The Clemens Shutout

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Over breakfast this morning your editor was met with a gale of indignation in respect of the failure of the Baseball Hall of Fame to step up to the plate in the case of Roger Clemens. The indignation erupted from The Older Daughter, who was in the process of reading the dispatch that ran in the New York Times under the headline “Bonds (and Everyone) Strikes Out.” It seems that for the first time since 1996 the baseball writers who make these judgments failed to elevate anyone to the famous hall.

This strikes her, and us, as an error in judgment. At least three times in these columns we’ve written about the farce of the investigation of Mr. Clemens. Early on, our celebrated baseball columnist, Tim Marchman, concluded that the dispute over Mr. Clemens was worthy neither of Congress nor of baseball. We also turned to another writer, James Madison, a principal author of the United States Constitution, which prohibits Congress from passing bills of attainder. In “Attaining Clemens,” we argued that congressional hearings on Mr. Clemens alleged use of steroids violated the spirit of that law.

That didn’t stop the Congress. It turned Mr. Clemens over to the Justice Department, which not only threw the book at him but also tried to play bean ball. An honest United States district judge, Reggie Walton, was so infuriated that he declared a mis-trial, on which we commented in an editorial called “Beaning Roger Clemens.” The Justice Department failed to take the hint and turned around and forced the Yankees hurler to stand trial again. The jury discovered that he just wasn’t guilty, acquitting him outright on all six counts. “Clemens’s No-Hitter” was our headline.

What is left to say in respect of the Hall of Fame? It’s not a court of law. It’s a private institution. It can do whatever it wants. But why in the world would it want to fail to elevate to the Hall of Fame the man who may be the greatest pitcher of all time? It would be one thing if the seven times Cy Young winner had been convicted of something (like, say, Barry Bonds, who is guilty of obstruction of justice) or admitted using anabolic steroids. But under the law, Mr. Clemens is unblemished.

It’s a sad day for the Hall of Fame. “It takes time for history to sort itself out,” the Hall’s president, Jeffrey Idelson, is quoted by the New York Times as saying. So the Hall will play catch-up ball. The vote of the baseball writers is a reminder that at the end of the day, glory is not something that is bestowed by an outside institution. It is something that is achieved by the players, etched into history by the record keepers, and acknowledged by the millions fans who know that Roger Clemens is among the greatest ball players who ever lived.


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