Case closed
On Monday Roger Clemens was acquitted on charges of obstruction and lying to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs during his 24-year Major League Baseball career. The court of public opinion may not probably doesn’t agree, but the jury has spoken.
Now the focus turns to whether or not Clemens and his two World Series rings, seven Cy Young Awards, AL MVP Award, 354 wins, and 4,672 strikeouts will one day have a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
Clemens’ career statistics and awards haul would seemingly make him a first ballot choice. Hall members Reggie Jackson and Johnny Bench have endorsed the 11-time All-Star’s enshrinement based on this week’s ruling, but that may not be enough.
Candidates must receive 75% of the vote by eligible members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to be inducted. Clemens will be eligible next year so we won’t have to wait too long to see if the acquittal helped clear his name in the minds of voters. It’s worth noting that Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa will be on the ballot for the first time next year as well.
Until we receive the verdict from Hall of Fame voters on Roger Clemens the folks at MAD Magazine have created this plaque for “The Rocket”.
let’s see:Johnny Bench endorses Clemmons,yet still wont endorse his teammate and one person who helped put him in the hall,Pete Rose? I grew up listening to th e Big Red Machine and idolizing all of the Reds,but Johnny Bench no longer fits in my idol scrapbook.
I disagree with Bench about endorsing Clemens. Regardless of whether they convicted him on perjury charges, in my opinion the evidence seems pretty clear that he used the ‘roids. I hope Clemens does not get in.
I absolutely agree that Bench should not endorse Rose to get into the Hall. Rose bet on baseball. I don’t care what the circumstances were, whether he was betting on his team to win or anything. If there is any hint of gambling on games by the people involved it impacts the integrity of the game. That has the potential to ruin the game completely. Rose was a great baseball player, I loved how hard he played. However, betting on baseball by anyone involved witht the game cannot be tolerated at all. I think baseball has gotten this one right to this point.
And Bench would have been a Hall of Famer regardless. He was the best catcher in baseball history.