President Donald Trump has gone to bat for Roger Clemens and his Hall of Fame eligibility multipletimes. During his Wednesday evening stop at San Antonio’s Freeman Coliseum in the lead-up to next month’s midterms, Trump again stumped for the Houston star’s induction into Cooperstown while also awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Clemens, who began receiving Trump’s public support for the Hall of Fame after playing golf with him in 2025, introduced the president to the San Antonio crowd before Trump closed the show with the Medal of Freedom announcement.
Clemens, who helped the Houston Astros reach the 2005 World Series, certainly has the on-field credentials as a Hall of Famer with all the numbers he racked up with the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees and Astros. While the Houston resident and former Spring Woods High School star actually ranks third in strikeouts behind only Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson and is the only pitcher to win seven Cy Young Awards, it’s the steroid speculation that has kept him out of Cooperstown.
Clemens’ name was in the 2007 Mitchell Report and he was indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of Congress after he testified. Clemens was acquitted of the charges and has denied any use of performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens never received enough votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America to get elected, then was shunned by former players in last year’s era committee ballot. He won’t be eligible to reappear on the ballot until 2031.
“By the way, people talk drugs. He never admitted to anything. They have no information, they didn’t find anything,” Trump said Wednesday night. “It’s not like, ‘Oh jeez, he was loaded up.’ He never admitted to anything. He’s just a physical monster.”
Trump said he didn’t realize Clemens wasn’t already in the Hall of Fame until they golf together last year, and that he called Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred after that outing to try to help the pitcher get inducted. Trump also said he “worked hard to get a man named Pete Rose into the Baseball Hall of Fame before he died.” Trump did publicly support baseball’s all-time hits leader and, in 2025, Manfred ruled that Rose and other deceased players on baseball’s permanently ineligible list are no longer banned. However, Rose still has not been voted into the Hall.
Regardless, Trump says the upcoming award for Clemens, who played 24 years in the big leagues, surpasses any honor baseball could give him.
“He’ll be in the Hall of Fame someday, but he deserves it,” Trump said. “One of the greatest athletes and maybe the greatest pitcher of all-time and he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, but this is a big step up from the Hall of Fame, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”
Clemens, wearing a cap with “USA” on the front, returned to the stage to shake hands with the president.
“Well, I’m stunned, No. 1. Again, 24 years y’all. This supersedes anything that, obviously, I’ve done in my playing career,” Clemens said. “And to get it from this man, this president, there wouldn’t be another president I’d want to get it from.
“To announce it here in my home state and from this man, you’re talking about a winner. That’s a winner right there.”
Clemens was similarly effusive with his praise when he introduced the president more than 100 minutes earlier, when he said, “What a privilege it is for me to be here to intro our great president. A man that loves our country, that puts all of us first and puts America first. This is what I love: He’s made us better, he’s made us stronger, and more importantly, because of the border and everything here, he’s made us safer.”
Clemens will join several other sports figures who have received the award during Trump’s two terms in the White House, including golfer Tiger Woods, Pro Football Hall of Famer Roger Staubach, former New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera and college football coach Lou Holtz.
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This article originally published at Donald Trump says he’ll award Houston star Roger Clemens the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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