You might need a slide rule to count all 20 of Roger Clemens' strikeouts from Sept. 18, 1996
Relive Roger Clemens' second career 20-strikeout game
Roger Clemens struck out 4,672 batters in his career. If that isn't impressive enough, 40 of those strikeouts came in two games.
You probably remember the first 20-strikeout game because it came early in 1986 -- when Clemens was just 23 and led the Red Sox to the World Series. The second such occurrence came on Sept. 18, 1996, when Clemens struck out 20 Tigers while giving up just five hits in a 4-0 Red Sox victory.
He got 'em looking:
He got 'em swinging:
He even broke out a crazy breaking ball to get one of the dropped-third-strike-throw-to-first variety just to diversify his portfolio:
Nomar Garciaparra, Mo Vaughn and Jose Canseco batted 2-3-4 for the Sox and current Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was one of the five Tigers players to muster hits off Clemens. Travis Fryman earned a golden sombrero for his effort that day.