Dan Clemens’ mark in professional baseball came nearly four decades, and three shoulder surgeries, later than he hoped.
But when it finally did happen — this summer, the 55-year-old became the oldest winning pitcher in Pecos League history — the Castle Rock resident became cleated proof that it’s never too late to realize your dreams.
“There’s some validation relating to my age, and to my journey to get here,” Clemens said. “No, I can’t do the things I did when I was 18. But I still have that love for the game, and there’s satisfaction in that (older me) has learned how to do things different to be competitive. I was able to finally find a way to do it my way, and at my age.
“We always talk about giving back to the game — well, (the Pecos League win) was the game’s small way of giving me a little nugget back.”
Clemens initially made his pro ball debut in the Pecos League in 2019 at the age of 51, one year after undergoing open heart surgery and long after washing out as a once-promising All-Colorado right-hander out of Douglas County High School in the mid-1980s. Clemens got a Division I scholarship to Colorado State, but multiple labrum tears derailed his career.
Fast forward, and on July 16 of this year, Clemens spun seven innings of four-run ball for the Marysville Drakes to get the W and make history in the 13-year-old independent league at the bottom rung of unaffiliated pro ball. He followed that up with a complete game a couple weeks later, making him 2-0 on the summer.
This year’s success, in addition to Clemens’ sublime Pecos League experience with the Tucson Saguaros in 2019, allowed him to finally “make peace with the game” after seeing his baseball dreams torn up along with his shoulder.
Clemens threw in the high-80s coming out of Douglas County, but he never recovered the life on his fastball after his injuries. The game pulled him back in about 10 years after college, when he started playing men’s league baseball around Denver.
And once Clemens was back in, he was in for good — playing Sundays throughout the spring and summer, each fall in the National Adult Baseball Association World Series, and moonlighting with seven total outings in the Pecos League.
“Some of my friends just kind of shake their head when I tell them I’m taking two weeks (of) vacation from work to go play in Arizona for the World Series, or when I fly out to Bakersfield or Sacramento on my own dime to pitch,” said Clemens, who earned $15 for each of his Pecos League appearances. “But this is what I live for. It’s my passion.”
The aging hurler got his chance in the Pecos League thanks to Bill Rogan, a longtime Denver broadcaster turned independent league skipper, and Clemens’ former men’s league teammate.
In 2019, Rogan, then the manager in Tucson, called Clemens for a brief relief appearance at the beginning of the season. Clemens didn’t embarrass himself, yielding one run in one inning, and Rogan told Clemens to “stay by his phone” for a possible chance to start.
That call came 10 days later — one Rogan emphasizes “wasn’t made out of charity.”
“There are times Dan can will himself to get outs, because he just bears down,” Rogan said. “And Dan knows how to pitch. I wouldn’t have had him pitch for me if he couldn’t. This year, the same thought was not to get a 55-year-old guy out here to be a novelty act. No, I had him pitch because I thought he could win and do well for the team.”
In the Pecos League, the average player is in his early 20s and the average pitcher throws in the upper-80s. Rogan’s fastest arm hit 94 mph this year.
Thus Clemens, a late-middle-aged outlier among young men, relies on his own deception and the hitter’s over-aggression to be effective. His arsenal features a fastball that hovers around 73, plus a knuckle-curve, changeup and slider, offspeed that’s all in the 60s. In his record-setting win July 16, Clemens threw about 50% changeups, 35% curveballs and 15% fastballs, with a few sliders mixed in.
“Hopefully the lesson for all the younger pitchers is, you pitch with your brain just as much as you do with your arm,” Rogan said. “When you mix speeds, locations and have very good control, you can get guys out, and it doesn’t matter how hard you throw.
“Young pitchers are throwing harder and harder, and when you throw harder than you’re capable of, you lose command and you end up getting injured. So Dan sets a good example: You can get a guy out on a 62-mph curveball, then throw a 74-mph fastball in the right spot to get guys out, too.”
Rogan says Clemens used his Pecos League opportunity “to erase some demons for him” from earlier in his career, but he also joined a relatively short list of professional pitchers in their 50’s. Pitching is the one position a baseball player can theoretically be effective at well beyond their physical prime, and though Clemens’ achievement came on the fringe of pro ball, he’s now part of the tradition of old hurlers nonetheless.
Hall of Famer Satchel Paige is the oldest player to appear in MLB, coming out of retirement to pitch one game for the Kansas City Athletics at age 58 in 1965. The oldest player to regularly compete in the majors was pitcher Jack Quinn, who ended his last season at age 50 in 1933. And the oldest active player in MLB is Padres’ 43-year-old journeyman right-hander Rich Hill.
Clemens remains the oldest iron arm in his Sunday men’s league. Bob Mahoney, the Ponderosa baseball coach who grew up playing with Clemens, said the right-hander brings the same approach to the mound now as he did as a promising, wiry high school prospect who was one of the top arms in the state.
“What stood out then, and still does, is his intensity,” Mahoney said. “When he got the baseball as our No. 1, he was totally focused and he was driven to go to the next level. He was always dialed in and he was a vocal leader on the team as well. I don’t think that’s changed, even as an old-timer in men’s league.”
How long can Clemens’ diamond dream last?
A communications consultant by day, Clemens is determined to pitch as long as he’s giving his team a chance to win.
He’s already turned his journey into an award-winning indie movie script, “The Dude is Legit!”, which documents the baseball gods’ determination to make good on Clemens’ derailed career. Clemens is currently trying to turn the script into a fan-owned baseball movie.
“If he stays relatively healthy, I could see him pitching some games in the Pecos League for the next couple years, at least,” Rogan said. “He can put the ball where he wants, he doesn’t overthrow and he has a plan every pitch. In (the velocity revolution), those guys are becoming harder to find, so more power to the guy who is doing it at 55.”
