12/21/24
June 16, 2003
A letter to Roger Clemens: How the Hall should address the concerns of the Rocket
Dear Mr. Clemens, Thank you for your interest in setting policy for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. We appreciate your concern about how we determine which hat a player wears when he enters the hallowed halls of history. We make our decision by looking at a player’s career and determining where that player did the bulk of his best work. This could include anything from batting titles to championships to the shattering of individual records. In your case, we understand your desire to be remembered wearing a New York Yankee cap. Your two World Series rings and Cy Young awards while donning the pinstripes are certainly wonderful, and who would not want to be enshrined in the hat of the most storied franchise in American sports history? You also, however, must recognize the strength of your achievements with the Boston Red Sox. It is the birthplace of your career. The Beantown uniform is the one fans throughout baseball identify you with, be it your amazing 20-strikeout performance or your average of nearly 20 wins a year for the seven seasons between 1986-1992. You are on the forefront of a burgeoning problem, Mr. Clemens. There will be any numbers of players who will question why they should be immortalized in one cap rather than another. Take, for instance, Mike Piazza. A young man taken in the nether regions of the baseball draft by Los Angeles basically as a favor, he has developed into the greatest power-hitting catcher of all time. He grew as a player while wearing Dodger Blue, and his legacy will always be tied to it. But Piazza’s career has now reached equilibrium in New York. He has continued to shine for the Mets, and fans have come to accept him in that uniform. You certainly helped that with your ill-advised bat-tossing incident, but we digress. What, however, if Piazza is dealt to an American League team in the near future? It is entirely conceivable that he could play another six years as a designated hitter/first baseman. Playing every day, without the wear-and-tear of catching, Piazza could post 50+ home runs and render silent his offensive achievements of the past. What then? Are beginnings as important as endings? Do World Series rings weigh as heavily as batting crowns? Who decides? Well, we do. We’re the Hall of Fame, Mr. Clemens, and we do not take these decisions lightly. We are the guardians of the history of this sport, and that reaches beyond the individual desires of you or any other player. You also understand our concern that we also must guard against the selling of our Hall as advertising space. We heard the rumblings about Wade Boggs renting out his head for eternity as a Faustian bargain for a couple more years of baseball, and we even sympathize with him. We just won’t allow it. Our committee may well decide that, after careful consideration, a Yankee hat is what fits you and your legacy best. It may be a Boston cap that graces your brow. Whatever the outcome, however, it will be our choice to make. If you see fit to take your ball and go home during the induction ceremony, that will also be acceptable. Congratulations on your 300th win and 4,000th strikeout. We hope to see you in 2009. Sincerely, The National Baseball Hall of Fame
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