It took the jurors less than 10 hours of deliberation to unanimously find former Major League pitcher Roger Clemens not guilty in his recent federal trial of lying to Congress in 2008 when he testified about using steroids or the growth hormone HGH. Clemens was accused of lying by his former trainer Brian McNamee, but his testimony was not at all convincing to the jury. "Brian McNamee was not a strong enough witness to render a verdict of guilty against Roger Clemens." Juror Bradford Weaver also said, "The witnesses for the prosecution were uh, how does one put it, kind of wanting if you will. It was quite lacking. If that was what they were going to go with, they should probably not have pursued the case in the first place, if that's all they had, you know.
" It seems the best evidence the prosecution had was McNamee's physical evidence, with Clemens' DNA that had been kept in a beer can for seven years.
Former New York Yankee star and current Los Angeles Dodger manager Don Mattingly also said today, "What a waste. I was thinking about it after all this time, what a waste of resources. Then you hear about teachers and stuff who don't have paper and pencils for kids, and it seems like what a waste. What a waste of money." The Federal Government investigated Clemens for five years, spending millions of dollars, and this is what they came up with. If Roger Clemens is really telling the truth, it's a shame because due to the high scrutiny placed on former stars who were accused of using performance enhancing drugs by members of the Baseball Hall of Fame committee, it's not very likely "The Rocket" will be elected to the Hall of Fame.
His former manager, Joe Torre said he should be. "He's a Hall of Famer to me. I can't make other people look at him, I can just tell you how I feel about him. I was proud to have him play for me, and I respect him." Clemens played for Torre when the Yankees won two World Series titles in 1999 and 2000. Clemens won 354 games as a big league pitcher, with a lifetime ERA of 3.12. He won several Cy Young awards as the league's best pitcher and played in 11 All-Star games. Clemens certainly has the credentials to be a Hall of Famer; but so do Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire, and they're not getting in any time soon.
That brings up another point; with Clemens being found not guilty on all counts of lying, shouldn't members of the voting committee use that as a "positive" in determining if Clemens should be elected? It all boiled down to Clemen's word against McNamee's, and the jurors all believed Clemens. In fact, two of the jurors were dismissed for going to sleep during deliberations. Things were obviously very boring.
If I were on the voting committee, I would vote for Clemens to be inducted on the very next ballot. I would also vote for Pete Rose and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson to be elected as well as Roger Maris, Dale Murphy and Don Mattingly. I still haven't decided about Bonds, McGuire or Sosa, but there are issues still out there on those guys, that I am just not informed enough about. Selection to the Hall of Fame should be based upon stats and character. Did a player do it honestly? And if he had the numbers he should be elected to the Hall of Fame. The only evidence regarding Roger Clemens' career was the not guilty verdict. Our judicial system says, he didn't use steroids, so there is no doubt "The Rocket" should be inducted.
Contact Randy Smith at rsmithsports@comcast.net
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Randy Smith has been covering sports in Tennessee for the last 42 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has continued his broadcasting career as a free-lance play-by-play announcer, author and is also a media concepts teacher at Red Bank High School in Chattanooga. He is currently teaching an "Intro To Sportscasting" class at Red Bank, the only class of its type in Tennessee. Randy Smith's career has included a 17-year stint as scoreboard host and pre-game talk show host on the widely regarded "Vol Network". He has also done play by play of more than 500 college football, basketball, baseball and softball games on ESPN, ESPN2, Fox Sports, CSS and Tennessee Pay Per View telecasts. He was selected as "Tennessee's Best Sports Talk Show Host" in 1998 by the Associated Press. He has won other major awards including, "Best Sports Story" in Tennessee and his "Friday Night Football" shows on WRCB-TV twice won "Best Sports Talk Show In Tennessee" awards. He has also been the host of "Inside Lee University Basketball" on CSS for the past 10 years. Randy and his wife, Shelia, reside in Hixson. They have two married children (Christi and Chris Perry Davey and Alison Smith). They also have two grandchildren (Coleman and Boone).