Houston Astros owner Jim Crane has not shut the door on any potential Major League comeback for Roger Clemens. Although Crane has admitted that there hasn't been any contact between the 50-year-old and the organization, he confirmed that the Astros would be open to Clemens returning to the fold if his stint with the Sugar Land Skeeters goes well. But it wouldn't be a publicity stunt.

If it goes alright and he comes to us, we'll talk to baseball about it at length.

The only thing we don't want to do is make it a publicity stunt. If we did it, I want to try and take it and turn it into a positive, which would be Roger's doing it for the good of baseball. The extra proceeds on the game might go to the (Astros') community charity deal to build (baseball) fields, do something positive out of it.

Clemens last pitched in the majors in 2007 at age 44, going 6-6 with the Yankees with a 4.18 ERA. He holds an overall record of 354-184 for his 24-year Major League career, of which three seasons were spent in Houston. And now, five years after his final pitch, the Astros are thinking of bringing him back. This is a strange and hitherto unexplored definition of not-a-publicity-stunt.