Thursday, May 8, 2008

Roger Clemens Owes Greg Maddux an Apology

Considering everything that has happened in recent weeks, this is probably the last thing on Roger Clemens' mind but he owes Greg Maddux an apology. Why? Simple: Clemens stole from Maddux the title of greatest pitcher of the post-World War II era. Clemens ranks eighth all-time on the career wins list (354) but he is first among players whose careers started after 1942; Clemens also holds the record for most Cy Young Awards--seven--two more than Randy Johnson and three more than Maddux and Steve Carlton. Clemens' career began a couple years before Maddux' did and Clemens has always been more of a headliner than Maddux because of his hard throwing style that generated 4672 strikeouts, second on the all-time list and almost 1400 more than Maddux, whose 3298 strikeouts rank 11th all-time.

However, it is entirely possible--and seems likely--that the second half of Clemens' career was fraudulent. After the 1996 season, Boston Red Sox General Manager Dan Duquette said that Clemens was "in the twilight of his career." At the time that certainly seemed to be a reasonable statement: Clemens had gone 40-39 with an ERA of 3.78 in the previous four seasons after never having a losing season and only once having an ERA higher than 3.29 in the first nine seasons of his career. Clemens left the Red Sox and signed with the Toronto Blue Jays and he instantly became a great pitcher again, going 21-7 and winning his fourth Cy Young Award six years after he captured his third such honor.

Is is possible that good, old fashioned hard work resurrected Clemens' career? Well, there is no doubt that he worked hard but the very idea behind performance-enhancing drugs is that they enhance your performance: they enable you to work harder than you otherwise would be able to and thus build more muscle than you could naturally. That muscle in turn enables a power pitcher to continue to throw hard, though the resulting strain on connective tissues can lead to injury. Remember how Clemens spent his last few seasons as a very effective part time player? That fits into exactly what one would expect from an older power pitcher who is juicing. Clemens hired Brian McNamee as his trainer in 1997 and McNamee has since testified that he began giving Clemens PEDs in 1998. Did Clemens regain his lost youth naturally and then need artificial help to keep it or did he actually begin cheating even earlier than McNamee said? We may never know the answer to that but what Clemens did after leaving the Red Sox is quite remarkable. Clemens had a career record of 192-111 (.634) in 1996 and in the next 11 years--at ages 34-44--he went 162-73 (.689), winning four Cy Youngs. Randy Johnson finished second to Clemens in two of Clemens' late career Cy Youngs ('97, '04), so perhaps Clemens owes Johnson an apology as well; strip Clemens of those honors and Johnson holds the record with six Cy Youngs.

We will probably never know for sure exactly what Clemens did and exactly how many of his wins and Cy Youngs should be attributed to cheating--and that is one of the most despicable things about his actions. Clemens is only five wins ahead of Maddux now, so Maddux may surpass him this season but historians and students of the game should not even wait for that to happen before they grant Maddux the recognition that he deserves. In case you are wondering, Maddux' game has never depended on power and neither his body size nor his numbers have undergone any sudden, unusual changes. Maddux is the ultimate craftsman who gets hitters out based on his knowledge of their tendencies and his ability to work the strike zone. He probably could not care less about who holds the mythical title of greatest post-WWII pitcher but--based on the body of his work--he certainly is more deserving of that honor than Clemens (how the truncated but brilliant career of Sandy Koufax ranks among post-WWII pitchers is a different issue but what I am talking about here is who had the "largest" post-WWII pitching career in terms of wins, Cy Youngs and dominance over an extended period).

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post. Maddux is truly the best pitcher of his era, and one of the five best of alltime. Steroids and HGH is what will always be Clemens legacy, and he has nobody to blame but himself.

madnice said...

Who are the best five, anonymous? Please dont include pitchers like Cy Young and Matthewson. I have a hard time giving props to pitchers from 70 to 80 years ago. The numbers are too ridiculous and unfathomable. There is no way those pitchers would pitch 400 innings and have 60 starts nowadays. Its crazy. I never liked Clemens anyway...and Im a Yankees fan for years. i didnt like him because hes a Red Sox.

Anonymous said...

anymous reggie

clemens is greatest pitcher of our time bonds is greatest batter of our time nobody knows how much steriods can help you or if they do help you i do know bonds had 500 homers and 3 mvp and 7 or 8 goldne gloves by 2000 when this started clemens was already all time great by 96 he ad 210 wins 2 20 strikeout games and 4 or 5 cy youngs he was already great steiods was minimal to they great ness. plus there were no blacks in babe ruth cy young walter johnson lefty grove days they have asterik two the negro leagues was like nba is now so you cant fault bonds and clemens

David Friedman said...

Reggie:

Pete Rose was placed on the suspended list because of gambling that he did after his playing career. Later, MLB changed the rules so that players on the suspended list could not be voted into the HoF. Based on that standard, Bonds and Clemens are even more guilty than Rose because they cheated during their playing careers. Whether or not a player was HoF worthy before he broke MLB rules and/or federal law has already been determined to not be the deciding factor in whether or not he gets inducted in the HoF. Personally, I think that Rose should be inducted in the HoF as a player but banned from ever managing again and that neither Bonds nor Clemens (nor Palmeiro and the other PED cheaters) should be inducted in the HoF.

If you spend the first 40 years of your life obeying the law and then you murder someone, you are a murderer. Bonds and Clemens may have been clean at one point but that does not mean that they should be considered clean or HoF worthy now--and they were two of my favorite players to watch (and Rose was one of my favorite players as a kid).

I don't understand what the Negro Leagues has to do with this issue. Ruth, Cy Young and the others did not cheat to get their numbers and MLB has gone back and tried to right the injustices from that era by inducting the best Negro Leaguers into the HoF.

Anonymous said...

anymous reggie

you make valid points but we dont know enough about steriods and how much they help you just like we dont know how great ruth numbers would be if he was going aginst blacks who were considered better at the time it wasnt ruth fault but thats the way it is. steriods wasnt banned at the time in mlb, plus a hofamer a hofamer steriods didnt make them a hofamer.

they were already that this is about hall of fame not place in history if it is proven that steriods helped them to become arguably greatest pitcher and hitter all time and naturally clemens was maybe top 10 pitcher all time then you dont put him up there johnson grove carlton koufax bob gibsonetc cy young and you dont put bonds with greatest player ever probably ruth aaaron mays ty cobb etc he would be more on joe dimmaggio ted willams level right under them naturaly he would of hit well over 600 homers 500 stolen bases 9 or 10 gold gloves maybe 4 or 5 mvp still should of won in 91 when they gave it to nice guy terry pendelton 1700 walks 1700 or so rbi still. does he hit 73 homers no get 232 walks broke ruth record 4 straigt years no get 4 straight mvp no break home run record no. any discusion like there was that he is the greatest is out of window. same with clemens but they was hall of famers was my point.

rose knew the rules i dont want to hear his sob story. when you walk in every clubhouse you know number 1 rule in baseball DONT BET ON BASEBALL. he knew the rules he broke the rules and lied about for 15 years rather than being truthful from jump maybe people than would feel sorry for him not now steriods wasnt banned til 98 i believe so. pete rose has no legs to stand on he should be in i agree please it's no debate he would of been 1st ballot easily 4,256 hits but those oldschool baseball people bob feller etc have they way and fay vincent it will never happen.

i guess youre point is if bonds clemnes ever see cooperstown pete rose better be right behind them. the thing is steriods was just banned a few years ago betting on baseball been banned since baseball shoe joe jackson stil waiting to get his name called or his living family members.

David Friedman said...

Reggie:

Steroids are illegal under federal law when used without a prescription and they are called "performance enhancers" for a reason: they enhance performance. In a previous post I included a link to a Sports Illustrated article that explained how the "godfather" of steroid use doctored a study to make it seem like steroids do not enhance performance; that study has no credibility now.

It does not matter where you rank Bonds or Clemens before they took PEDs. They cheated, they broke federal laws and they should not be in the HoF. There is a character requirement to the HoF in addition to statistical benchmarks. If any of the steroids cheaters are put in then the HoF must immediately also put Rose in as well; they can't have it both ways. As I said, Rose bet on baseball as a manager, so I think that he should be banned from managing but that he should be inducted in the HoF as a player.

It does not matter when MLB banned steroids; that is part of the collective bargaining agreement. Steroids have been illegal under federal law for many years.

Anonymous said...

anymous reggie

federal law and baseball is diffrent it wasnt under baseball is my point godfather meaning canseco, it helps they dont know how much steriods help

your interpertation they should never be in is wrong i think they should be in especially if rose do get in becasue they impact them selves with steriods rose impacted his team and the game. they all 3 would get in on my ballot i think these intregity of the game people make me sick they were all 3 hall of famers betting on baseball or useing steriods or not thats all that should matter integrity is overated without talent the game is nuthing period.

David Friedman said...

Reggie:

The "godfather" who I was referring to in this instance is not Canseco but a man named Tony Fitton. You can read about him in an SI article that I linked to in my March 12 post here titled "Steroids in America: The Godfather."

I completely disagree with you that integrity does not matter--and character is something that the HoF voters are supposed to consider, though we all know that there are some rogues who got voted in anyway. Like I said, I'd vote Rose in but ban him from managing; his misconduct came after his playing days were over. I would not vote it anyone who admitted to using steroids, got caught using steroids or who the preponderance of evidence suggests used steroids. That means no Bonds, no McGwire, no Clemens, no Palmeiro (among others).