Roger Clemens announced that he won't say whether he will try a major league comeback in 2013. The new Astros owner was looking for a publicity stunt one shot game this season to bring some fans to the ball park after Clemens pitched in a low minor league contest this summer. The idea of Clemens making a "come back" at his age brings the skeptics to the forefront. One reason is that Clemens wants to get himself "off" the hall of fame ballot next year so he is not part of the steroid era big names.
Another reason is ego. Clemens has an ego the size of Texas. He does want he wants to do, and no one can tell him otherwise. If he sees someone like Jamie Moyer hanging on to a major league job, Clemens may believe he is better and wants to prove the world wrong like in his perjury case.
But the underlying reason may be as simple as Clemens has nothing better to do than to hang on to baseball. For most of his life, he has been a pitcher. He really knows little else. Unless he has started businesses while playing, his retirement of sitting at home and going to his children's events, pales to the memory of pitching at Yankee Stadium.
Ex-ball players who don't want to give up the baseball life, hang on in many ways. Some go into coaching. Some go into broadcasting. Some start baseball clinics.
Kerry Wood is another former player who wants back into the game. He continually pops up during Wrigley Field broadcasts, hinting that he is going to have a role in the organization. What that role will be is unknown. Some believe he had a side agreement with former GM Jim Hendry about post-career position. But there is a new front office in town. And the Boston boys appear to want to scrub away all reference to past Cubs as they try to rebuild the club in their own image.
Wood said he would like to stay involved in the team. He also suggested that the Cubs bring back other players, like Ryne Sandberg or Sammy Sosa. Sandberg is going to be a major league manager, and the Cubs burned that bridge a long time ago. Sosa left the team in a feud that was never healed, and his Congressional testimony does not help in any PR sense. Wood is dreaming if he wants to put the band together and hang out in the clubhouse like the country club setting under his former field managers. There are times when ex-players need to move on.
