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President Donald Trump has thrown his support behind Roger Clemens’ candidacy for the Baseball Hall of Fame, calling the former pitcher “one of the few Greatest Pitchers of All Time” and urging that he be inducted without delay.
“I played Golf yesterday with the Great Roger Clemens and his son, Kacy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Roger Clemens was easily one of the few Greatest Pitchers of All Time, winning 354 Games, the Cy Young Award seven times (A Record, by a lot!), and played in six World Series, winning two! He was second to Nolan Ryan in most strikeouts, and he should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, NOW!”
Clemens, known as “The Rocket,” amassed 354 wins and 4,672 strikeouts in his 24-year Major League career. Despite his record-breaking achievements, he has not been voted into the Hall of Fame due to long-standing allegations of performance-enhancing drug use.
Trump dismissed those allegations in his post. “People think he took drugs, but nothing was proven. He never tested positive, and Roger, from the very beginning, totally denies it,” Trump wrote. “He was just as great before those erroneous charges were leveled at him. That rumor has gone on for years, and there has been no evidence whatsoever that he was a ‘druggie.’”
The president compared Clemens’ situation to that of Pete Rose, who remains banned from Hall of Fame eligibility for betting on baseball. “This is going to be like Pete Rose … We are not going to let that happen in the case of Roger Clemens,” Trump wrote.
Clemens was named in the 2007 Mitchell Report investigating steroid use in baseball and later faced perjury and obstruction charges after testifying before Congress in 2008. He was acquitted of all charges in 2012.
While Trump defended Clemens, some investigators remain skeptical. Jeff Novitzky, a former federal agent involved in the BALCO steroids case, has said evidence tied Clemens’ DNA to steroid-tainted syringes. Clemens has consistently denied using performance-enhancing drugs.
Clemens became Hall of Fame eligible in 2013 but never reached the required 75 percent of votes, peaking at 65 percent during his 10 years on the ballot. His case could now be reconsidered by the Hall’s Contemporary Baseball Era committee.
