With new minor league team, ‘Rocket’ coming to Camden

A former Major League Baseball legend with a checkered past could be making a pitch for redemption in the Philadelphia area next weekend.

Roger Clemens has joined the Sugar Land Skeeters who play the Camden Riversharks for a weekend series beginning Aug. 31. Adam Lorber, general manager of the Sharks, says just a hint that the man known as “The Rocket” might take the mound in Camden has kept his phone humming.

“I’ve received hundreds of texts and phone calls and emails and whatnot from friends I haven’t talked to in quite some time,” Lorber said Wednesday. “It does bring some excitement, it does bring the league to the forefront of the media right now.”

Clemens was acquitted in June of charges he lied to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs. He hasn’t played for a team since pitching for the New York Yankees in 2007 at the age of 45.

Lorber says Clemens may be trying for one final chance in the majors.

“He wants to showcase his stuff. The Skeeters are in his hometown, he lives in Houston,” Lorber said. “Perhaps he wants the Astros to give him a shot.”

No pitching rotation has been set for the Skeeters-Sharks series, but Lorber says one thing is certain — there are always fireworks at the Camden ballpark for Friday night games.