William Roger Clemens, nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), most notably with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees and also played for the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros. He was one of the most dominant pitchers in major league history, tallying 354 wins, a 3.12 earned run average (ERA), and 4,672 strikeouts, the third-most all time. An 11-time MLB All-Star and two-time World Series champion, Clemens won seven Cy Young Awards, more than any other pitcher in history. Clemens was known for his fierce competitive nature and hard-throwing pitching style, which he used to intimidate batters.
Clemens debuted in the MLB in 1984 with the Red Sox, whose pitching staff he anchored for 12 years. In 1986, he won the American League (AL) Cy Young Award, the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, and the All-Star Game MVP Award, and he struck out an MLB-record 20 batters in a single game. After the 1996 season, in which he achieved his second 20-strikeout performance, Clemens left Boston via free agency and joined the Toronto Blue Jays.