Red Sox debate: Roger Clemens belongs in Hall of Fame
Despite having his reputation tainted by steroid allegations, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens and other suspected PED users belong in the Hall of Fame.
Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
It’s been one week since the deadline for when Hall of Fame ballots must be postmarked by, so all votes should now be in. In the interest of full disclosure, this writer did not cast an official ballot, but if I did then you can bet that Roger Clemens would have had a check next to his name.
That statement is sure to be wildly unpopular in many circles given that Clemens has seen his reputation tainted by allegations of performance-enhancing drugs, a black mark on an otherwise epic career that may keep one of the greatest pitchers that ever lived out of Cooperstown.
It shouldn’t.
To be clear, this argument isn’t about exonerating Clemens of the guilt of his alleged transgressions. While there is no actual proof that Clemens used steroids or human growth hormone, there is enough evidence to condemn him in the court of public opinion even after an actual court of law acquitted him of all charges that he obstructed or lied to Congress in denying his use of performance-enhancing drugs. It’s possible to both believe that Clemens cheated to prolong his career and still find him worthy of being in the Hall of Fame.
Next: Where do we draw the line?
Whatever we think we know about Clemens and other suspected PED users, we don’t really know. Even if there isn’t a shadow of a doubt in your mind that Clemens cheated, you can’t possibly know the extent that he used or what effect they had on him. Nobody truly knows how much of an effect these substances have or how much they benefited.
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Trying to figure out which players from the Steroid Era were guilty of using a banned substance is a guessing game that none of us are actually prepared to play. Where do we draw the line? Is it only players that tested positive like Manny Ramirez that should be denied access or do players linked to an overwhelming amount of evidence like Clemens and Barry Bonds belong in that same group? Then there are players like Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza that have lost votes simply because they were power-hitters that played in an era where steroid use ran rampant throughout the sport. Guilty until proven innocent.
What about Andy Pettite, an admitted HGH user who crossed the line of using a banned substance in order to recover from a career-threatening injury? Pettite broke the rules, but the alternative was that he may never take the mound again. Don’t we want these multi-million athletes to play? In which case substances that can help them heal faster in order to get back on the field aren’t necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately Major League Baseball can’t openly condone that because it would be impossible to police, opening a Pandora’s Box of potential abuse.
Players that used PEDs had an unfair advantage over their peers, but during the Steroid Era they were facing competition that included a significant number of players that were also using. Who used and how many are factors that we’ll never know, making it impossible to determine how they would fare if everyone was on an even playing field.
Next: How much do PEDs actually help?
Even if we did know who was using PEDs, how do you quantify how much it improved their performance? The intention of many different types of steroids is to help the body recover faster, which means you can work out more to build muscle faster. You still have to put in the work, so it’s not as if they injected themselves with a serum that instantly turned them into a superhero, a la Captain America.
Getting stronger may help you hit the ball further, but you still have to actually hit the ball first. Perhaps it can help a pitcher throw the ball a tick faster, but they still need to locate their pitches and come out ahead in the cerebral chess match that every encounter with an opposing hitter becomes. Steroids can’t help with that.
Without hulking out on PEDs perhaps a player like Bonds wouldn’t have hit 762 career home runs, but how many would he have hit? Do we simply chop 50 home runs from his total? 100? Many of those homers were hit deep enough that they would have cleared the fence even if he hadn’t taken substances that boosted his strength, but without knowing precisely how much further his increased strength allowed him to hit the ball it’s impossible to quantify how many of those home runs weren’t legitimate.
There are already players enshrined in Cooperstown despite having questionable ethics. Gaylord Perry had a reputation throughout his career of doctoring the baseball with everything from Vaseline to excessive rosin. The effects of his infamous “spitball” may have been more psychological than anything, but it was still against the rules.
What about the generations of players that used amphetamines? Many Hall of Famers used them at a time when they were legal, but they aren’t allowed anymore. You can’t call them cheaters if they didn’t break any rules that existed when they were taking “greenies”, but they clearly had an advantage over today’s players.
How do we differentiate the advantages these players had from the benefits of PEDs?
Next: Red Sox years were clean
If a suspected PED user had a borderline case for getting called to Cooperstown, perhaps those allegations would be sufficient reason not to vote for them. That’s not the case for Clemens, who should be a lock to be enshrined if we were to look only at the numbers.
The seven-time Cy Young award winner also has an MVP trophy on his mantle to go along with 11 All-Star appearances and seven ERA titles. His 354 career wins are the 9th most in the history of the game and he’s third in both strikeouts (4,672) and pitching WAR (139.4).
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Did PEDs help prolong his career, helping him pile up a portion of those prolific numbers as he delivered age-defying performances well into his 40’s? Probably. Here’s the thing about Clemens though. He had a Hall of Fame worthy career before he was ever suspected of dabbling in drugs.
According to the testimony of Brian McNamee, the former New York Yankees trainer reported that he injected Clemens with banned substances during the 1998, 2000 and 2001 seasons. Prior to that there was never a shred of evidence suggesting that Clemens was cheating earlier in his career when he spent his first 13 seasons with the Red Sox.
Clemens won 192 games in a Red Sox uniform while posting a 3.06 ERA, 8.4 K/9 and compiling 76.8 WAR. He was selected to five All-Star appearances and won three Cy Young awards, while finishing in the top-6 in voting six times and winning an MVP. If we were only to count those numbers that he compiled in Boston when he was still clean, that would be sufficient for him to be in the Hall of Fame.
Next: Steroid Era still a part of history
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.
Next: Dominican Winter League results
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.