The agony comes courtesy of the slow motion train wreck that is Roger Clemens retirement,
Grand jury to consider Roger Clemens perjury evidence
A federal grand jury will begin hearing evidence as soon as Tuesday in Washington about whether Roger Clemens lied under oath before Congress last February when he vehemently denied using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone during his illustrious career.
After considering witness testimony and other evidence federal agents have gathered in the past year, evidence sources called “overwhelming,” the grand jurors will be asked to authorize prosecutors to issue a criminal indictment against the seven-time Cy Young Award winner.
The ecstasy came today for Jim Rice, who was selected to the MLB Hall of Fame in his last year of eligibility,
The fierce and feared slugger who spent his entire 16-year major league career with the Red Sox, was named on 76.4 percent of the ballots. Seventy-five percent is required for induction. Rice received 412 of 539 votes, just seven more than the minimum amount necessary…
…Rice, who batted .298 with 382 home runs and 1,451 RBIs from 1974-89 while following Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski in the Red Sox tradition of superstar left fielders, is the first player to be elected in his final year of BBWAA eligibility since 1975, when longtime Pirates star Ralph Kiner was chosen.
“It was a big relief,” Rice said during a 4 p.m. press conference at Fenway Park. “I didn’t have any weight on my shoulders, per se. But when I got the call, it seemed like everything fell back.
“It’s like, I’m not nervous. It’s over with. I feel real good.”
I was glad to see Jim Rice get into the Hall for a couple of reasons. First, I never liked the idea that bitter sports writers could keep Rice out because he didn’t play enough grab ass with them in the clubhouse. Second, I think that Rice’s career has been underappreciated because it immediately preceeded the steroid era. When the cartoonish offensive numbers started happening the mid-1990s, Rice’s didn’t seem so great by comparison. Now, in the wake of the exposure of the steroid era in baseball, Rice is a Hall of Famer, Roger Clemens is in a photo finish with a grand jury and Mark McGuire’s percentrage of the vote fell for the third consecutive year, to 21.9 percent. It takes 75% to get in.
Speaking of sportswriters, here’s Dan Shaughnessy and Nick Cafardo,