggin ice for three days. I was so sold. And it was all fun in games and I told Oswald, be careful because these guys are all swinging the bat. They're, you know, less than half our age. And he

ended up getting smoked by a comeback or on his kneecap somewhere or something like that. I was like, oh my gosh. So yeah, you still You know, like those exhibition games, you've got to be crazy. But it was fun. I did it for my grandboys. I got twins, seven-year-old grandboys. They knew about the bananas.

I said, Poppy's going to go. Poppy Rocket's going to go out there and pitch for the bananas. But when I come off the field, all the other guys are going to come out, and they're going to do, if I'm saying it right, the gritty. Yeah, you got it. Yeah, my grandboys know how to do the gritty. And they showed me, I said, you've got to do the gritty with Poppy. And they said, we're in, Poppy.

You pitch for the bananas. We'll do it. So that was the, that's the backstory. What a guy going out there and slinging it for the bananas. Good on you for that. All right, correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I don't believe you have a home run in professional baseball. Is that true? You're right.

And my boys reminded me of it a lot. Yeah, of course, as they should. That's what sons do. But if you could go back in time and you could hit one dinger in your career, but you get to pick the pitcher that you hit it off of, who would you want to take yard? Christy Matheson One of the old-time great high-legged kicker One of the old-timers For sure

Hey, hey, if you guys, I don't know if you watched it But I got to play Christy Matheson In the movie Cobb with Tommy Lee Jones And old school And I'm telling you, it felt like we went back old school Yeah, so to go back to with this home run stuff I thought I had one in Colorado I hit it, and you all know how that wall is short, and then it goes high by the scoreboard.

I kissed it, and I thought, you know, I got it. I almost missed first base because I was staring at it. Hit first base, frigging one foot hits on the high wall, it doesn't go out. I busted in the second. They almost throw me out. I'm bent over, and, of course, the bench is going crazy. All the guys on the bench are thinking, this is great because here's an old dude got a hit. And so I kind of jacked with them back with my fist,

All of a sudden, I realized, I can't breathe. This air's thin. I'm on second base, and I can't breathe, man. So I was bent over looking for air. But, yeah, my boys busts on me a little bit. All my boys were good hitters. And any time I started to talk hitting with them, unless they really ask me a pointed question, they'll say, hold up, Dad, stay in your lane.

He goes, they said, the only thing you were good at, you were a good bunner. And I go, I appreciate it, boys. So, yeah. They got to give you a hard time. All right, we're going to go back to your acting career here. Let's go. Two of the great comedies, which you can't really make them anymore, which is really sad. But you got dumb and dumber.

You got Kingpin. You're in Kingpin as Skidmark. Cam Neely play Seabass. We're going to put it together. Seabass and Skidmark go toe to toe in a fight who wins. Oh, well, Cam is. If he pulls my shirt up over my head like you got me, if he can fight on skates, he's going to be really tough in tennis shoes. So the back story on that is the Farley brothers, you know, they're crazy and they always like to have, you know, somebody in New England or they're from New England, so they love all of it.

They had me written in for Seabas, as you can see by one of the lines when Cam runs out of that bar and he says, I'm going to, I'm going to kill it. Where do they go? I'm going to kill them something, but whatever he says. Try to do it with his Canadian accent. and uh but anyway i couldn't do it the team wouldn't release me to go do it blah blah blah so they go we're going to get you in one of these so just be ready and we'll we'll find a way to do it but we're going to do it well the offseason comes and get a phone call from them and they said we got it we're going to do another movie and you're in it and we got you covered we got a part for you it's perfect and i go i'm not coming until you tell me what my name y'all gave me because i know

So it goes, no, if we tell you, you won't come. And I go, what, what's my, what am I doing? They go, well, you're a shit kicking truck driver. You're going to walk in a bar. Randy Quay's going to be dancing with your girl. You're going to have an earring and a tattoo, and your name is Skidmark. I go, you've got to be kidding me, dog. And I was like, you got to be kidding me.

So we went to Reno for three nights. We filmed late at night. And we, you know, we did about five takes for each, you know, for TV and then nowhere. and they said, well, Woody's already dropped the F-bomb a bunch, so it's going to be rated R. But those guys are fun and crazy, and it was a fun experience for sure.

That's so cool. What was the hat that you wore? What did the hat say you wore in that thing? What was that? You guys know your stuff. So, yeah, my hat was the best. I wanted to keep it. My hat, truck driver, said,

ass, grass, or cash. No one rides for free. Yeah, that's what I know. They didn't let you keep that. That's bullshit. That's your character. Exactly. I agree.

That's crooked. All right. My next question is stay on this same topic. It relates, right? So your character, Skidmark, as you said, it comes in with the line. I had to stoop slap your ass. And I need to know, I'd never heard stoop slap in my, I was like, what the shit is that? I think I said it a hundred times.

I never knew what it meant, but defined stoop slap. How was that different from a regular slap? That's funny you ask, because when I said it, they cut tape and was like, what is that? And Woody Harrelson had to. him up and tell him what it was. He goes, that's perfect. He goes, I said, you know, the three, the three stooges. Oh, like, oh, okay. It's like that, the back and forth, open hand. Yeah, okay. That's the stoop slap makes sense. Yeah. Yeah, we went through, we went through a bunch of stuff and ended up laughing and the outtakes would have been great if we'd have played those because we

started in and they just rolled tape and let me, you know, do the scene like three or four times. And I was just trying to whistle off everything. It was similar to Cobb, what I did with Tommy Lee. I had to say some stuff to him. He hits a double off me in the game, and then we start just railing on each other, and he's like, I'm still in third, stealing home on you,

and we go back and forth and back and forth, but it was pretty funny. Some of the outtakes, we had to stop because we were laughing. Did you almost hit sidebar? Did you almost hit Tommy with a pitch or something like that? I did, man, and he was doing his lines. Yeah, I had to do the old school wind up,

and I was probably throwing about 85, at him because eventually he had to hit one and he had that you know that split grip that tycho grip but uh yeah i i i uh the first one i threw it was right at his ear flap and you know back then you know you just got the soft hats and he when he went down he has to keep his hat can't come off because they'd already shaved him bald because i guess a month earlier they filmed uh when he was 72 or 75 years old or whatever. And so yeah, I whistling in there. And when I let it go, I'm like, oh, my gosh, I friggin nailed him.

And he got out of the way. And I was walking up basically, it apologized. I was almost laughing. I was like, Tommy, Jesus, that was close is what I was thinking. And he whistled around the dirt and got up and said, is that as hard as you can throw? And I'm like, oh, my gosh, you got to remember my lines. He's in character.

He's rocking and rolling here. So that was fun. When I first met Tommy, he had a ran. down in South Texas down by where we were at. But anyway, I never met him until I walked into his trailer. They said, Tommy wants to see him when I got on set. The team let me fly in. And they just said, do not throw a bunch of pitches, whatever you're doing.

But anyway, I got in this trailer. As soon as I got in the trailer for I could say hello to him, I introduced myself, he's got a paperback book of Ty Cobb, and he wings it at me, and he hits me right in the chest. He said, you see the numbers on this guy? And I go, yeah, I know Ty Cobb's got some numbers. I've seen his numbers before. It said, nice to meet you, Tommy. He's like, yeah, it was good.

What a cool experience. That's sweet. All right, speaking of good numbers, not many guys had your number at all. I mean, you owned pretty much everybody, but if there was one guy you had to point out that you probably didn't have the most success against, who would it be? Man, I gave up plenty of. I mean, 24 years, man.

I mean, I've got my ticket punched a few times. I mean, that's the worst feeling, too, by the way, when you go out there and lay an egg. I'll tell you that. I hated it. man there there was you know the the big power guys you know even though they hit home runs they you know i'm throwing at a rate of speed and they're swinging so hard i pretty much have to leave one in their happy's you know their happy zone the guys that always gave me trouble were the the leadoff guy or the guy behind him that would choke up or have great back control um you know

i don't want to get an 11 pitch 12 pitch of bat with you leading off the game or then and i know it sounds crazy now, but if I do that, I'm not getting to the eighth inning. I know it sounds crazy now because these dudes are going five innings and bailing all the time. And there's still a couple throwback dudes that want to finish what they started. They're not going to, probably. I mean, I heard one of the guys say the other days, like, I can't wait. Yeah, I feel really good. I'm ready to go, you know, and knock out 150 innings.

And I went, what? I said, you're going to have, you're going to have, you know, what is that five inning over 30 starts i mean are you kidding me so but uh yeah the contact guys especially in the stadiums like fenway the only foul territory you had was in uh in in Oakland where you guys can foul out easier on you where they're trying to spoil a really tough pitch uh but the other the other guys are so good with their back control i make a bastard pitch on one of the corners and you know they flip it off into the stands and here we go we got we got a battle. So I don't want to get in that 12 pitch of bat with you. I'm going to throw my two seamer,

which I call a bowling ball. It's heavy. I'm going to throw it middle, middle down. I want you to hit it in the kitty litter, which you see how they wet down the front of the plate now. We call it kitty litter. Hit it in the kitty litter, ground out and get you out of there. Perfect. Give him a little Mr. Splitty. Hit it in the kitty litter. Yeah, I mean, that's how you coach them up. All right. That's it. I'm changing. I'm audible into this one, Roger. Your nickname, Rocket. I mean, you can't pick a better nickname as a pitcher than rocket so take that off the board we're going to put that over here next best nickname for a pitcher in baseball what is it um well tigers it's not baseball tigers i like big cat i like when they call tiger big cat um yeah you can do other sports too if you just want

to go nicknames in general did larry bird have a nickname larry legend the legend there you go that's a pretty damn good one too i was thinking the great one wing grass He's the great one. Yeah, that's solid, no doubt. You know, I was fortunate being in Boston when, you know, you got Larry and Aange and Parrish and McHale. And, I mean, it was fun watching those guys and sit in courtside and listen to Larry talking trash. I got a buddy that I got a couple buddies, actually. They jack with him out.

They'll text me. They said that they're the rocket and I'm the missile. And so they jacked with me all the time. I had a, one of the best messages I ever got in 20 years was, I was with the Yankees one year and I came out of the gate like, I don't know, 18, 19 and 0 or 19. I think I set a record. I think it ended up going 21 and 1. But in that streak somewhere, I think I was 14, 15, 16 and 0.

And my buddy was, I think Woody Williams, pitcher Woody. Woody was with the Cardinals, I think. But he had my number, and he was, we're golfing buddies, and we gamble a little bit. But he's dry, good, fun humor. And I get this message. I seen that he called, but I couldn't answer the phone. So he leaves me about a two-minute message. And it was consoling me about my tough start.

He said, hey, he said, missile, this is the real rocket. I just calling you to tell you to keep you. Now, again, I'm 17 and 1 or maybe 0. And he's like, I'm calling you to. just give you a little pep talk. Keep your chin up. I know things are going rough for you out there on the mound. And I'm just, you know, I got your back.

And, uh, but it was hilarious way. I mean, I told Woody, I'll never forget that. I laughed so hard when he left me that message. Keep plugging. Yeah. Keep on keeping on. As my buddies tell me, keep your chins up. Keep your chins up.

Keep your chin up. They say chin. They say, keep both, though. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Next one. Obviously, like you said, you're very serious man when it comes to pitching.

But have you ever given the, other team's starting pitcher a ride to the ballpark? I did. I did. And it wasn't, there weren't a lot of conversation. And speaking of good nicknames, Dr. Death, Danny Darwin. That's a good nickname. I grew up with his kids, went to grade school all the way through high school with him. Did you really? I did. I just got off the phone with Danny on the way down here.

I call him Pops and Dr. Death. And he stayed with this, out in Framingham when we're at Boston, and we're facing each other. He's with the Blue Jays, and we ride in together. And we kind of talked when we got in the car, and I didn't have the radio on. And it was 25-minute drive, and when I pulled into the players' lot, and there was a little, I think, brew-haha the night before. And Danny would, you're talking about Dr. Death, he'd clean up a game in a heartbeat if you need to knock somebody on their backline.

And not think twice about it. And turn the car off. We started to get out of the car. And I think I said something like, hey, if you pick off one of our guys, I'm going to get two of yours. And he just looked at me, Stoneface, said, do what you got to do. You get out of the car, we battled. I think we both got, ended up being a no decision for both of us. We got back in the car and we're all chatty and going to dinner.

That's fantastic. Yeah. That probably doesn't happen very often. We're both starting pitchers. You need a lift? Yeah. Gotcha. That's correct.

You're probably right. All right. All right. Last one for you from me, Raj. Settle the debate right here as a whole. Who makes the better golfers? Pitchers or quarterbacks? Ooh, good one.

I'm going to say for sure. And you know what? That plays on my mind. Like we might need a Rider Cup type situation for that. I like that. Get 12 on 12. and let's get some cameras out there on that.

But I think the pitchers would prevail. I like that call, though. That'd be fun. That'd be a fun one. Get the round up the 12 best, get a couple captains. Yeah. Let's go.

Yeah, I agree. All right. Last one. I just recently learned you're a Dak Prescott fan, which is great because I'm a huge Dallas cowboy fan. But the Cowboys haven't had the best of luck lately. Texas Longhorn football hadn't really got it done lately. So tell me this.

Texas Longhorns win his national championship first, or Dallas Cowboys win a Super Bowl? Longhorns are going to win a national championship. And I'm not, you know, I'm a Cowboys fan because I met Jerry and I know a lot of the guys. I kind of root for guys around. The Mrs. is a big cowboy fan. She did some stuff with the Cowboy cheerleaders. Her family's up from the Arlington area. My oldest son is a cowboy guy.

My number three son, Casey's the Cowboy. guy. The reason why my number two is a Tampa Bay buck, which is moon and stars, of course, when Brady went there, we're all in line. I did, I shot a commercial at their stadium and they gave him when he was little, a bunch of buccaneer stuff. The same thing that Cody, who's with the Phillies, he's a cheesehead. I did a, I did a hot dog commercial at Lambo, and they gave him a bunch of green and gold stuff. So he's been a Packer fan. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, actually as a big Raider fan, but I've become more of a Miami Dolphin fan because I got to meet all the coaches and did this past year a jersey swap with Tyreek Hill. And I didn't realize

how big of a baseball fan he was. And so, and I really, I really root for my buddies that play in the NFL that I know now. But having said all that, I think Dax's getting too much, too much crap. I think if you're a quarterback in the NFL, you're pretty damn good if you're a starting quarterback in NFL. And I mean, just be careful because I've had the privilege. I tell people now that I watch baseball from, I don't like going to the suite. I like to sit down in the seats. And it looks real methodical. When you're on the field and you're standing in a box of me, it's a whole different look.

And when you're on the sidelines and when I go to watch my team, the longhorns, and they want me to come upstairs and shake hands and kiss babies. I say, no, I want to sit down on the sidelines here, stand on the sidelines and watch the game. And it's amazing to me where I see a guy hit the corner with the ball, and I think he's got 11 yards to get the first down. I said he's got it easy and how fast these dudes close and it's like a car, it's like a car wreck in front of you. It's amazing from watching those guys. And so I can only imagine at the NFL level where everybody's fast. including the 280-pound lineman.

You know, I just tell people, I put them in check all the time when they're watching it. Like, you know, you're sitting in your, you're sitting in a lot, you know, your, your recliner and you're watching these, dude, and you're bitching and moaning. And I said, dude, it's a, it's a, it's a hard game, dude. Like, I think, I think one of the, I think one of the best quotes I heard if I have it right was, I think it was, who was the wide receiver for the Colts Harrison. Marvin Harrison? Yeah, Marvin Harrison.

Super, super guy. I think he's, I don't know him, but he seems to come off pretty, pretty quiet. And he did an interview, and they're asking him, you know, why after he gets hit with, you know, scores a touchdown, catches a touchdown, you know, he doesn't go into a dance, slamming a ball around whatever. And his response was, guys, there are probably eight guys on that defense that are bigger and I am and they're already trying to take my head off. Well, you know, why would I want to show out any more

than make them, you know, more pissed off at me? That's beautiful. It's valid. Yeah. And that's the way I'd go about it. You know, I try and tell the boys, you know, you hit a Homer. They've celebrated. Well, the best one was for Cody. You know what kind of season the Detroit Tigers are having when Cody striking out Otani is, you know, their biggest highlight of the year. So, but that was a cool deal. Feats him to do the gritty.

We can say this because Sleaves listens to everything, 24, 25 season, Texas is back. Texas is, I mean, they're pretty back this year. You all had something to root for this year. Now, who are you ready to hate the most in the SEC now that you're changing? You've got to change. Man, it's game on now. Everybody. Be careful what you wish for.

And I don't, you know, like I said, I saw Nick Savan's comment. And I met coach about a week after he shut it down, down at the Floridian. And I told him, I don't know. I don't know what your guys take on. But with the portal and all this guys jumping around, I don't know how you recruit or coach him up right now. I mean, you can give the going to a kid's living room, give me your best new Rockney speech about coming, playing,

get a great education, national championship, this and that. And you get done with your whole spill and they look at you and go, what are you going to pay me? How much? And I get it. Yeah. So I just don't know how. these coaches do it, man, right now.

I'm with you. And then you've got to sign them again for the next year. You do that same shit again in 365 days. Yeah, I think that hopefully somebody will try and get a hold of it. Yeah, it'll change eventually. Well, Rocket, man, we can't thank you enough for joining us. That was a lot of fun. Really appreciate it.

I appreciate you guys hanging out until I get back from the little guy's Waygo. And thanks for having me on. I appreciate it, boys. You got it. Hall out of Twinney and Scott still. I want to go peg it. Let's do it. I love it out there, man.

Great golf out there, no doubt about it. You got it. We'll take care of. Talk soon. Appreciate it. All right, that was the Rocket. Roger Clemens joining us on so far, aka Skidmark, by the way, forgot about that incredible appearance in Kingpin.

What a movie. They just don't make them like that anymore, but the fact that he had a chance to be C-Bass, that's a, I mean, anybody but the Yankees is like, hey, I love you, by the way, I'm going to go be in the greatest comedy film in the history of mankind, so I'll catch you. and I'll still probably strike out 18, so don't worry about me.

Man, he is unbelievable. What a career he had. What an actor. His IMDB. He's got a nice IMDB. How about, honestly, how about the 9-11 stuff? I kind of wish we had got into more in depth or started a little bit earlier with that. That's one of, like, legitimately, one of my, like, biggest memories, I guess, in sports

is that game in New York, kind of the first thing back since 9-11, him pitching, he and Sheilling had a duel. And then obviously, George Bush, with, with, without question, the greatest first pitch in the history of mankind. I also did it with a bulletproof vest on, which I didn't know. Love it came to the clubhouse, went down there, warmed up, and then Roger, who I'm guessing, doesn't like to change his routine before games. He's like, now, hold on, we're going to turn around from the bullpen and watch this one.

Yeah, we got all these NBA guys up there throwing it in the dirt when they're throwing out first pitches, and Georgie just throws a little two-seamer right down the kitty. Shout out to him. Shout out to Clemens for coming on. Yeah, I could have talked about the 9-11 thing for hours. That was so cool. but a lot of fun sleighs, some good news. I'm heading to Pine Valley next week,

and my clubs are getting picked up at my house Thursday by shipsticks. Smart man. Who wouldn't use shipsticks? You use it, I use it. We all go on golf trips. We all love to go on golf trips, and we all hate packing our clubs, taking our clubs,

lugging them through the airport. Just eliminate it. Either ship them there, ship them back, both ways, one way. It doesn't matter. But you got to treat your clubs, Colt, the way you want to be treated. If you want your boys to perform,

When they get to the golf trip, you got to take care of them a little bit on the way. Don't just slam them in the bottom of a commercial airline. They're freezing cold down there. Of course, they're going to be pissed off when they get there. Treat them right. Ship them to, ship them from, or ship them both. I'm going round trip, baby. I mean, once you use it, I don't think you'll ever go on a golf trip and not use it.

It just makes it so easy. And you ain't got to love that heavy-ass bag through the airport. No question about it. Legitimately use it once. You'll never not use it again. And go to shipsticks.com slash subpar. You get 20% off. Or just go to shipsticks.com.

Use code subpar, 20% off. Use it. Let your friends use it. It changes the way you travel. Yes, it does. All right, let's get to some picks this week, the RBC Heritage. We got a signature event. I think there's 66 guys in the field is what I think they told me last time.

It's a baby field. I don't understand. I don't understand why the field is so small, but it's a very good field. Victor Hovlin, actually with Drew. He is just struggling with his golf game right now. How about that? It's shocking that he would just withdraw. The second time, by the way, this year, he looked healthy.

I'm assuming it's not a health thing. The second time he withdrew out of Phoenix as well. He just seems like he's searching. It's crazy, given where he was at the end of last year. Listen, 20 million, 66 guys, no cut. I'll go shoot 80, 80, 80, and just take the check. Are you out of your brain? I mean, I'll drag my ass around on one leg around that joint just to take last.

Doesn't matter. I'm staying right across the street from the clubhouse. I can be on the T anytime they need me. We are horrors, though. We are horrors, so we'll do anything. So, you know, that should be noted. All right. Well, we said it earlier.

No surprise. Scotty Sheffler, once again, really big favorite. I expect him to play well. He's a competitive guy. He's not going to come out here and just slap it around just because he won the Masters last week. And he's probably not going to be hungover like you and I would for a year or forever. But I do expect him to play well.

I don't like the odds, though, just coming off a win at the Master. So I'm going to go a little further down for my favorite. 18 to 1, finished T3 last week at the Masters. this golf course is just perfect for him. And by the way, this is one of the coolest golf courses in the world. If you ever get a chance to play, I highly recommend. But give me Colin Morikawa at 18 to 1. Yeah, I like that.

I think if you're going to pick a golf course designed for Colin Morikawa, like this might be it. Just iron play after iron play. Who's better than him? And played great last week. I'm going a little further down. I echo what you say on Scotty. He could go win this thing by five and it wouldn't shock me.

But also, he flew home. He's flying back. I don't know. I'm going a decent way it's down. I'm going to 28 to 1. And I'm getting Will Zalotaurus, who I also think one of the greatest iron players in the game. Had a nice week last week, a little bit of a putter situation. Just kind of, every time he got it going and he started moving up, he kind of would back up a little bit.

But dude, love him coming off a good weekend at a place like this. His time's coming soon. He's gotten back in form so quickly after that surgery and that putter's changed everything for him. All right. I like it. Willie Z. I mean, you got to be on your iron game here. These greens are the smallest on the PGA tour.

You got to drive it straight if you do hit driver. but man, this is such a great week. One of my favorite stops on the PGA tour. All right, my dark horse, I was between two guys. They're both around 50 to 1. So I'm just going to throw them both out there, but I'm going to tell you, I'm going to pick just that way in case the other guy plays well.

I love Shane Lowry this week around here, but I'm going with the guy who shot the low round at the Masters on Sunday. Give me Tom Kim, 50 to 1. Like that. A little 6-5 for the kid around Augustine National. I like that also like you throwing out too. Just take them both. Who gives a shit?

Yeah. All right. I'm going to go around the same number as you, 55 to 1. This man, almost just picked up his maiden victory on the PGA tour. He's coming off one of the greatest putting weeks in the history of golf back in San Antonio. Not the longest guy in the world, but as soon as he gets on the greens, he's the best in the world for sure. Danny McCarthy, 55 to 1. I'll take him.

I always like Danny McCarthy pretty much every week. With that putter, it is such a weapon. All right, but it's going to be a great week. I'm here at the RBC Heritage, getting it going, doing golf channel, CBS this week. I'm really looking forward to this is my second of I think I got second of eight in a row. So busy boy is nice to know on you, Slease. Busy boy is right. Try to enjoy yourself down there. Love that part of the country, by the way, down there in South Carolina, one of the best spots, in my opinion. Such a great week. Awesome golf course, awesome crowds. Weather's going to be perfect, it looks like.

So I'm very excited for the week. And by the way, you were in the zone today. Thank you. Thank you for noticing. I didn't want to shoot my own horn, but I absolutely was. And there's something I need to tell you about the zone. By the way. I'll happily put the twomp in there. This product does contain nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Underage sale is prohibited, introducing zone nicotine pouches,

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Well, thanks to you all for listening. We'll talk to you on next week's subpar.