MLB: It is time to vote Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds into the Hall of Fame

We are a couple of hours away from finding out who will be apart of the 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame class. As of this writing, we know that Lee Smith and Harold Baines got in on the Veterans Committee. The feeling seems to be Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez, and Mike Mussina will be heading into the Hall of Fame in July. While those seem to be the likely ones, there are three players who are on the bubble and might get in. Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens, and Barry Bonds are all around 75%. While Curt Schilling to me is a borderline Hall of Famer, I feel Clemens and Bonds should be in already.

I say Curt Schilling is a borderline Hall of Famer because of his stats. He had a lifetime record of 216-146. In addition, he had a 3.46 ERA and had 3,116 strikeouts. None of those numbers scream Hall of Fame to me. In addition, Schilling was someone who was always second to guys like Josh Beckett and Randy Johnson. Not saying that Josh Beckett is a Hall of Famer, but I saw him more of an ace than Schilling. Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are on the other side and both deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Let us look at Barry Bonds first, who played for both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Francisco Giants. He owns the record for most home runs with 762. He had 2,935 hits and drove in 1,996 runs batted in. He also owns the record for most walks with 2,558. A lot of those came during his 73 home run season.

On the other hand, Roger Clemens is someone who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. During his 24 year career, he was one of the games most intimidating pitchers. He had a lifetime record of 354-184. In addition, he had an ERA of 3.12 and struck out 4,672. He is also a seven-time Cy Young Award winner. The seven Cy Young awards are the most by any pitcher in MLB. Bonds and Clemens are both staples when it comes to the history of baseball.

I know they were both involved with the steroid era, but it’s not like they were the only ones. We don’t know how many people took steroids and how many were never caught. If you punish them, then you are taking out a piece of baseball history. If they don’t get in this year, I don’t see why they don’t get in next year.

Tune into MLB Network on Tuesday night to find out who will be apart of the 2019 Baseball Hall of fame class.

Tweets by jon_blayne