30 Years Ago: Roger Clemens Struck Out 20 Batters At Fenway

Thirty years ago today, former Red Sox ace Roger Clemens struck out a record 20 batters at Fenway Park.

Clemens pitched all 9 innings against the Seattle Mariners that afternoon. Among the strikeout victims were Dave Henderson (three times) and Spike Owen (twice), who would be traded to the World-Series-bound Sox four months later. That October, Henderson famously hit a 2-run home run with 2 strikes and 2 outs in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series against the California Angels to save the Sox, who would infamously advance and lose the World Series to the New York Mets, from elimination.

At the time, the Boston sports hierarchy was somewhat inverted relative to today, with the Boston Celtics heading toward their third and final championship of the 1980s, and forward Larry Bird working at his peak, in the midst of his third-straight MVP season. So even with Clemens starting, a regular season Sox-Mariners game in April didn't command the same attention as Game 2 of the NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals at the Boston Garden, where the Celtics were hosting Dominique Wilkins and the Atlanta Hawks. (Oddly enough, the Celts were eliminated from the playoffs by the Hawks last night.)

WGBH News' Henry Santoro paid $9 (!) for a box seat to watch. Clemens fan 20 at a half-empty Fenway Park, and got an autographed ball from Clemens.

Buried in the WGBH Archives is the following News at 10 story from later that season, in which the Sox were feted at City Hall Plaza upon returning, defeated, from Queens.

"Seeing you guys out here today hits us right here," Clemens told the crowd, tapping his chest. "That's no lie."

Among the crowd of political Sox fans seen on the stage in the video are Boston Mayor Ray Flynn and Massachusetts Gov. Mike Dukakis, former City Councilor Charles Yancey and former state Rep. Brian Wallace of South Boston.

Clemens would repeat his 20-strikeout feat in 1996 against the Detroit Tigers, and, Chicago Cub Kerry Wood would match it in 1998, but the shared record still stands.