ROGER ROCKETS INTO CAPE FETE
Cape Cod’s Willowbend Country Club threw a bash this weekend in honor of its 25th anniversary and, turns out, the fete doubled as a birthday party for former Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens.
About 200 guests crowded on the Mashpee grounds to commemorate the club completing a quarter-century. The shindig was a joint effort, with owner David Southworth, WBZ sports personality Steve Burton and NESN reporter/Red Sox team historian Gordon Edes throwing the evening’s festivities.
Those notable hosts were joined by a slew of guests carrying their own clout, including Reebok founder Paul Fireman, former Reebok CEO Paul Foster, PR guy George Regan, Cape District Attorney Michael O’Keefe, Cape Cod Cooperative Bank CEO Lisa Oliver, Cumberland Farms’ Kristen Haseotes, author Casey Sherman and former boxer Kip Diggs.
And let’s not forget about the ex-Sox — ahem, and former Yankees — player.
While the premise of the party was to mark Willowbend turning 25, it also served as a hats-off to Clemens hitting 55.
Clemens, who played golf on the club’s course prior to the event, attended the gathering with his wife, Debbie. He sat down to talk about his baseball career in front of the crowd at the club and give props to Boston athletes who are still in the game.
We’re told that Clemens discussed what current Red Sox pitcher David Price is going through in the media, acknowledging that he gets it, in addition to applauding Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for his dedication and performance at age 40.
In honor of Clemens 55th, Willowbend staff wheeled out a big cake decked out in baseball-related swag, and Red Sox President Sam Kennedy sent down a replica of the Green Monster as his birthday gift. At the afterparty in the club’s Grill Room, Clemens played DJ and sang karaoke well into the wee hours of the morning.
The bar has been set for how to party well into middle age.