Major League Baseball
Clemens, Pedro, Nomar voted into Red Sox Hall of Fame
Major League Baseball

Clemens, Pedro, Nomar voted into Red Sox Hall of Fame

Published Feb. 5, 2014 8:49 p.m. ET
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While Roger Clemens might be finding it tough to get into Cooperstown’s hallowed halls, the Rocket had no problem receiving an invite to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

Clemens will be joined in the club’s 2014 class by Pedro Martinez, Nomar Garciaparra and longtime radio broadcaster Joe Castiglione, the team announced on Wednesday. The induction ceremony will be held in August.

The players were chosen by a 16-person panel that includes club executives, print and broadcast media members, booster club representatives and historians. Clemens and Martinez were among 13 pitchers considered, while Garciaparra was one of 15 position players under consideration.

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A “Great Red Sox Moment” also is chosen by the Red Sox Hall of Fame panel annually. This year’s selection is Martinez’s one-hit, 17-strikeout complete-game win against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 10, 1999.

Clemens fell short in his first two years on the National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, receiving 37.6 percent of the vote from eligible Baseball Writers' Association of America members in 2013 and 35.4 percent this past January. Seventy-five percent is needed for enshrinement, but the cloud of PED-use has been a sticking point for many of the BBWAA voters.

However, Clemens, who debuted with Boston in 1984, will enter the Red Sox Hall of Fame this summer after 13 impressive seasons with the organization.

The Rocket won three of his record-seven Cy Young Awards in a Red Sox uniform. The right-hander also claimed the American League MVP in 1986, going 24-4 with a 2.48 ERA when he won his first Cy. The second came the next year during a 20-9, 2.97 season. In 1991, he finished 18-10 with a 2.62 ERA and tied David Cone for the majors lead in strikeouts with 241 in winning a third Cy Young.

On the franchise’s career leaderboards, Clemens is first with 2,590 strikeouts and is tied with Cy Young for the most victories (192) and most shutouts (38). He led his respective league in ERA seven times and strikeouts five times.

Clemens left Boston after the 1996 season, signing as a free agent with Toronto. In two seasons with the Blue Jays, Clemens won back-to-back Cys, going 21-7 with a 2.05 ERA in ‘97 and 20-6 with a 2.65 ERA in ’98.

The eventual 11-time All-Star — five with the Red Sox — was then traded to the Yankees for Homer Bush, Graeme Lloyd and David Wells. He pitched for New York from 1999-’03, winning his sixth Cy Young in 2001 after a 20-3, 3.51 ERA campaign. He also won his two World Series rings there (1999 & ’00).

The Texas native would win his final Cy Young in the NL, posting an 18-4 season with a 2.98 ERA in 2004 with the Houston Astros. He pitched two more seasons with Houston before one final campaign with the Yankees in 2007.

During his 24-year career, Clemens finished 354-184 — his victories rank ninth on the all-time list — with a 3.12 ERA and 4,672 strikeouts. He’s third on the all-time K list, only ranking behind Nolan Ryan (5,714) and Randy Johnson (4,875).

Like Clemens, the right-handed Martinez was one of the most dominant pitchers of his generation.

The Dominican Republic native won two of his three Cy Youngs and was a four-time All-Star in his seven seasons with the Red Sox from 1998-‘04. He finished as the Cy Young runner-up in 1998 and ‘02, was third in ‘03 and finished fourth in ‘04.

In 203 career games for Boston, Martinez went 117-37 with a 2.52 ERA and 1,683 strikeouts. His .760 winning percentage ranks first on the club’s all-time list, while he’s third in strikeouts — behind Clemens and Tim Wakefield (2,046) — tied for sixth in wins with Smoky Joe Wood, and 10th in ERA.

Martinez claimed back-to-back Cy Youngs, winning in 1999 after a 23-4, 2.07 ERA and 313-strikeout season, and 2000 when he was 18-6 with a 1.74 ERA and 284 K’s. His first Cy came during his final season in Montreal in 1997, after he went 17-8 with a 1.90 ERA and 305 K’s.

Martinez, who helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004, finished his career 219-100 with a 2.93 ERA and 3,154 strikeouts, ranking 13th on the all-time list. He started his major league career with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1992 and was traded before the ’94 season to Montreal for Delino DeShields.

After going 55-33 with a 3.06 ERA in four seasons with the Expos, the right-hander was dealt to the Red Sox for Carl Pavano and a player to be named, who turned out to be Tony Armas. Martinez pitched seven seasons in Boston before signing a free-agent deal in December 2004 with the New York Mets, where he went 32-23 with a 3.88 ERA over four seasons — but he only started five games in 2007 after recovering from surgery on a torn rotator cuff.

Martinez, who led his respective lead in ERA five times and strikeouts three times, would pitch his final season with the Philadelphia Phillies, going 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA in 2009.

He had this message for his fans after Wednesday’s announcement.

Then there’s No-mahhh.

Garciaparra, whose batter’s box toe-tapping inspired Little Leaguers everywhere, was an All-Star in five of his nine seasons with the Red Sox from 1996-‘04. The shortstop has the fourth-best career batting average (.323) and fifth-best slugging percentage (.553) in Red Sox history.

Garciaparra, who grew up outside of Los Angeles in Bellflower, Calif., collected 1,281 hits with 178 homers, 690 RBI and 84 stolen bases during his time in Boston. He was traded to the Chicago Cubs at the 2004 deadline in a four-team deal — Boston acquired Doug Mientkiewicz from Minnesota and Orlando Cabrera from Montreal, while the Cubs sent Francis Beltran, Alex Gonzalez and Brendan Harris to the Expos, and sent minor leaguer Justin Jones to the Twins.

Garciaparra hit .289 with 13 homers and 50 RBI for the Cubs before signing as a free agent with the Dodgers after the 2005 season. He played three years in LA, hitting .289 with 35 homers and 180 RBI. His final season was in 2009 when he played 65 games for the Oakland A’s, batting .281 with three homers and 16 RBI.

Garciaparra, who won batting titles in 1999 (.357) and 2000 (.372) and was the 1997 AL Rookie of the Year, finished his career with a .313 batting average, 1,747 hits, 229 homers and 936 RBI.

Meanwhile, Joe Castiglione covered the entire careers of the other inductees.

Castiglione will be entering his 32nd season as the Red Sox’ play-by-play announcer — second only to Red Sox Hall of Fame broadcaster Ned Martin (1961-1993).

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