Since this won't go into the Letters to the Editor it's being put here. On Sunday, October 23, the Advocate published a letter from a Jim Huber from Cuero. In it he was mentioning the sports writers talking about Roger Clemens resting three days between pitching assignments. He said, in part, “When I was 43, I was carrying sheetrock for eight hours a day without any three days of rest. The guy who does our yard is 68 and does three to four yards a day without any rest.”

Anyone who can mow three or four yards a day at age 68 is very blessed and is to be commended. And, it’s good that Huber could carry sheetrock eight hours a day without any three days of rest. My question to him is, “Can you pitch baseball eight hours a day without three days rest?” Surely, he knows that any baseball pitcher is resting his pitching arm three (or how many days it takes him) days between starts. Unless there’s a reason for not doing so, it’s my guess that a major league pitcher is usually running to keep his legs in shape, is taking batting practice and is maybe even playing pepper between starts. He’s probably not just sitting around sipping lemonade resting his entire body between starts.

Huber also stated, “I get a bit irked about the "heroic, amazing Rocket" Roger Clemens.” My reply to this is, “If you got out there and pitched with the groin and other injuries that Roger did, without ever saying how he’s hurting and never complaining, maybe you’d have a better idea of what a hero is. Why don’t you go ask Clemens how many hours, weeks and months he spends getting into and staying in shape? Then maybe you would appreciate the work, skill and dedication it takes to play major league baseball. Could you do it, even at 23?”

Personally, it’s my notion that Clemens was pitching more with his HEART than with his arm his last two starts.