It hit me this week like a Louisville Slugger upside the head that the biggest winner of Roger Clemens’s federal perjury trial besides the Rocket and his homespun, unctuous attorney, Rusty Hardin, was none other than Barry Lamar Bonds.
Clemens’s acquittal Monday on all six charges of perjury, obstruction of Congress, and making false statements was a yet another home run for baseball’s ersatz home run king, 762*, a number that has as much significance now as the count of calories in a bag of Cheetos.
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You can't shine a sneaker! Clemens, Bonds, Sosa and the rest of that cheating crowd don't belong in Hall of Fame.
It is not a distinction without a difference, and the specific charge was irrelevant. The only KNOWN realities are the records of the two players and the fact that two juries who heard all the evidence, indicted Bonds, which they couldn't have done without believing he used steroids, and acquitted Clemens which they couldn't have done without believing he didn't. All the rest is speculation. Those who dislike Clemens will ignore these realities, and those who like Bonds will also. But those who accept the only known realities can and will separate the two. If use of steroids is the deciding factor, then based on the only known realities, Clemens belongs in the hall of fame and Bonds doesn't. If the only test is performance they both belong. But either way, Clemens has to be there.