Were Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens Hall of Famers Before Steroids?

While some websites tinker with scientific calculations of how Bonds’ or Clemens’ careers could have ended up if they did not take steroids, I’m only going to deal with their statistics through the 1997 season to determine whether either of them are Hall of Fame worthy.

I choose year this because the consensus around baseball is that both of them started abusing steroids during 1998.

Now let’s examine whether or not Clemens would have been a Hall of Famer due to his numbers up through 1997. Clemens’ trainer Brian McNamee said in the Mitchell Report that it was not until the 1998 season that he injected Clemens with Winstrol, which is the street name for Stanozolol.

Many people use this steroid because it causes strength increase without excessive weight gain, something that would be very helpful to Clemens as he grew older.

Clemens' stats through 1997 include 213 wins against 118 losses, a winning percentage of .644. He had an astounding 2.97 ERA through his first 14 seasons while tallying 2,882 strikeouts.

Even though his 2.97 ERA would only place him tied for 157^thon the all-time list, the only current major leaguer with a lower ERA is Pedro Martinez, who has a 2.86 ERA.

Most of the players in front of him on the ERA list played in a time when there was a lot less scoring than there is now. Many of these players played in the early 20^th century. Some even played before baseball’s modern era began in 1900.

I need something concrete to put the Rocket’s stats up against, so I will compare Clemens to Bob Feller, because as the National Baseball Hall of Fame website says, “Bob Feller's blazing fastball set the standard against which all of his successors have been judged.” It only seems fair that Clemens be measured up against a power pitcher like himself.

Feller spent 18 years with the Indians, four years more than Roger’s steroid-free career. During that time, he was victorious 266 times while compiling 2,581 strikeouts.

While Feller did have more wins with the help of those four extra seasons, Roger averaged more wins per season, 15.2 to 14.8. Roger had 301 more strikeouts while also possessing a better winning percentage then Rapid Robert, .644 to .621.

Clemens also had a lower ERA then Feller, 2.97 to 3.25. One thing that we cannot forget is that Feller lost four years of his prime serving his country during World War II.

One thing we must never forget is that many of the men who played baseball during our grandparents' era were actual heroes.  An immeasurable statistic of Feller’s that I have to add is that he was decorated with five campaign ribbons studded with eight battle stars.

Now onto Barr-oid Bonds.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?