Red Sox debate: Roger Clemens belongs in Hall of Fame
By Sean Penney
The Hall of Fame is essential a museum that captures the history of baseball. Alleged PED users like Clemens are part of that history, no matter how much we want to sweep this era under the rug. We can’t ignore that they were a part of it.
Clemens and alleged cheaters of his ilk will forever have their legacies tarnished, but that doesn’t mean their accomplishments never happened. Put an asterisk next to their name, acknowledge the use of banned substances on the plaques of those that we can reasonably determine were guilty. You can even give them their own wing in the museum! Just make sure they have a place in the Hall.
With several writers that cast a ballot recently acknowledging their own reasons for changing their stance on PED users, including Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal and ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, suspected cheaters like Clemens are likely to garner enough support to remain on the ballot. Will they receive enough votes to be elected? That remains to be seen, but there are signs that some of the voters that were on the fence are starting to give these disgraced players serious consideration.
That’s good news for Red Sox fans, who may one day get to see Clemens enshrined wearing Boston’s trademark B on his cap. If the Rocket does get inducted, it will also pave the way for other suspected users, such as David Ortiz.
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You don’t need to agree with the choices Clemens may have made. You don’t even have to like him as a person. All that matters is what is on his resume. It doesn’t matter how it happened, only that it did happen and therefore those accomplishments need to be preserved in the monument to baseball’s history.