Vaughn, Morgan: Put Clemens in Hall of Fame
Despite PED accusations, duo supports former Red Sox pitcher
For the foreseeable future, Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Weekend will serve a dual purpose – celebrating the latest class and tackling certain juicy questions.
Honoring the hallowed careers of Ivan Rodriguez, Tim Raines, and Jeff Bagwell is at the forefront in Cooperstown over the next few days. In a perfect world, the focus would be exclusively on the Class of 2017 as they prepare to take one final victory lap before officially becoming part of an exclusive fraternity.
Alas, the HOF spotlight will shine not only on those who topped the 75 percent threshold required from the voting masses. Rodriguez, Raines, and Bagwell are set to come aboard, but what about those who aren’t in the Hall like Roger Clemens?
Clemens tossed 46 shutouts over his 24year MLB career. The right-handed pitcher has been on the ballot for five years now and hasn’t been on 65 percent of the ballots ever. Deciding what to do with a pitcher who won 354 games and seven Cy Young awards has been nothing short of a slippery slope.
Clemens had a great career, yet in wake of getting implicated in the 2007 Mitchell Report on steroid usage in baseball, sifting through his candidacy has been more about moral beliefs than actual statistics.
Mo Vaughn was a Red Sox teammate of Clemens for six seasons. Joe Morgan managed “The Rocket” for three-and-a-half seasons in Boston.
“There’s different eras that have different stances, but he should be inducted.” — Ex-Red Sox Mo Vaughn
Both knew Clemens before he allegedly took performance enhancing drugs.
Speaking to the media after their official entrance into the PawSox Hall of Fame last Sunday, Vaughn and Morgan agreed that Baseball’s Hall of Fame is missing something – a certain Texan who wore No. 21 for the Red Sox.
“Yes,” was the cut-through-the-redtape answer that Vaughn provided when asked if Clemens should be in the Hall. Why should that be the case? “He’s one the greatest pitchers of all time. Plus, he’s my friend,” Vaughn said. “There’s different eras that have different stances, but he should be inducted.”
That sounds like a teammate going to bat for another teammate whose perception is a bit tarnished. Vaughn shared a story about a time he was hit by a pitch in a game in Minnesota. It was getting late and the score was tied at 1. Clemens was pitching, and how he retaliated on the first baseman’s behalf took Vaughn by surprise.
“He went out to the mound and started drilling people,” Vaughn said. “He was the best teammate you could ever have. You wouldn’t want anyone else in a fox hole besides him.”
How dare those media scoundrels keep Clemens out!
Seriously, if you cast a ballot, how do you address Clemens? Vaughn has a suggestion that doesn’t exactly break new ground. Coming from a contemporary of Clemens, Vaughn’s words carry enough weight to merit consideration in the court of public opinion.
“If you want to put an asterisk by your name, whatever you want to do, he’s part of history. Let it go and let’s move on,” Vaughn said. “It’s time. Stop holding grudges. Nobody is perfect. Everybody has done things they wish they can take back. Let’s move on.”
At age 86, Morgan proved he’s still one of the sharpest knives in the drawer when it was his turn to respond to Clemens still waiting to get into Cooperstown.
“You know why I would put him in? He made me a fortune!” Morgan said, his answer eliciting laughter from Vaughn and several media types as the interview was conducted in the PawSox weight room.
Former Red Sox infielder John Valentin played with Clemens in Boston for five seasons.
“I totally think he’ll eventually get in. You think of Roger and he was a Hall of Famer before all the allegations,” Valentin said.
Valentin spent 11 seasons in the majors (1992-2002). In baseball circles, that time period is known as the height of the steroid era.
“No one wants to cheat the game or get an edge on somebody else, but that stuff was prevalent while I played,” Valentin said. “I never saw anyone actually take (PEDs), but a lot players got hurt. It’s not the right way, but it was their way to come back sooner.”
Shifting gears to this year’s HOF group, Valentin was once a Red Sox minor-league teammate of Bagwell’s. It was 1990 and both were in New Britain, then Boston’s Double-A affiliate.
Valentin vividly remembers the day the Red Sox traded Bagwell to Houston. The two were in the same batting practice group at Beehive Field when Bagwell learned he was on the move.
“We knew he was talented and could have definitely done things in Boston. We missed him,” Valentin said. “He went over to Houston and had the career of a lifetime.”