William Roger Clemens is a former American professional baseball pitcher. His nickname is “Rocket”. The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are American Professional Baseball teams based respectively in Boston and New York. Here Clemens had played 24 seasons. Let us know about “Why Is Roger Clemens Not In The Hall Of Fame?”
Career Graph :
In the history of the Major League of Baseball, Clemens is one of the most controlling and aggressive players. Clemens started his professional career in the Major league in 1984 with the team called Red Sox. He won the Young American League Award, MVP award, and All-Star Game MVP award back-to-back. He made his record of all twenty strikeouts. In 2001, he won two World Series titles. In the history of the Major League, Clemens became the first player to begin a session with a 20-1 win-loss record. In 2007 he joined the Yankees for the second time. In Major league history, he is the only player to win 350 games.
Controversy:
Clemens has always remained in the middle of controversies. He never hesitated to throw the ball as much as possible to the batter. He was prone to be in the position of a leader in every single game. From the very early days of his career, he had created a lot of problems because of his indulgences. After the ALCS game 2000, he hit his future teammate Alex Rodriguez. He even argued with him, instead of showing any compassion. Thus he was named “Headhunter”, because of his unrestrained attitude.
His unapologetic image was prominent in most of his activities. Sometimes he throws the broken- bat in the direction of his 2000 World Series Co- player Piazza, or others he creates controversies because of his outspoken nature. He did not even want to carry his luggage through the airport. He even made a derogatory statement related to the Japanese and South Korean acts of devotion. But his Diva-like attitude always kept him on the front page.
The Major Accusation:
In Jose Canseco’s book, he suggested that Clemens had a great capacity to understand the usage of steroids. His improvement in his performance after leaving the Red Sox resulted from his use of steroids. After a thorough investigation, including a 20-page search warrant signed by an IRS special agent, it was told by Jason Grimsley, that he used performance-enhancing drugs as recommended by his former trainer Brian McNamee. Though McNamee completely denied this accusation against him. Clemens’s name was mentioned 82 times in the Mitchell Report on steroid use.
Clemens Failed To Enter The Hall Of Fame :
In 2021, despite being a star in his own field, Roger Clemens failed to gain the particular number of votes needed to be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. This defeat is highly significant for Clemens’s possibility to enter the Hall of Fame because it was the nine consecutive times that Clemens failed to attain the 75% marks needed for the nomination.
A player can get the maximum limit of 10 years to appear on the ballot. For Clemens, 2022 is the last scope available for Clemens to be considered by the Baseball Writers Association of America. After this only the Era committee can consider this.
The Reasons Behind His Consecutive Failure :
After achieving all the glorious wins, his name should have been written in golden words. When he retired in 2007, he was the owner of 354 wins, two World Series titles, and two-time triple crown winners. However, all his achievements are considered to be doubtful and questionable. Only a few months after his retirement, the Mitchell report was out. This report was based on the assessment of the depths of performance enhancement drugs and steroids that are used in Major League Baseball. The report consists of 20 monthly investigations committed by then-senator George Mitchell. In that report, 89 players’ names were mentioned by investigators who have used Performance Enhancement Drugs. Clemens was one of those 89 players.
Not only that, his former trainer Brian McNamee confirmed that he injected Clemens, the steroid named Winstrol in the years 1998, 2000, and 2001. However, Clemens denied all these accusations mentioning he was never tested positive. In 2010, the Grand Jury accused Clemens of making false statements to Congress about his use of steroids. Two years later, he was found not guilty.
The Opinion Poll:
Though Clemens was found not guilty, recently a study conducted by ESPN where by using a projection system one can understand the past performances and based on it their future performances. This projection system is called ZIPS. When Clemens’s performance was judged, it was found that Clemens should win 85 matches, whereas he won 141 matches. This study enhances the doubts regarding his steroid intake.
Conclusion :
Now we have learnt “Why Is Roger Clemens Not In The Hall Of Fame?”, It is very important for players to show their patience and humility on-field and also in their personal lives. Otherwise, it would bring results that will destroy their reputation and their lifelong hard work will be completely in vain. For Clemens, the same thing has happened. His incapacity to become a member of the Hall of Fame is the result of his unrestrained attitude from the very beginning of his career.
