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LINCICOME: Clemens' pouting reminiscent of Nixon

By Bernie Lincicome, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 10, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.

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Goose Gossage appreciates the same Hall voters Clemens is snorting at.

Photo by Richard Drew / Associated Press

Goose Gossage appreciates the same Hall voters Clemens is snorting at.

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Quite a strange week in baseball. And there were not even any games.

How happily forgiving is Goose Gossage to finally get his due and his place in baseball's Hall of Fame, while Roger Clemens, a greater pitcher than Gossage by any measure, including a drug test, snorts at the same voters Gossage was grateful for that the Hall means nothing to him.

If that was a retirement announcement from Clemens, five years from now, we shall know if he was sincere, cynical or just spreading fog.

What it was for certain was a more typical display of the real Clemens, and most athletes, for that matter - snarky and belligerent.

We who vote never hold that against them, and Clemens will one day be judged on his record, as will Barry Bonds, as was Mark McGwire for the second time, as would be Pete Rose if we were given the chance.

Grudges and resentments, even perpetual discourtesy, are forgiven - see Eddie Murray, as sour a player who ever snarled at the media - when duty calls.

Congress steps in again, making a very short list of witnesses to come and rat out one another while sitting side by side, a very strange arrangement.

And, strangely, for the second time, Barry Bonds will not be among those invited to Washington, though he has been every bit as resistant as has Clemens, though, in Bonds' case, his trainer has already gone to jail for him.

I suppose, if any message can come from all this, it is that baseball just keeps plugging away until it gets it right, as maddening and slow as the game itself can be.

As Gossage said - and how typical that when his big day finally arrived, it had to be shared with steroids and lawsuits and public doubts - we will all know the truth one day.

The truth for Gossage took nine years to worm its way out, that he was the very definition of the term "closer," the best before and since, a game changer in that baseball now comes in three parts, the starter (six innings is a "quality start"), the middle relief and the final inning.

Gossage was, of course, both middle and final, while today, two or three men do the same job.

Strange, too, that Gossage is deemed more worthy now than he has been all along, as well as Jim Rice or Andre Dawson or Bert Blyleven, my other picks for this class.

They may, too, one day be as honored as they deserve to be, and the kind of annual agony that Gossage - or another of my favorites, Ron Santo - endured can either be resented or appreciated.

Gossage chose to see the bright side - that repeated rejection made the ultimate acceptance that much better. A big man, Goose. But then, he always was.

The Hall of Fame process is a strange procedure, as are all elections, and Clemens' pouting that he can't wait to get back to the private sector sounded like nothing more than the old Richard Nixon sulk that the media wouldn't have him to kick around any more.

Certainly, Clemens cares about the Hall of Fame, another denial, and none of us who has a vote will shirk our obligation just because Clemens dares us to.

While Groucho Marx might have made us smile by insisting he would not belong to any club that would have him as a member, Clemens makes us sigh with so transparent and foolish behavior.

Say this for Clemens: For someone who does not care about his ultimate legacy, he is fighting very hard to save it.

In this strange age, when innocence must be proved instead of guilt, think of Clemens passing through airport security. He is what he could be until he isn't.

He has been allowed to make his case on 60 Minutes, a mostly friendly interrogation. He has blindsided his old friend and accuser, trainer Brian McNamee, by taping a telephone conversation.

He is now suing McNamee, and Clemens has offered - though his lawyer won't let him - to take a lie-detector test. In all these actions where he seems to be shouting he has nothing to hide, the effect is that he has something to prove.

McGwire quietly withdrew behind not talking about the past, Rafael Palmeiro scolded his inquisitors, Sammy Sosa suddenly spoke no English, and none of those tactics changed a single mind.

Unfortunately for Clemens, nothing he does is likely to matter, either.

Strange and sad.

lincicomeb@RockyMountainNews.com

Comments

  • January 10, 2008

    1:56 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    flip writes:

    Wonderful job comparing Clemens to Nixon... there's a new one I haven't heard. And the old Groucho Marx line is classic, I love it! Great job Bernie.

  • January 10, 2008

    11:13 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    tootalljones writes:

    clemens suing everybody and pounding the table NOBODY IS BUYING HIS ACT! wait until he gets grilled on capital hill, then they'll expose him for the steroid juicing FRAUD HE IS.