Roger Clemens on famous Mike Piazza World Series broken bat drama: ‘If I wanted to hit him with it, I could have'

New York Post

2 days ago

Two and a half decades later, Roger Clemens' broken bat throw at Mike Piazza is still a defining moment of the Subway Series rivalry.
While many were outraged and confused when Clemens took a chunk of Piazza's broken bat and fired it into the ground right back at him, Clemens has set the record straight numerous times over the years and did so once again on the latest episode of Jack Curry's 'Yankees News & Views' podcast.
Roger Clemens fields Mike Piazza's broken bat during Game 2 of the Subway Series World Series on Oct. 22, 2000.
AP
'TV made it look like it was five feet from him,' Clemens said. 'I didn't think it was that close to the guy, and I definitely wasn't throwing it at him. I tease people now … if I wanted to hit him with it, I could have hit him with it.'
Clemens detailed that the reason he fielded the bat in the first place was because his initial instinct was that the baseball was coming back at him.
'So, I broke down into my wonderful fielding position, and wouldn't ya know, that bat took two hops, came right up into my freaking lap, and I just grabbed it and whistled it on down to the on-deck circle,' he said.
Of course, this led to mayhem as the benches cleared.
Clemens and Piazza had to be separated by the home plate umpire during the first inning of Game 2 of the World Series in 2000.
AP
While the broken bat and the ensuing chaos weren't part of the plan, the fastball that shattered Piazza's bat was.
'Mike got in the box and I think my first three pitches were like 98, 98, 98. And I shattered his bat,' Clemens said. 'The scouting report with [Yankees pitching coach] Mel Stottlemyre was great, too. We were in the trainer's room going through the lineup, and when we got to Piazza, we said, 'We're gonna pitch him in. And we're gonna pitch him in. And we're gonna pitch him in.''
The Yankees pitcher went on to retire Piazza with a ground ball out, and the Pinstripes took down the Mets 6-5 en route to their 4-1 2000 World Series win.