Book dossier

The Rocket That Fell to Earth

by Jeff Pearlman

This first biography of Roger Clemens is an account of the rise and fall of one of the greatest modern-day baseball players and arguably the best pitcher of all time. From his obscure youth as a pudgy, unremarkable nobody in suburban Ohio to the mounds of Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium, Roger "Rocket" Clemens is an American icon. His athletic prowess aside, Clemens also embodies a fascinating dichotomy in American culture. To thousands of fans, Clemens is a tobacco-chewing, fastball-throwing legend who walks with the giants of the world. To many others, he is a gun-toting, Republican-voting, steroid-using pedophile who stalked Charlize Theron. Here, sportswriter Jeff Pearlman delivers an exhaustively researched biography that explores who Roger Clemens is; what he means to our country; and how his rise to baseball stardom and fall to personal humiliation speaks volumes about the current state of sport in America.--From publisher description.