When Roger Clemens made his allegiance clear in the event of his Cooperstown enshrinement
Roger Clemens, the two-time world champion and eleven-time All-Star, once revealed that he had decided which team he would choose to represent if he ever made it to the Hall of Fame.
Clemens is one of the greatest players in MLB history, but he is also one of the most controversial players as well. In December 2007, the Mitchel Report came out. The report was a 409-page report that showed 89 names of players who took steroids. Clemens was one of the names in the report.
The Yankees and Red Sox star also denied the claims made by the Mitchell report to Congress in 2008. This led to him being indicted by a grand jury in 2010 for lying. However, in 2012 he was found not guilty by a federal jury.
This controversy, along with many others, has hurt his chances of being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Nonetheless, the pitcher was asked in a 2015 interview with Daily News which team he would prefer if he did get inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The pitcher mentioned the name of the Boston Red Sox, the team he debuted with in 1984. Many were expecting the New York Yankees, as it was the team Roger Clemens won the World Series title with. But the pitcher recalled the importance the team had to him.
"It would obviously be a Boston hat," he said. "That's where I got my start and my nickname. That's where I grew up."
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Roger Clemens introduced in the ESPN booth for the White Sox-Astros MLB Opening Night game. ⚾️🎙️📺 https://t.co/Fpl10iHCzJ
In the 2013 Hall of Fame vote, Roger Clemens was one of the players who was on the ballot. However, he only received 37.6% percent of the votes in his favor. The percentage of votes required to get inducted is 75%.
When Roger Clemens expressed no regret about not getting into the Hall of Fame.
On his first try at the Hall of Fame vote, Roger Clemens did not manage to make it. By 2022, his last eligible year for the Hall of Fame, Clemens once again fell short, not getting enough votes to get inducted.
However, in the same 2015 interview with the Daily News, he talked about how he felt about not getting enshrined in Cooperstown. Clemens showed no regrets, citing how he knew himself and didn't require being inducted into the Hall of Fame to know his worth.
"I'm not worried about it," Clemens said. "I don't confuse my career with my life, or refuse to let one person define what (or) who I am as a person. The guys that are voting are great. It's their opinion and they have a right to do what they want to do. I have zero control over it ... I know how I did it. I did it right."
1986: Roger Clemens takes on Jose Canseco & Dave Kingman. https://t.co/wtnw7md6IV
Roger Clemens was the seven-time title winner of the Cy Young Award. All of his achievements combined could have easily gotten him a place in the Hall of Fame.