Roy “Doc” Halladay, a former Major League Baseball player for the Toronto Blue Jays, has been discussed as a future Hall of Famer by many sports writers. And just to be sure, Halladay wanted everyone to know he is far more deserving than players like Roger Clemens.
Halladay doesn’t think baseball players like Clemens and Barry Bonds are sufficiently talented to be worthy of the baseball Hall of Fame. If they were, they would not have used anabolic steroids. Clemens and Bonds simply “not good enough” to play baseball without using steroids.
So when Clemens and Bonds failed to make the Hall of Fame in their fourth year on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) ballot, Halladay didn’t hesitate to celebrate and belittle Clemens and Bonds.
“When you use PEDs you admit your (sic) not good enough to compete fairly!” Halladay wrote on Twitter on January 6, 2016. “Our nations (sic) past time should have higher standards! No Clemens no Bonds!”
When you use PEDs you admit your not good enough to compete fairly! Our nations past time should have higher standards! No Clemens no Bonds!
— Roy Halladay (@RoyHalladay) January 6, 2016
The clear implication by Halladay is the he is most definitely good enough since he didn’t use steroids. Halladay apparently still has a chip on his shoulder from trying to replace Clemens after Clemens left Toronto to play for the New York Yankees in 1998.
Halladay makes himself look like a fool for questioning the talent of Clemens and Bonds. Even the most ardent and outspoken anti-steroid crusaders reluctantly acknowledge that the two baseball greats were extremely talented. They even say that they were so talented they didn’t even need steroids. But to suggest they had to use steroids because they were “not good enough”? Halladay is alone on an island with that statement.
Not surprisingly, Clemens didn’t taken kindly to Halladay’s statement. Clemens wasn’t so upset because Halladay questioned his talent. Clemens was angry because of Halladay’s self-righteous hypocrisy.
“I was asked to comment on the subject of the Hall of Fame once again by some of my friends in the media. I will say thank you again for those who took the time to vote. I have distanced myself from the subject and have moved on. Having said that, what is disheartening is getting a call or a text from family or friends about an ill informed player making an asinine statement. The last coming from a former Blue Jays pitcher,” Clemens said. “Just to enlighten him, he was accused of using amphetamines by the ‘strength coach.’ You should be very careful when putting tweets out while not having your facts on the matter at hand.”
.@rogerclemens gets 45.2% of votes for HOF,up from 37.5last year.The 7time CyYoung winner issued following statement pic.twitter.com/qclbFxRcYW
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) January 7, 2016
Clemens doesn’t think a pitcher who cheats the game by using amphetamines has any room to call out a fellow pitcher who may have used anabolic steroids. He’s most certainly right. But for some reason, sports writers seem to think that Adderall and Ritalin use by an MLB player is forgivable but steroid use by an MLB player is not.
As for Halladay, he thinks his reputation as an accused amphetamine using pitcher speaks more highly than the reputation of an accused steroid using pitcher.
“I’ll let my reputation speak for itself,” Halladay responded on Twitter.
I'll let my reputation speak for itself
— Roy Halladay (@RoyHalladay) January 7, 2016
