The Price of Greatness: Defending Roger Clemens

When Mickey Mantle was playing baseball, he was worried about his financial future—so worried in fact, that he invested in a bowling alley with the hope that he'd be able to support himself when his playing days were over. 

Can you imagine Barry Bonds opening up a coffee shop to get ready for life after baseball?

For much of the game's history, baseball owners were able to walk all over even the best players.  The situation has obviously changed.  Today, a player who can string a few good years together in the big leagues is pretty well set for life.

I don't know if the change is good for baseball.  Huge salaries have created cynicism in the stands and the press box, and free agency has eliminated any loyalty that players had for their teams.

Of course, most fans look upon baseball history with rose-colored glasses. We love to imagine players playing for the love of the game instead of giant piles of cash—players who worked as a team, practiced as a team, traveled as a team, and could recite innumerable clich's about what it meant to be, well, a team.

I'm willing to throw out such sentiment.  The past was not so idyllic. While most fans think players today are overpaid, the fact is that they were underpaid in Mantle s day.  Baseball players generate huge revenues for their teams and owners.  As long as fans are willing to shell out billions of dollars a year, it only seems fair to give some of it back to the guys on the field.

Which brings me to Roger Clemens.  Do I think it's excessive for the the best pitcher of the last 25 years to make four million dollars a month?  Not really—Clemens has earned it.  And if he doesn't take the money, it just goes right back to George Steinbrenner. 

I think we can all agree which is the greater crime.

A more difficult question is whether Roger actually deserves the money based on his ability to win baseball games.  Last year, Clemens went 7-6 in 19 starts as a hired gun for the Astros.  Those numbers aren't especially impressive...but take a peek at Clemens: 2.30 ERA and 1.04 WHIP.  The Rocket gave his team a chance to win every time he pitched.  In fact, his numbers from 2006 were actually better than his career averages (3.10 ERA and 1.17 WHIP)—as they have been in every season since 2003.

If Clemens can pitch at or even near his lifetime numbers, he might be able to win 15 games for the Yankees—who lead the AL in hits, batting average, and runs.  With Clemens on the roster, the Yankees suddenly go from a team with only two consistent starting pitchers (Andy Pettitte and Darrell Rasner) to a team with a very good shot at winning 60 percent of its games.

The other objection some pundits have raised concerns the special privileges written into Clemens' contract.  Among the most controversial is a clause stipulating that Clemens doesn't have to travel with the team on road trips when he's not scheduled to pitch. 

Most people call this a violation of "team spirit"—but I would suggest that the Yankees should be happy enough that Clemens is going to give them a chance to win games.  The Yankees are playing as a team now...and they're losing. It might sound like heresy, but I'd go so far as to say that  teamwork isn't essential to winning in baseball.

There's a better way to look at Clemens' special privileges.  Think of Pablo Picasso, for example.  Let's say I owned an art gallery when Picasso was still alive and I had a special agreement with Picasso under which all his new work would be displayed at my gallery first.  If I were given such an honor, would I demand that Picasso spend more time in his studio?  Would I request that he travel with exhibits even when those exhibits didn't include his works? 

Of course not.  Picasso was the best artist of his age—and earned the right to work when and how he wanted to by virtue of his greatness.

The same holds true for Clemens.  The evidence says he'll produce wins for a ball club that needs them.  Sure, the cost is high, but don't forget that Picasso's portrait of his wife Olga recently sold at auction for 18.5 million dollars.  It will take about four months for Clemens to earn 18.5 million dollars.  I doubt Picasso ever worked four months on any of his paintings.  

The bottom line: We shouldn't lament the price George Steinbrenner had to pay to get Roger Clemens back in a big league uniform—we should celebrate the fact that we get to see the best pitcher of our era take the mound one more time before he retires for good.

Marty Andrade is a frequent contributor to the Bleacher Report and the host of a live weekly podcast available at BlogTalkRadio.com/Andrade.