Three months after applying pressure that helped lead to a rule change making the late Pete Rose eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame, President Donald Trump has turned his attention to Roger Clemens.
In a social media post on Sunday, Trump argued that Clemens belongs in the Hall of Fame and that he should be inducted immediately.
“I played Golf yesterday with the Great Roger Clemens and his son, Kacy,” Trump wrote. “Roger Clemens was easily one of the few Greatest Pitchers of All Time, winning 354 Games, the Cy Young Award seven times (A Record, by a lot!), and played in six World Series, winning two! He was second to Nolan Ryan in most strike-outs, and he should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, NOW!”
The president went on to recognize MLB’s steroids era and dismissed Clemens’ connections to performance-enhancing drugs.
“People think he took drugs, but nothing was proven. He never tested positive, and Roger, from the very beginning, totally denies it. He was just as great before those erroneous charges were leveled at him. That rumor has gone on for years, and there has been no evidence whatsoever that he was a ‘druggie,’” Trump wrote.
Clemens responded with a post to X in which he said, in part, “I appreciate the love! DT knows more than anyone the fake news that’s out there. Everyone has their agendas. … I played the game to change my family’s direction generationally and to WIN!”
Wonderful time yesterday at Trump National DC with @POTUS and my son Kacy. @KClemens21
I appreciate the love! DT knows more than anyone the fake news that’s out there. Everyone has their agendas… I played the game to change my family’s direction generationally and to WIN! pic.twitter.com/1GaAVaU6a3
— Roger Clemens (@rogerclemens) August 24, 2025
While one could quibble with Trump’s framing of some of Clemens’ accomplishments — he has two more Cy Youngs than Randy Johnson, and he is actually third all-time in strikeouts, not second — there was no denying them. Of course, it was never about that.
Like Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and others, Clemens was a central figure in MLB’s steroid era.
He was linked to steroid use in the Mitchell Report in 2007 and was later indicted on six counts of felony perjury, false statements and obstruction of Congress as a result of testimony he provided. And while Clemens was ultimately acquitted of those charges, many Hall of Fame voters not only believed that Clemens took steroids, but believed that it should keep him out of the Hall of Fame.
In 2022, Clemens’ last chance to be inducted, he earned 65.2 percent of the vote, well short of the 75 percent required for enshrinement. Bonds, Schilling and Sosa also fell off the ballot that year. Palmeiro fell off the ballot in 2014, while Rodriguez remains eligible.
It was only a couple of months ago that Trump made a case for Rose, the all-time hits leader who died last September, to be enshrined in Cooperstown. Later in May, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced a rule change that removed lifetime bans on deceased players, theoretically making Rose eligible for the Hall. Trump compared the Rose situation to Clemens on Sunday.
“This is going to be like Pete Rose where, after over 4,000 Hits, they wouldn’t put him in the Hall of Fame until I spoke to the Commissioner, and he promised to do so, but it was essentially a promise not kept because he only ‘opened it up’ when Pete died and, even then, he said that Pete Rose only got into the mix because of DEATH,” Trump wrote. “We are not going to let that happen in the case of Roger Clemens. 354 Wins — Put him in NOW. He and his great family should not be forced to endure this ‘stupidity’ any longer!”
(Photo of Roger Clemens at Yankees Old Timer’s Day earlier this month: Wendell Cruz / Imagn Images)
