To me you have to give Clemons. He could have said he used steroids only a couple of times, not knowing it was wrong or some other story. Instead he said he didn’t use it to Congress. He had to endure two perjury trials and was found innocent when the trials were completed. However, he still is believed to have taken steroids, and I believe he did also. Thus, I gave him a 10 percent penalty. So, Roger if you are reading these articles you are in my hall of fame. Either way I think you were a great player. Anyway, being the seventh greatest pitcher of all time isn’t all bad.
Looking at his stats I was surprised that Clemons led the league in earned run average seven times. That is a lot of years. Once when he was 42. There were complaints early in his career that Clemons just wanted to pitch his 7 innings and leave the game. The funny thing was he led the league in complete games 3 times, innings pitched twice and shutouts six times.
In 1986 John McNamara said Roger Clemons wanted out of the game after a blister burst. Clemons said no. My thinking is if I wanted Clemons to pitch, I would have kicked him all the way to the mound. There was also a rumor that he was going to take Buckner out of the game, but Buckner refused. Which leads me to the question “Who is running this team?” In situations like this you have to be in charge good or bad. You don’t make decisions and blame the players later. I would have fired McNamara after the World Series. Everyone makes mistakes. If you are in charge you have to be responsible and take the grief even if you think it is someone else’s fault. That is a true manager.
