Donald Trump has suffered an embarrassing blow in his bid to have a controversial former baseball player inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens lost out in Sunday’s vote, despite the president’s demand to “put Roger Clemens in The Baseball Hall of Fame, IMMEDIATELY!”
San Francisco Giants second baseman Jeff Kent made the cut instead, having comfortably received more than 75 percent of the votes needed from the Contemporary Era Committee. He is due to be inducted in Cooperstown, New York, on July 26.
With a career spanning 20 years, Clemens received fewer than five votes and will now be unable to appear on the ballot again until 2031, the Associated Press reports.
It comes three years after a disappointing result in 2022, Clemens’s final year eligible for ascension into the Hall via the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Then, going through the route for players who retired within the last 10 years, he again fell short with 65.2 percent of the 75 percent of votes needed.
Trump’s push for former New York Yankees star Clemens came 13 years after he was cleared of lying to Congress. In 2012, he was acquitted of having lied to lawmakers in 2008 about the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The 63-year-old denied that he had used steroids and human growth hormones. A federal jury found him not guilty of obstructing Congress after a 10-week trial, according to CBS.
In his plea to the Hall on Saturday, Trump wrote, “These highly respected owners, executives, writers, and, most importantly, Hall of Famers, should do the right thing by finally putting Roger Clemens, known as ‘The Rocket,’ in the Hall! Roger is clearly one of the Greatest Pitchers of All Time, with amazing achievements that include winning 354 Games, seven Cy Young Awards (A Record, by a lot!), and playing in six World Series, winning two… Roger Clemens is the only pitcher who has won 300 games to not have the honor of being enshrined in the Hall of Fame, which is a total travesty! The only reason he is not is because of rumors and innuendo, which were not proven.”
Trump even used the opportunity to aim a little dig at his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. Clemens “never tested positive and, when the Obama DOJ went after him in a criminal case claiming that he did take steroids, Roger, who has always denied taking any drugs, was FULLY ACQUITTED OF ALL CHARGES,” Trump said. “I sincerely hope that the Committee uses its great judgment (Roger’s opponents never proved a thing against him, and he may have the best pitching record, all told, in the History of Baseball!), and the Baseball Commissioner has the Strength, Wisdom, and Power to do the right thing, and put Roger Clemens in The Baseball Hall of Fame, IMMEDIATELY! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT.”
Clemens has waxed lyrical about the president, too, even praising his work ethic and golf swing live on Fox News.
“The president hit the ball beautifully,” he said in September, reflecting on a round they’d played together. “He wasn’t just golfing by the way, he was working the entire three hours I was with him.”
Trump has made a habit of weighing in on sporting matters. On Friday, he was front and center with FIFA President Gianni Infantino in the Kennedy Center, where he helped announce the draw for the upcoming soccer World Cup. Back in April, he publicly scolded NFL teams for passing on Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the draft.
Twenty-two-season MLB star Barry Bonds, Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Carlos Delgado and New York Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly were also among those to miss out on this year’s induction.
Speaking about his joy at learning he’d been inducted 17 years after hanging up the cleats, Kent told AP, “I hugged my wife after the phone call had come in… and I told her that a lot of the game had come rushing back to me at that moment.”
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