Red Sox: Roger Clemens misses another chance at the Hall of Fame
The voting for the 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame has come and gone and once again former Red Sox righty Roger Clemens won’t be heading to Cooperstown.
Roger Clemens is in his 7th year of eligibility and unfortunately, isn’t seeing the results I’m sure he’d like. The Rocket had a career that spanned 24 years and saw him throw fire for four different teams, most notably the Red Sox and Yankees.
For most of his career, Roger found himself embroiled in the best rivalry in sports, fighting on both sides. In this year’s voting, he finished with only 59.5% of the voting, a minor bump from last season. Clemens will definitely have a major hill to climb if he wants to be enshrined in Cooperstown.
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Clemens would spend 13 of his 24-year career on the mound for the Red Sox and would have great success for Boston. In ’86 and ’87 he would post back to back 20+ win seasons, a feat he would duplicate later in his career while with Toronto. His 24 win campaign in 1986 would also earn him the CY Young and MVP honors for the American League.
Roger would win a total of 7 Cy Young Awards in his career winning at least one with each team he played for. For most of his career, his was one of if not the most dominant starters to take the mound. He would also throw 46 shutouts and finish first in the league six times doing so.
Over his career, The Rocket would add in accolade after accolade as the years went on. Sadly, for all he did on the field, it will most likely be what he’s accused of doing off of it that may keep him from the Hall of Fame.
Roger was one of the players named in the Mitchell Report and would be accused of using PEDs during his career. The accusation was made more series when his former trainer would corroborate the claims. Clemens found himself in front of Congress where he argued his case under oath. He would then have to go in front of a grand jury due to allegations that he perjured himself in his statements.
He was initially found guilty of six felony counts related to the matter but the verdict would be null as the case was considered a mistrial to prosecutorial misconduct. He would again go in front of a grand jury in 2012 but was found not guilty of the six counts and avoided any jail time.
Sadly for as great as he was on the mound during his career his PED issues are what many will think of first and remember him for, especially those that never saw him pitch. Clemens will have a tough road ahead fo him as it still appears that anyone linked to the PED era is being held out of the Hall of Fame despite their careers prior to suspected usage.
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I don’t know what the right answer is when it relates to the Hall of Fame and those tied to PED usage. It’s a debate that depending on the day I can find myself on either side of the fence. Many had remarkable careers prior to any accusations even came to light. We’ll learn more as the years go one and a new generation of baseball writers become prominent in the voting but for now, Roger Clemens finds himself on the outside looking in.