President Trump announced that MLB legend Roger Clemens will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a surprise honor the former ace said tops his entire 24-year career.
At a Wednesday night rally in San Antonio, Texas, Roger Clemens stepped up to introduce President Trump and walked away with news that stunned even him. Trump told the crowd the White House is giving the pitching great the nation’s highest civilian honor.
“We’re giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Trump said, praising Clemens as “maybe the greatest pitcher of all time.”
Breitbart News reported that Clemens learned of the award on the spot while introducing the president, and the former New York Yankee made clear how much the moment meant.
“Well, I’m stunned, number one,” Clemens told the crowd. “And again, 24 years, y’all. This supersedes anything that, obviously, I’ve done in my playing career. And to get it from this man, this president, there wouldn’t be another president I’d want to get [it] from.”
Clemens, nicknamed “The Rocket,” pitched 24 Major League seasons. He spent 13 with the Boston Red Sox, six with the Yankees, two with the Toronto Blue Jays, and two with the Houston Astros.
He won the 1986 American League MVP award. He took the pitching Triple Crown in both 1997 and 1998. His 354 career wins rank ninth all-time. He is a two-time World Series champion.
Those numbers put him in rare company. The Medal of Freedom will place Clemens alongside baseball giants already honored, including Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Yogi Berra, Stan Musial, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson, Vin Scully, and Mariano Rivera.
Cooperstown has never opened its doors to him. Clemens’s Hall of Fame candidacy has stayed blocked for years, clouded by alleged steroid use after he was mentioned 82 times in the 2007 Mitchell Report. He never tested positive for a banned drug.
That gap is the story in plain sight. A pitcher with an MVP, two Triple Crowns, and nearly 400 wins still sits outside the Hall. The president chose to recognize the career anyway.
Trump did not wait for baseball’s writers to settle an old fight. He named Clemens for the Medal of Freedom in front of a Texas crowd and let the record speak.
Clemens answered without hedging. He called the award bigger than anything from his playing days and said there is no other president he would rather receive it from.
The White House will present the medal. Ceremony details were not announced at the rally. The core fact is already public: the award is coming, and it came straight from the president on a Wednesday night in San Antonio.
Voters and committees can argue over plaques. Presidents can still honor greatness when they see it, and this time, one did.
