Rich “Goose” Gossage, the Major League Baseball relief pitcher who was inducted into the Hall of Fame after an impressive 22-year career, believes Roger Clemens lied about his use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (hGH). Clemens was recently acquitted on all six counts of obstruction of Congress, false statements and perjury. The jury verdict notwithstanding, Gossage still believes Clemens used steroids.
Gossage doesn’t believe the jury verdict proves Clemens is innocent of steroid use. Instead, he believes the jury was as misguided as the jury that acquitted O.J. Simpson of two counts of murder in the deaths of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1995.
“O.J. Simpson, did you believe he didn’t kill those two people?” Gossage told ESPN.
Gossage considers Clemens a steroid user and a cheater. He does not believe the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) should knowingly induct steroid users into the Hall of Fame.
“Cheaters? Does a test count when you get busted for cheating on a test. No and neither should steroids. There is no place for them in the Hall of Fame.”
Interestingly, Gossage praised two other big names from baseball’s so-called “Steroid Era” – Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.
Gossage “couldn’t have asked for a better teammate” in McGwire. He suspected McGwire used steroids at the time but still thought he was a “great teammate”.
As far as Canseco is concerned, Gossage respects him because he was “the only guy who has come clean” and told the truth about steroid in baseball.
While Gossage thinks only cheaters use steroids, he admitted that he probably would have used steroids too if his career had been more popular during the 70s and 80s.
“Steroids weren’t a part of the game when I was playing. Toward the end, we wondered what was going on. We knew something was going on. Absolutely, I probably would have.”
Photo credit: Phil Konstantin via Wikipedia
Source:
Marchand, A. (June 21, 2012). Gossage calls out Clemens. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/8081415/goose-gossage-says-roger-clemens-lied-steroid-use-belong-hall-fame
