Roger Clemens pays tribute to Toby Keith at CMT Awards ahead of all-star performance

Baseball star Roger Clemens helped pay tribute to Toby Keith during the 2024 CMT Music Awards Sunday.

Keith, 62, a 20-time country chart-topper and influential businessman, entertainer and philanthropist, died on Feb. 5 after a nearly 20-month bout with stomach cancer.

Clemens introduced the tribute at the Moody Center in Austin, ahead of a performance that included Brooks & Dunn, Lainey Wilson and Sammy Hagar performing Keith's hits including "Should've Been a Cowboy," "How Do You Like Me Now" and "I Love This Bar."

During the tribute, the performers held up red Solo cups to honor the song of the same name. They encouraged the crowd to sing along.

Clemens returned to the stage at the end of the performance to ask the crowd to chant, "whiskey for my men and beer for my horses," from the song "Beer For My Horses" as he thanked Keith's family through tears.

Clemens, Keith and 'Red Solo Cup'

Keith and Clemens' friendship went back more than a decade, with the seven-time Cy Young winner appearing in the 2011 music video for Keith's "Red Solo Cup." Keith later inducted the pitcher into the Houston Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.

"When you first met Toby he made you feel like he’s known you for years," Clemens wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after Keith's death. "There’s no one on this earth that loved his country more. (NO ONE!)"

Toby Keith CMT awards history

Keith's CMT Music Awards history includes a consecutive decade of performances, two co-hosting gigs (in 2012 with Kristen Bell and 2003 with Pamela Anderson) and seven wins in 30 nominations. 

In 2003 – during an era highlighted by the sales of 12 million singles, including "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," "Who's Your Daddy?," the Willie Nelson duet "Beer for My Horses," "I Love This Bar, "American Soldier" and "Whiskey Girl" – he took home three belt buckles as the most-awarded artist of the night, including "Video of the Year" for "Courtesy of The Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)."