Larry Stone / Baseball reporter
Rocket's test will be upholding reputation

	Roger Clemens
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So Roger Clemens has joined the ranks of unretiring superstars, a list that includes Michael Jordan, Jim Palmer, Mario Lemieux and just about any boxer worth his salt.

The others, of course, had the technicality of actually sitting out a few games before gracing us with their return, but that's a quibble.

I believe the Rocket was sincere last October when he bathed in the adulation that followed his removal from Game 4 of the World Series in Miami, by all appearances the last appearance of his glittering career. On a conference call yesterday, one reporter asked if Clemens feared being called "fraudulent" for misleading fans last fall, to which an irked Clemens replied, "That's a little strong word, I think."

Even the opposing Florida Marlins stood in the dugout that night and applauded, and Clemens said afterward that he was "99.9 percent sure" he wouldn't change his mind. His son, Kacy, took the microphone at the end of the news conference and told the media, "Thank you for watching over my dad for the last 40 years — I mean 20 years. And we'll take it from here."

It was the ultimate "awwww" moment, even if it was transparently scripted. But that was before Clemens' good buddy, Andy Pettitte, left the Yankees for their hometown Houston this winter, setting into motion a chain of events that resulted, yesterday, in Clemens donning an Astros uniform and reducing his long valedictory tour of last summer to two words:

Never mind.

The cynical amongst us would speculate that Clemens has decided to go after some personal milestones, such as the 38 strikeouts he needs to move past Steve Carlton into second place on the all-time list, or the wins that could tack on his 310 total and creep him past Tom Seaver, Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro, Don Sutton and Nolan Ryan on the all-time list.

But it appears that it took a confluence of longshot events to make Clemens change his mind about hanging it up. The U.S. national team had to lose in the Olympic qualifying tournament, eliminating Clemens' realistic thoughts of performing for that team next summer. The Yankees had to shun Pettitte, making a limited attempt, at best, to re-sign him. And the payroll-conscious Astros had to step up and sign both Pettitte (three years, $31 million) and Clemens (one year, $5 million).

"If Andy hadn't signed here," he said, "I wouldn't have even considered it. I already had my schedule lined up to get to New York twice a month and pal around with Andy."

Finally, and most important, Clemens had to be convinced that he could still satisfy his desire to spend more time with his children and ailing mother in Texas. Clemens apparently has been giving assurances by Astros owner Drayton McLane that he can work his schedule around the high school athletic career of his eldest sons, Koby, 17, and Kory, 15.

Clemens mentioned several times yesterday that he wouldn't have even considered signing if his 74-year-old mother, who has emphysema, hadn't given her blessing. Clemens has privately worried that delaying his Hall of Fame eligibility one more year — he can't go in now until at least 2010, assuming this is really, truly his last year — would reduce the possibility his mother is around to see it.

"When she heard Andy was here and this might happen, she cried to me and said she would be with me at the Hall of Fame, whether I'm talking to an empty chair or not — that her spirit will be there," he said.

The big question, of course, is whether Clemens can be the rare player who manages to do anything but diminish his reputation by coming back. Jordan certainly did his legacy demonstrable harm with his ill-advised Wizards' stint, but then Jordan had nowhere to go but down, after his picture-perfect exit from Chicago with a title-winning shot.

On the plus side, Clemens is going to a much better team than Jordan did in Washington, where he faced scrutiny as both a front-office executive and former world-class player.

This Astros club, with Pettitte and Clemens schooling their young studs, Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller, has a real chance to win the NL Central after finishing one game behind the Chicago Cubs last year.

Clemens, a workout freak, hasn't even had time to let his skills atrophy and diminish, the biggest risk for those who step away and return. He's not the 20-strikeout fireballer of days gone by, but his 17-9 record and 3.91 earned-run average last season aren't the numbers of someone who is the last to know his time has passed.

On the down side, Clemens now has to bat, leaving him vulnerable to any hitter with a grudge to settle and a pitching teammate willing to help. One is reminded of Dusty Baker's comment in 2002, after Clemens hit San Francisco's Barry Bonds on his wrist at Yankee Stadium in their first career matchup.

Baker's quote, which the New York tabloids seized upon as a gauntlet being thrown, was this: "If he was in the National League, he might not be known as ... what's his nickname? Rocket? Maybe it'd be Roger the dodger."

Clemens deflected such talk yesterday, saying that the Astros "didn't bring me here to hit .340. I'm not concerned about hitting except if bunting and handling the bat lets me stay in the game. As far as throwing inside, you're going to hit batters. I don't really have concern about that."

But you can be sure that Clemens' plate appearances will be an ongoing sideshow this year, as they were in 2000 when he faced the Mets at Shea Stadium after beaning Mike Piazza. In fact, Clemens has ensured that the spotlight on him this upcoming season will be constant and immense.

Sorry, Kacy. We'll take it from here.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com

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