Dave Stewart’s career took off when he joined the A’s and learned how to throw a forkball.
I think Clemens did mean to throw at Piazza’s head. Piazza had hit Clemens well in past meetings, and Clemens wanted to intimidate him. Clemens obviously had issues with Piazza, as evidenced not only by the beanball but by throwing the broken piece of Piazza’s bat at Piazza in the 2000 World Series.
(I should note that I am a Mets fan, but I am hardly a Yankees hater, as two of my favorite ballplayers over the past 10 years were ex-Yanks Paul O’Neill and David Cone)
Perhaps it can be attributed to youthful bravado, but after Clemens won the MVP in 1986 and Hank Aaron said that pitchers shouldn’t win the MVP, Clemens said he wished Aaron was still playing, as “I’d probably crack his head open to show him how valuable I was.”
As for his playoff record, Clemens is only a .500 pitcher. He does have a respectable 3.46 ERA in the playoffs, only 0.29 over his regular season ERA, when he was pitching against both the best and worst teams in the league. Clemens’s playoff record prior to joining the Yankees was a mixed bag, as he had some good starts, but is probably most remembered for his ALCS 1990 start against the A’s when he got kicked out of the game in the second inning for mouthing off to the ump. On the other hand, Clemens has a great World Series ERA (1.56).
From '93 to '96, Clemens went 40-39, an average of roughly 10-10 per season. This was due to injuries, poor run support, and at times, just poor pitching. Given this four-year rut, I can understand the Red Sox not wanting to outbid the Blue Jays, who signed Clemens to a four-year, $40M contract.
According to the previously cited Baseball Library cite, Clemens exercised a trade clause in 1998, then withdrew it. The Yankees ended up trading for Clemens anyway, mainly because Steinbrenner had a Chad Curtis-esque fixation on the Rocket.
Clemens truly deserves the Hall of Fame, as he has been one of the best pitchers in baseball over the past 50 years (although one ESPN columnist ranked Mets pitcher Tom Seaver over Clemens as the best over the past 50 years… sorry, I couldn’t resist 
). He has 4000+ strikeouts. He has won 300 games, a feat especially difficult to attain considering that most 300 game winners didn’t pitch in a 5-man rotation. He has won more Cy Young awards than any other pitcher. He has struck out 20 batters in a game twice. There is no doubt about his Hall of Fame credentials.
There is also no doubt about where he made his mark as a Hall of Fame pitcher. Clemens won 3 of his 6 Cy Young awards with the Red Sox. He won his MVP award with the Red Sox. His 2 20-strikeout games came as a Red Sox. Of his 300 wins, nearly 2/3 (192) were won with the Red Sox. While Clemens wouldn’t have made the Hall of Fame solely with his Red Sox years, those Red Sox years, more than those with the Blue Jays and Yankees, are what make him a Hall of Famer.
The Baseball Hall of Fame determines what cap is worn by determining which team the player made his mark as a Hall of Famer. What standard would the players use? An end of the career contract provision? Some bad blood with a former team? It’s not Clemens’s Hall of Fame; it’s the Baseball Hall of Fame. If they decide that Clemens should go as a Red Sox, that’s their choice. Given Clemens numbers for the Red Sox, it’s the right choice.
As for the strikeout mark versus the win mark: I consider the win mark to be more important, as it more accurately shows a pitcher’s success (although I recognize a great pitcher without run support will not get as many wins as one with good run support). As already mentioned, strikeout king Nolan Ryan was a great pitcher, but despite being a Hall of Famer few would rank him among the greatest pitchers ever, whereas Clemens would be due to his win total and win percentage, or even more, due to his 6 seasons as the recognized best pitcher in his league. Ryan’s 6 no-hitters are very impressive, but Clemens’s 6 Cy Young awards are much more impressive.
