In a classic Donald Trump moment, the President of the United States teed off against woke Major League Baseball and its arbitrary rules on hall of fame candidacy, instead opting to give seven-time Cy Young Award-winner who retired third on baseball’s all-time strikeout list the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
For context, Roger Clemens played professional baseball for a staggering 24 seasons. He began his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1984. In 1986, he accomplished one of the most rare seasons in pitching history, winning the AL MVP award, AL Cy Young Award, the All-Star Game MVP, and struck out a record 20 batters in a single 9-inning game. For his career – which included a record seven Cy Youngs, two pitching Triple Crowns, and two World Series rings – he won 354 games, struck out over 4,600 batters, and finished with an E.R.A. of 3.12.
However, because Clemens played during the storied steroids era, many purists and journalists consider his legacy tarnished by alleged use. Of course, his career and accolades began long before the 1994 players strike, which many consider the beginning of that time period. Nevertheless, baseball will let you gamble on the game despite Pete Rose not being in the Hall of Fame and turned a blind eye to decades of drug abuse as ratings and attendance soared while disowning the stars that made the game watchable.
And so President Trump, recognizing the absurdity of Roger Clemens never receiving 75% of the vote while on the Cooperstown ballot for ten years and thus falling off eligibility. “I played a round of golf with Roger, and we had a great time. He’s an amazing guy, and I said, ‘I’m going to call the commissioner of baseball,’” he began in a rally speech on behalf of the ace.
“It’s a ridiculous thing that you’re not in the Hall of Fame with that kind of a record. He’s got that. He won seven Cy Young. That means seven years. If you win one, you’re a superstar. If you win one, you go to the Hall of Fame for the most part. You win two, you’re guaranteed. He won seven, and they didn’t take him. And by the way, people take drugs. He never admitted to anything. They have no information. They didn’t find anything. It’s not like oh, geez, loaded up. He never admitted to anything. He’s just a physical monster,” he continued.
“He’s a big, strong, and he was just-he was great. Now he did have a couple of problems. He was known for two things as a pitcher: power and accuracy. I said, “Then Roger, how come you hit more batters than any other pitcher in history, which is true. He hit more batters than any, and when he hit you, it hurt. You know, when you have a ball going at 99 miles an hour and it’s aimed at your head. So Roger had some problems, and he told me part of the difficulty is the people that are on the board were people that he played against, and sir, they all hate me because he’s the most, we want competitive guys,” he went on.
“So tonight, I’m pleased to announce that we are taking it into our own hands. Forget about the Hall of Fame; he’ll get there someday. I mean, I don’t know how they can keep him out. I don’t know how the hell they keep him out. But tonight, I’m announcing that Roger Clemens is being given the single highest award, along with the Medal of Honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor. That’s for military. This is for civilians. We’re giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and along with the Congressional Medal of Honor, it’s the highest award bestowed upon anyone, and Roger, get get up here, Roger, get up here. So he’ll be in the Hall of Fame someday, but he deserves it. One of the greatest athletes, and maybe the greatest pitcher of all time, and he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, but this is a big step up from the Hall of Fame-the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” he finished.
Watch that incredible announcement below:
Featured image: Roger Clemens, Steve Lipofsky www.Lipofsky.com, CC BY 3.0