IRVING, Texas — Roger Clemens doesn’t sound like a man overly concerned about the Baseball Hall of Fame these days. He knows he’s going into his final year on the ballot and would enjoy being part of the exclusive fraternity in Cooperstown, but he won’t be pleading his case to voters when ballots are sent out in a couple of months.
“I never played the game to worry about being a Hall of Famer,” said Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner who retired with 354 career wins.
“The guys who vote for me is great — they’re the ones who look at the details and the facts and understand exactly everything that went on. We did it the right way. I played the right way. I poured my heart into a game I love. I’m glad my boys are playing.
“The day kind of comes and goes now.”
Clemens’ legacy has been tarnished after he was linked to using performance-enhancing drugs in the Mitchell Report, which was published in December 2007. He has maintained his innocence since that report, including a lengthy legal battle against the government.
Shortly after the Mitchell Report, Clemens told Congress that he never used PEDs. The government charged him with six counts of perjury and obstruction following those comments, but Clemens prevailed in court by being acquitted of all charges in 2012.
Still, that legal victory didn’t change the minds of enough voters. Clemens has yet to reach the 75% threshold to gain entry into the Hall of Fame, receiving a personal best 61.6% of the votes in 2021. His last year on the writers’ ballot is this year, but it’s hard to envision him gaining enough support to jump the necessary 14% in his final year.
Clemens downplayed any significance as far as being on the ballot for the final time.
“I don’t care one bit about it,” he said. “Someone didn’t vote for Derek Jeter. One of my good friends and teammates with the Red Sox, Jimmy Rice, got in on his 10th year. I always teased him, ‘Dude, how did you get better all of a sudden? Did you go play semi pro ball and hit another 100 homers?’
“It’s great. I love the Hall. Just recently my good country buddy Toby Keith went up there and they pulled out all of my stuff from different games — the 300-win game, stuff like that. I have a lot of cool stuff up there. My friends go up and look at it and they’ll text and send it to me. It’s cool. If it happens, it happens.
“Like I said, it’s not going to change me as a person. That’s what I did. It’s not who I am as a person.”
Clemens, nicknamed the “Rocket,” was the most dominant pitcher of his generation and one of the best in the game’s history. He has more Cy Young Awards (seven) than any other pitcher. He is the first man to record a 20-strikeout game, setting the single-game record as a member of the Red Sox against the Seattle Mariners in 1986 and then accomplishing the feat again a decade later with the Red Sox against the Detroit Tigers in 1996.
Clemens is ninth in all-time wins with 354 and is third in strikeouts with 4,672. He played for four teams over his 24-year career, including the Boston Red Sox (1984-96), Toronto Blue Jays (1997-98), New York Yankees (1999-2003, 2007) and Houston Astros (2004-06).
“When you saw me out there, I was very intense,” he said. “I got my work ethic from my mother. My mom worked three jobs. That’s the thing I get most upset about it is when someone on the outside with the noise makes a comment about silver spoon athletes. You need to know my background.
“My pops died when I was 9, my mom worked three jobs and raised six of us. I helped her stock coolers in a convenience store so I could have a ... red glove and new cleats. I thought we were rich. They look at you from the outside and don’t take the time to know the details about you as a person. They see you behind that glove and you’re locked in.
“I was very serious about my work. I was very prideful of the team I was representing and going out there and performing well. Nobody felt worse than I did when I laid an egg out there. When I was driving home that night back to the house and I didn’t perform well? It sucks.”
These days Clemens is just enjoying his life. Like every sports fan, he’s curious to see how his Texas Longhorns fare in the SEC. And he’s excited to be a part of the PGA Tour Champions inaugural ClubCorp Classic at Las Colinas Country Club in April.
Clemens was among several celebrities who attended the tournament’s announcement this week. The event will feature 78 PGA Tour Champions players as well as 50 celebrities such as Clemens.
Clemens enjoys the game and recalled that he played 27 holes the day before his first 20-strikeout game in 1986.
“I hated being in the hotel room. I liked to play the day before I pitched and the day after because I was pretty sore,” Clemens said. “I would get up early, get my distance running in [and then golf].
“I love being outdoors. I’ve met more cool people in the game of golf than I ever have in baseball as far as business opportunities and things I’ve done.”
