SUGAR LAND, Texas, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Controversial seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens will pitch for the first time in five years, an independent team said Monday.
The Sugar Land (Texas) Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League said the 50-year-old hurler has signed a contract with the team and will take to the mound Saturday in a contest against the Bridgeport (Conn.) Bluefish.
"Any time you can add a player of Roger's caliber is extremely exciting," Skeeters President Matt O'Brien said. "Our inaugural season has been extremely memorable, and this is just going to add to it."
The Atlantic League is not affiliated with Major League Baseball.
Clemens' appearance will be the first since he pitched for the New York Yankees in 2007. He went 6-6 with a 4.18 ERA and 68 strikeouts over 17 starts that season.
Since then, he has been dogged by allegations of he used performance-enhancing drugs.
The 354-game winner was acquitted in June of two counts of perjury, three counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction of Congress after prosecutors alleged he lied to a congressional panel probing steroid use in baseball.
Clemens testified he never knowingly took steroids during his lengthy career.
