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The K's are the most important thing in Roger Clemens' life.
"Koby is 18 and Kory is 16, those are my two older ones, and Kacy is 10, and Kody is 8," Clemens said. "They're all spelled with a K."
The Clemens house has more Special K's than Kellogg.
Roger Clemens is the most successful professional athlete ever to come out of the University of Texas, but he tries to be the perfect dad harder than he pitches. He's a consummate family man, prouder of his four boys than his two World Series rings, his seven Cy Young Awards, or his 1986 AL MVP Award.
"I'm just their Dad, I'm not the Rocket, and I'm not this baseball guy," Clemens said. "If you didn't know what [my kids'] last name was, you wouldn't know it."
The other K's in his life are of course, the strikeouts. Clemens has over 4,404 of them, the second most all time in baseball history.
He made his mark in an era in baseball history dominated by hitters and now, near the end of his career at age 42 with his hometown Houston Astros, Clemens holds a 1.64 ERA. He also is the winningest living pitcher, with 332 career victories.
In 2004, in a surprising comeback with the Astros shortly after announcing his retirement, Clemens helped Houston come within one game of their first World Series in franchise history - the club's most successful postseason ever. As a reward will be paid $18.0 million for the 2005 season - the highest pitcher salary in baseball history.
Despite all the uniforms he's worn over the years, Clemens will always be associated with the Longhorns. After transferring from San Jacinto junior college, Clemens' Longhorn career started like any other freshman's. In two years at Texas he went 25-7, leading the team to the College World Series, and pitching the championship game win over Alabama in 1983.
"We were fortunate we put it all together, had a great pitching staff," Clemens said. "Every time I see that championship banner, you just can't replace it."
His No. 21 was retired by the UT baseball team in 1993, one of the four numbers retired by Texas athletics. His jersey remains one of the University Coop's best selling sports jerseys. Clemens occasionally finds his way back to campus, and some things never change.
"I remember being overwhelmed a little bit by the student body. How big the school was," Clemens said. "I was impressed with all the other programs, I could remember running up the ramps at DKR and seeing our swimmers going up and down on their hands and knees. It was incredible to see the kind of effort they were putting into their programs."
In many ways, Clemens' life has come full circle back to Texas. He plays for his the team he grew up watching like a latter-day Nolan Ryan - his childhood idol, and the only other pitcher with more strikeouts.
Another Clemens might be suiting up for the Longhorns next year. Koby, his oldest, could be a part of the Texas baseball program his father helped put on the map. The younger Clemens has already committed to Texas, where his father's No. 21 hangs on the right centerfield wall.
Koby Clemens didn't get any free passes from the Texas baseball team because of his last name. Koby earned all-state honors his senior year at Memorial High School in Houston. Clemens held a .519 batting average, fifth-best in the Houston area on the second-best hitting team in the Houston area. He was second in the Houston area in both homeruns and runs-batted-in for Memorial, who made the regional semi-finals after winning district 18-5A.
"He's a good hitter, he doesn't like being a pitcher," Roger Clemens said. "Bottom line, Koby is a better athlete than I ever was in high school."
Though not his forte, Koby also had success on the pitcher's mound with a 7-1 record and a 1.75 ERA.
"He's not going to pitch," Texas head coach Augie Garrido said. "His hitting is what drew our attention - his potential is high for helping this team."
Koby may not end up in Austin at all, but rather Greenville, South Carolina or Lexington, Ky., with one of the Astros' single A minor league teams. Clemens was drafted by the Astros in the eighth round of recent MLB amateur draft. The prospect of playing for his hometown team has given the 18-year-old pause.
Roger for his part, has been clear that the decision is Koby's, though he told Houston radio station 93.7 the Arrow that if it was his decision - he would rather Koby go to college.
With his son about to start the next phase in a baseball career, Roger Clemens is faced with a difficult decision that has been a long time in the making - either to retire or continue cementing his legend as one of the greatest pitchers in history.
It's a familiar position for Clemens. Baseball fans thought his career was over in 1996 when he was released from the Boston Red Sox - his team for the first 10 years of his career. Instead he has pitched nine more years, winning three more Cy Young Awards.
"I've been trying to do it for two years and they won't let me," Clemens said. "Everyone tells me I'm too much of a busy body."
Koby's decision will no doubt factor into the choice Roger has to make. The prospect of playing with his son on the Astros in two or three seasons, and becoming only the second father and son to play on the same team in major league history might be hard to pass up. If Koby chooses college, it will be difficult to be there for him in the capacity Roger would like if still playing.
"When he gets a double and he looks over from second base and looks over, I want to be able to pump my fist towards him and be there for him," Clemens said. "He's followed his Dad for many years around the country ... it's their time now."
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