Yankees’ News: “Rocket” To Hit Theaters

354 wins. 4,672 strikeouts. A career ERA of 3.12. And now, Roger Clemens has a movie coming out about his infamous career.

Charles Curtis of NJ.com reports on an article in the Hollywood Reporter than there is indeed a Roger Clemens movie in the works. Teddy Schwarzman and Warner Brothers went head-to-head in a bidding war and Schwarzman came out on top, winning the rights to the script entitled Rocket.

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The script was written by Jeffrey Gelber and Ryan Belezon and is now part of Schwarzman’s Black Bear Pictures studios. Of course, Schwarzman is riding high off of his eight time-nominated film The Imitation Game, which took home one Oscar. Warner Brothers intended on handing the film over to Bradley Cooper had they won the rights, allowing Cooper to produce and star in the film.

The film will focus on the end of Clemens storied career, so there appears to be a lot of New York Yankees time in the film. It will focus not so much on his storied career or early beginnings with the Boston Red Sox, but more on the fall of one of baseball’s biggest stars.

Rocket will highlight the relationship between one-time trainer Brian McNamee and Clemens. McNamee, as we all remember, testified that Clemens turned to him for steroids once his triple-digit fastball began to lose his luster in his latter career. Clemens denied the allegations in front of Congress which lead to a whirlwind of infamy and chaos for one of the (statistically speaking) greatest pitchers of all time.

Clemens, now 52-years old, retired from baseball in 2007. The question marks begin to arise in 1996. The Red Sox, with whom Clemens won three of his seven Cy Young and his lone MVP Awards with, felt he was in the twilight of his career. They would let him walk in free agency and he would sign on with the Blue Jays. He would win back-to-back Cy Youngs and Triple Crowns with arguably two of the best consecutive seasons of the modern era.

His time with the Yankees was spent well. He went 83-42 with a 4.01 ERA while adding yet another Cy Young Award to his resume. He would win the only two World Series of his 24-year career while in the Bronx. Clemens added more fire to his controversial lore in the 2000 Subway Series when he accidentally threw a bat at Mike Piazza when it broke and came back at the mound.

I am curious on what direction the film will go. Will it vilify Clemens further or will it take an approach that reminds viewers that Clemens was a hero that should be in the Hall of Fame? Clemens, even before the controversy of the Mitchell Report and the Steroid Era, was not one of baseball’s good guys. Is this an attempt to clear his name or further show that his reputation as one of baseball’s bad guys is justified?

There is no time table for the film’s release.

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