Tom Werner produced video to lure Clemens to Red Sox in 2006

Feb. 7, 2006, CBCSports: "The Red Sox are enlisting their fans in an effort to woo legendary pitcher Roger Clemens back to Boston.

• According to various reports, the team is putting together a video for Clemens featuring fans imploring the future Hall of Famer to close out his career where it began.

Clemens, a free agent, spent his first 13 seasons in the Major Leagues as a member of the Red Sox."...

• March 19, 2006, Boston Globe: "Roger Clemens's agent met with Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein the day after Team USA was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic.

Was this the next step in the Sox' determined attempt to lure the Rocket back to Boston, an effort that included a

• Tom Werner-produced video

and a stealth flight to Houston last month by ownership and Epstein to visit with the seven-time Cy Young Award winner?...

• But Clemens, who ranks ninth all-time in wins with 341 and second in strikeouts with 4,502, told the Globe's Nick Cafardo in a March 6 interview that

he was greatly impressed by the Sox' presentation. He also acknowledged that Al Nipper, Boston's interim pitching coach, is one of his ''best buddies" in the game....

...Coming back to be the Sox' all-time winner appeals to him, Clemens confidants say. He may also determine he has a better chance of returning to the postseason with the Sox than he would with the Astros...

• ''Theo spoke to me afterward and he was explaining to me how things have changed and everything," Clemens said in the March 6 interview.

''I cut him off at one point and told him, 'You don't have to explain that to me. I know that.'

''I've seen for myself how things have changed when I come up there to see my friends. But I liked it the way it was before, so you don't have to sell me on the organization or the city or the ballpark and all the great changes they've made there."

• Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek and

• reliever Mike Timlin, who both returned to camp yesterday after playing for the US

• in the WBC, said they lobbied Clemens to come to Boston.

''I told him to make sure he keeps his eye on us -- don't forget about us,"

• said Varitek, who caught Clemens in several side sessions.

When asked if it appeared Clemens's interest in coming back to Boston was genuine, Varitek said, ''Rightfully so, for what he's done here."

• Timlin also made his sales pitch.

''From the things I've heard him talk about in the paper and on TV, I told him the aspects he brought up, we have those," Timlin said...."

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