ROGER and ME ... My Time With Baseball's Greatest Pitcher.

Two-Time World Series Champion, Cito Gaston
Welcomes "Rocket" Roger Clemens to the Toronto Blue Jays

In 1985 I became a volunteer for Special Olympics Canada. They'd created a Toronto based fundraising event, The Sports Celebrities Festival that operated at the Harbour Castle Hotel, for 28 years. I joined to help to raise money and create awareness.

The event consisted of a fabulous (TSN televised) breakfast for 2,000.  And, in the evening a black-tie dinner/auction for another 1,000.  All on the same day. It took place annually, just before Christmas @ Harbour Castle.

We invited a wide variety of athletes from just about every sport -- more than 350 of them attended the event over its 28-year run. Many, like Lindsay and Kennedy and Hawley and Chuvalo and McBean and the Richard brothers and Sittler, enjoyed it so much, they came back on consecutive years.

No one was paid an appearance fee.  They all understood the importance of helping fellow athletes.

 

Special Olympians, their coaches and all of the sports celebrities showed up at our hotel venue the day before to learn what was expected of them.

The night before the big event, we provided the celebrities with a dining room so they could spend time with one another.

I remember "The Perfect 10", Nadia Comaneci, really enjoyed talking hockey with "Rocket" Richard. George Chuvalo got to reunite with his St. Mike's College classmate and Hockey Hall of Fame member, Dick Duff and following the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games everyone wanted a minute with Gold Medal-winning Canadian hockey team coach, Pat Quinn. Brett "The Hitman" Hart was always someone you'd want to sit next to.

The casual dining atmosphere of this very unusual collection of celebrities was always chock-full of swagger and behind-the-scenes stories. You would have paid to be there.

A Special Olympian representing each province, their coaches and family members had dinner together in an adjoining room.

Following dinner, the Special Olympian group joined the sports celebrities for autographs and pictures. These days this type of gathering would be called a meet and greet.

Once the two groups came together I always stood at the back of the room just to take it in. There was a wonderful buzz. To me, the room always felt like Christmas morning.

So much excitement - so many smiling faces.

There was also something unexpected.

No matter how big the sports celebrity, their accomplishments weren't really of any importance to the Special Olympians. In most cases, they'd never heard of the celebrities in the room. They just knew that this was a very exciting place to be and they were about to have fun.

In 1997 there wasn't a bigger, more popular Toronto athlete then the newly acquired Toronto Blue Jay Cy Young Award-winning pitcher, Roger Clemens.

He had a huge, previously established fan base. He was the face of the Blue Jays.

Everyone in baseball thought of him as a super-duper star ... and he was ours.

He agreed to make an appearance at the Sports Celebrities Festival. But he may have misunderstood the invitation.

Maybe he didn't know about Special Olympics. He arrived late for dinner. Actually, the post-dinner reception was already in full swing. It was noisy. Good noisy.

Roger showed up with what looked like a bodyguard. I think they're called “handlers".

The handler entered the room first and quickly took-the-place-in looking for a suitable (safe) spot for Roger to set up. He nodded the all-clear to Roger standing in the doorway. Roger strode smartly into the frenzy that the room had become like it owned it.

He looked spectacular. He was a lot bigger than I imagined. He was tanned. His hair glistened. He was wearing a $2000 Armani suit with a silk tie and a beautifully starched white shirt and diamond cuff links the size of quarters.

He walked to the middle of the room without looking right or left or acknowledging what was going on around him.

He stood for a few moments absorbing the "Christmas morning" thing I mentioned. He looked puzzled. Nobody was paying any attention to him. I sensed his confusion and invaded his space to give him a little background of what was going on.

I explained that the Special Olympians knew he was a celebrity but they didn't necessarily know what he did, nor did they necessarily care.

"It's just about fun". I asked him if he'd like to join in?

That was all the invitation he needed. Off came the jacket and tie. He dismissed his handler, created an ear to ear smile and started introducing himself to anyone and everyone. There wasn't a handshake missed or an autograph refused.

That day, in that space, he was different. He wasn't a baseball superstar. He wasn't important ... he was just Roger.

It was the era before "selfies" so Roger insisted on taking pictures of other celebrities with Special Olympians and their families. He seemed so happy. He took such extra care. Every photo had to be just right.

As the evening came to an end, I noticed him at a table by himself making a sign. While he was writing, I looked over his shoulder ... on a piece of poster board, he'd written, "Future Special Olympian".

There was a dad in the room with a stroller and what looked like a two-year-old child with Down Syndrome. Roger had asked dad for permission to create the sign and have his picture taken with them. Dad was way-smiling, Roger was over-the-top smiling and the baby was having a giggle moment.

Respect.

During his time, in baseball terms, Roger was bigger than big.

24 years in the Majors.

11 All-Star selections.

2 World Series Championships.

7 Cy Young Awards.

2 Pitching Triple Crowns.

He was a lock to become an Honoured Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But things got in the way.

A suggestion that he used drugs. A congressional hearing.

Alleged perjury and alleged infidelity have made it difficult for the National Baseball Writer's Association to write his name onto a Hall ballot.

Forgiveness is tough.

"Rocket" Roger has done a few things to disappoint his legion of fans to say nothing of the media. We don't hear much from him these days.

That's probably good. They say, "time heals".

People remember him for different reasons. Me too. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. He's certainly given folks lots to cheer about and lots to feel awkward about.

Everything aside, I prefer to only think of Roger-the-dad who got together with another dad and took a picture of a Future Special Olympian.

Respect.

Roger with one of his 7 Cy Young Awards (the trophy that nobody ever gets to see) He forgot to bring his "Cy" with him for this photo, so I borrowed Ferguson Jenkins trophy and had Roger hold it to cover Fergie's name.

This is a Special Olympic Portrait that we didn't put up for sale. He personally signed and numbered 21 copies (his jersey number) I thought it would be more valuable and command more Special Olympic money as a collectible if he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (maybe this year?)