FanHouse Roger Clemens

Reggie Jackson is right. So is Jim Rice, along with Rick Telander, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, who joins me as a baseball Hall of Fame voter and as a hardliner who agrees with Jackson and Rice:

No steroids guys in Cooperstown.

No Roger Clemens. No Barry Bonds. No Mark McGwire. No Sammy Sosa. No Rafael Palmeiro. No Alex Rodriguez. Nobody within a syringe of evidence showing they were artificially enhanced during any portion of their playing career.

I don't care that Ty Cobb was a racist (and possibly worse), that Mickey Mantle joined others as prolific drunks, and that Gaylord Perry spit his way into Cooperstown. They're already in the Hall of Fame. I can't do anything about their entries, but I can do something about Clemens, Bonds and the rest.

Back in 2003, Major League Baseball performed rounds of sample drug testing. If there was more than a certain percentage of positive tests, the league would move forward with mandatory testing. As we all know now, 104 players tested positive and the league implemented a program which suspends players for positive tests. Thanks to some leaks -- on records which were supposed to be confidential -- we know Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa were on that list. Now, if we were to speculate on the rest, it's pretty obvious most people would believe Roger Clemens was on it as well.

But, according to his lawyer, Rusty Hardin, the Rocket tested negative.

Sunday's Dugout concerned the possibility of Roger Clemens writing a book. Well, The Dugout is going to further explore this possibility. If Clemens does decide to put a book together, whether it concerns Brian McNamee or not, what will it look like? How will it read?

Your Dugout is after the jump. Enjoy your intelligence while it lasts, because this one will make you stupid.

Apparently inspired by the runaway success of Jose Canseco's Juiced and the runaway existence of Selena Roberts' A-Rod, Roger Clemens is thinking about slapping his artisan hands against a typewriter and pounding out a book. He wants to write about his relationship with Brian McNamee, but as Matt Snyder asks, how on Earth can he fill a book with that story? Snyder estimates that the book, if written, will be 15 pages long. I'm guessing that it will stretch for a full 200 pages, but only if it's a flipbook depicting Clemens throwing a pie in McNamee's face.

The next great American Dugout is after the jump.

So it turns out Sammy Sosa was a steroid freak.

Who'da thunk it?

When it comes to surprises, last week's revelation was like finding out Iran's elections were juiced for the incumbent. If you want shocking news, however, you've come to the right place.

We are ready to reveal all the players who failed baseball's 2003 drug test. The results were supposed to be kept confidential, but Alex Rodriguez's name was leaked to Sports Illustrated and Sosa was outed last week in the New York Times.

There are 102 names to go. This drip-drip-drip could go on for years, but we're not going to let it.

Roger Clemens goes to great lengths when trying to clear his own name. He'll ruin friendships, sell out family members or allegedly lie under oath. The only thing that seemingly matters to him is that his major league career remains untarnished -- which, honestly, isn't even possible anymore -- regardless of the consequences.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that Rocket is thinking about writing a book. The book would simply be his side of the story regarding the entire back-and-forth spat between him and his former trainer, Brian McNamee.

On behalf of David Feherty, I'd like to apologize for the following column. It again takes shots at House Mis-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, not to mention her fellow victims of CIA subterfuge, Roger Clemens, Tim Floyd and Mine That Bird.

Who knew the CIA was plotting to overthrow the Preakness? You will after reading the latest installment of Week in Review.

I'm a baseball writer, not the Pope. I've got a Hall of Fame vote, not the key to heaven. Manny Ramirez is a baseball player, not the President.

As such, I don't think I've got a right to expect much in the way of morality. I don't think Ramirez needs to be held to as high a standard as my son's kindergarten teacher.

In the days since we learned that Ramirez violated baseball's drug policy, most likely by using steroids, most of the media has rushed on a herd of high horses to condemn him.

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So another baseball hero got snared in the performance-enhancing web. Today, Manny Ramirez.

Tomorrow, Roger Clemens?

Oh yeah, never mind.

Alex Rodriguez? Sammy Sosa? Mark McGwire? Barry Bonds?

You really do need a scorecard to keep up with the falling stars. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of trying to remember who's on first and who's on Winstrol.

You're never going to get rid of the dirty people. The only way to clean up the game is to get rid of the rules that turn people into dirtbags.

Let's just get this out of the way right now. I don't like Jose Canseco. I don't respect how he went about trying to bring down baseball in some sort of personal vendetta/money-making scheme. He might try to sell us on the fact that he just wanted baseball clean, but I don't believe those were his original motives. He needed money and he was angry with baseball for allegedly black-balling him.

We can call Canseco any number of names -- rat, snitch, crybaby, cheater -- but one thing he's not is a liar. With the announcement that Manny Ramirez has been suspended 50 games for a drug violation, Canseco has been vindicated for what seems like the hundredth time.