TRENTON, NJ - MAY 23: Roger Clemens pitches in a rehab stint for the Trenton Thunder May 23, 2007 in Trenton, NJ. (Photo credit: Daniel M. Silva / Shutterstock)
President Donald Trump is again demanding that Roger Clemens be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, blasting the voters who have kept his golfing partner out of Cooperstown over allegations the pitcher has always denied.
In a Truth Social post, Trump complained that Clemens is missing from the Hall "all because a bunch of jealous people with far less Talent, voted that he shouldn't be there." He closed with a swipe at the sport itself: "No wonder Baseball is in trouble!"
Clemens ranks among the most decorated pitchers in the game's history, with 354 career wins, a record seven Cy Young Awards and 4,672 strikeouts, third all-time behind Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson. He won two World Series titles with the New York Yankees.
But he has never been inducted, largely because Clemens was named in Major League Baseball's 2007 Mitchell Report, and his former trainer, Brian McNamee, claimed he injected the pitcher with steroids and human growth hormone. Clemens has vehemently denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs, testified to that effect before Congress, and was acquitted of all charges in his 2012 perjury trial.
He has never tested positive for steroids, but the allegations nonetheless dogged his candidacy. Clemens fell short on the writers' ballot, and last year a 16-member Contemporary Baseball Era Committee passed him over again, electing only Jeff Kent.
Trump has made Cooperstown a personal cause before, raging about Clemens's snub after a round of golf and lobbying for the late Pete Rose. In his latest post, Trump claimed the commissioner "told me he was going to approve Pete Rose, but he waited long enough until Pete died." Commissioner Rob Manfred removed Rose from the permanently ineligible list in May 2025, months after Rose's death, making him eligible for consideration.
The meltdown comes amid the backdrop of Trump and the GOP floundering in approval ratings, a trade war with Canada that spiraled out of control this week, and a war in Iran that has no end in sight.