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Look back at: Divisional Playoffs |
League Championship
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Tuesday, October 24
Cooney: Clemens should have been ejected
Associated Press
BOSTON -- The umpire who tossed Roger Clemens from a 1990
playoff game said the New York Yankees' pitcher should have been
ejected for throwing a splintered bat near Mike Piazza during Game
2 of this year's World Series.
"It's a tough situation, due to the fact that it was the World
Series," Terry Cooney, who retired from umpiring seven years ago,
told The Boston Globe. "But I guarantee you that had it been, say,
somebody from Detroit and they were playing Texas, and he picked up
the bat and threw it at the runner, he would have been ejected."
Cooney was behind home plate for Game 4 of the AL championship
series 10 years ago, when Clemens was pitching for the Red Sox.
Clemens came out wearing eye black and, Cooney said, he began
cursing, apparently about called balls and strikes.
"I very seldom take off my mask, but I remember saying to
(Boston catcher Tony) Pena, 'I hope that guy is not talking that
way to me,' " Cooney recalled. "Pena said, 'Oh, no, no, he don't
say that to you.' And then he said it again."
Cooney ejected Clemens, who grew so angry that he had to be
restrained. Clemens, who has maintained he did not curse at Cooney,
was given a five-game suspension, which he served at the start of
the following season, and was fined $10,000.
"He's never grown up," Cooney said. "He's a grown man who
can't handle his emotions."
Cooney was watching from his home in Clovis, Calif., when he saw
Clemens pick up Piazza's broken bat on Sunday night and throw it
Piazza's direction.
"It was an awfully dangerous thing to have done," Cooney said.
"I think he should have to, well, maybe not pay for his actions,
but some action should be taken. It should have happened (Sunday
night). Eject him then, and review it today."
Cooney said he would not argue that Clemens is one of the best
pitchers of his generation.
"You've got to give the devil his due. He can pitch. He'll go
into the Hall of Fame on the first vote, no ifs, ands or buts,"
Cooney said.
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