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President Donald Trump on Sunday said former Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens should consider suing the league if he is not elected to the Hall of Fame, arguing that Clemens was never convicted of a crime related to long-standing allegations of performance-enhancing drug use.
Clemens, who pitched for more than two decades with teams including the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, was accused in 2008 of lying to Congress about using banned substances. He was acquitted in 2012. President Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Obama administration targeted the seven-time Cy Young Award winner and has pointed out that Clemens never failed a drug test.
“It was the Obama DOJ (of course!) that viciously went after the great Roger Clemens. ROGER WAS FULLY ACQUITTED OF ALL CHARGES!!!” President Trump wrote.
As the Hall of Fame board prepared to vote Sunday on eight candidates, including Clemens, Trump took to Truth Social to defend the former pitcher.
“Roger Clemens, who won 354 games, went through his own Witch Hunt,” President Trump wrote. “HE WAS ACQUITTED OF ALL CHARGES!!! If he doesn’t get into the Hall of Fame, he should sue the hell out of Major League Baseball.”
The remarks mark another instance of the president weighing in on baseball’s highest honor. In March, he pardoned former Cincinnati Reds star Pete Rose, who had been banned from baseball for gambling. Following the pardon, Rose’s path to Hall of Fame eligibility was restored.
“Major League Baseball didn’t have the courage or decency to put the late, great, Pete Rose, also known as ‘Charlie Hustle,’ into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Now he is dead, will never experience the thrill of being selected, even though he was a FAR BETTER PLAYER than most of those who made it, and can only be named posthumously. WHAT A SHAME!” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.
Hall of Fame selections will be announced Sunday, with induction ceremonies scheduled for July 26.