The Hall of Fame case for Roger Clemens

Just recently, four more ex-baseballers were inducted into the Cooperstown Hall of Fame. Randy Johnson, Craig Biggio, Pedro Martinez, and John Smolz. The Big Unit was a no-brainer and folks can debate the merits of the others, but it's a done deal. But this isn't about them. It's about the Rocket , AKA Roger Clemens. He got passed over again.

Going purely on career stats, Clemens is even more deserving than Johnson. Consider:

354 wins. Not counting the "old-timers" that used to pitch at least every other day (and sometimes even both ends of a doubleheader -- like Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland, Christie Mathewson, etc.) , there have only been two pitchers in the "modern" (post WWII era) to record more wins than Clemens. Warren Spahn had 363 and Greg Maddux 355.

Longevity? 24 years.

4672 strikeouts -- the third most ever behind only Nolan Ryan and the above-mentioned Unit.

11-time All-Star.

2-time World Series champ.

7 Cy Young awards -- the most ever.

But wait a second, you say? What about the steroids thing? OK, let's look a little closer at what actually happened.

First, by the time "steroids" reared their ugly heads on the MLB scene (circa late 1990's) Clemens already had well over 200 wins and 3000 strikeouts. Few would question that between roughly 1986-1996 he was the most dominant pitcher in the game. Again, this was BEFORE the cream and the clear, HGH, and other such goodies were known to exist. Standing alone, a phenomenal decade like that may or may not be Hall-worthy, but it would definitely get a pitcher in the conversation.

Idle thought: Had Clemens perished in, say, a car or plane crash in the late 1990's -- be honest -- do you think he would have already long since been in the Hall?

But then, as we all remember, the proverbial doo-doo hit the fan. Jose Canseco attempted to expose the "dark side" in a book, and guys like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Raphael Palmeiro, A-Rod, ad nauseum, got caught up in it. Along with Clemens.

Largely based upon the testimony of one of his former trainers, who at first denied, then flipped his story to avoid federal persecution/prosecution himself, Clemens was hauled before Congress and asked whether or not he had ever used performance enhancing drugs. As we also remember, under oath, Clemens vehemently denied any such use. It was common knowledge both before, and during the steroids era that Clemens was a workout -aholic. He claimed his brutal training regimen kept him in tip-top shape.

They didn't believe him, so they appointed one of their own ex-members to head up an investigation. The witch hunt was on. Eventually, the George Mitchell report would be forthcoming. Somewhere in those thousands of pages Mitchell concluded Clemens had lied before Congress. So they hauled him up on obstruction of justice, making false statements, and even perjury charges.

Imagine that. High ranking politicians, of all people, trying to bang somebody else for lying to them. The hypocrisy screamed, but I digress.

Ironically, they couldn't charge Clemens with committing a crime for having allegedly used PEDs, because there were no rules against it at the time of his alleged use. It was about having the audacity to lie to a group of proven liars. That little tidbit of reality got lost in the shuffle somewhere along the way.

So what happened? Clemens went to trial. After only a couple days, the prosecutors were found to be guilty of misconduct and a mistrial was declared.

Undeterred, the prosecutors regrouped and tried again. A second trial would happen. Round 2 for Clemens. For days the prosecutors would try everything in the book to get a conviction. They paraded "less than reliable" witnesses to the stand. Circumstantial evidence was presented as proof positive of guilt.

In the meantime, Clemens had sued his former trainer for defamation of character. But that suit was tossed out because, after all, the trainer was now a witness for the prosecution, and hence had immunity. Do you see something wrong with this picture?

Nevertheless, in the end, the jury acquitted Clemens of all charges. If it's true that any person is innocent until proven guilty, then Clemens was, and remains innocent.

So let me see if I have this right. Over his career, Roger Clemens posted stats that put him arguably in the Top 5 pitchers of all time.

Despite all the feds could vengefully throw at him, the typical media circus having jumped on the same bandwagon, and millions of couch potato prosecutors with a lynch mob mentality (he must be guilty of SOMETHING), to date William Roger Clemens has yet to be found guilty of ANY crime. And excuse me, but questionable rumors and conflicting testimony of possible PED use is hardly damning evidence. Far from it.

[I don't want to hear about adultery gossip. Besides being irrelevant, good grief, the late Joe DiMaggio supposedly had a girl in every port, and he remains beloved].

So put all the above together and tell me one more time.....

Why is Roger Clemens not in the Hall of Fame?