Boston's Top 10 All-Star Game Moments #6: Clemens Wins MVP

Say what you want about the present-day Roger Clemens, but the one that wore a uniform in Boston was an absolute force on the mound. During his peak years with the Red Sox, he was nigh unbeatable more often than not. The 1986 season provided many examples of this, as he struck out 20 batters on April 20 against the Seattle Mariners -- a total that has been tied since multiple times, but still stands as the record -- won the Cy Young award thanks to a 2.48 ERA in 254 innings with 238 strikeouts, and took home Most Valuable Player honors during the regular season as well, a rare feat for a hurler. And that wasn't even his most valuable season in a 24-year career.

That wasn't his lone MVP of the season, though, as Clemens also made his first all-star team, and got to pitch three innings in it. He faced nine batters, struck out two, and didn't allow a baserunner. He even came up to bat once, though, predictably as an American League pitcher facing one of the game's best, he whiffed. 

This would be Clemens' best all-star performance in his career. He made the team 11 times -- oddly missing in 1987 and 1989 despite pitching the same as he had throughout his entire peak with Boston -- so that is no small feat. We already discussed his being hit hard in 2004, but he also struggled in 1998 with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Of course, at that point, he was out of Boston and considered public enemy #1 by many, so at least his greatest performance in the mid-summer classic came while wearing a Red Sox uniform, and his poorest ones came while pitching for the Blue Jays and Astros. Schadenfreude seems petty all these years later, but hey, this is Roger Clemens we're talking about.