Roger Clemens showed up at a Texas campaign event to praise President Trump and walked off with a White House honor that baseball writers have never given him.
Trump announced in San Antonio that Clemens will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, turning the rally into a surprise celebration for the seven-time Cy Young Award winner whose Hall of Fame case has stalled for years.
“I’m pleased to announce that we are taking it into our own hands. Forget about the Hall of Fame; he’ll get there someday. I mean, I don’t know how they can keep him out,” Trump told the crowd before revealing the award.
Clemens had warmed up the room for Trump as the president campaigned in Texas less than a month before November’s elections, with Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Senate bid and several House races on the political slate.
The former pitcher called Trump a “man that loves our country” and told attendees to remember that “he put his life on the line for us.”
Then Trump gave the rally’s biggest sports moment back to Clemens, whose towering baseball résumé has remained stuck behind the steroid-era cloud that has followed him for years.
Reuters has reported that Clemens faced a federal case connected to his testimony before Congress over 2008 performance-enhancing drug allegations. He was cleared in 2012 of perjury charges from that case.
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Trump had already stepped into Clemens’ Cooperstown fight in December, when he faulted former President Obama’s Justice Department for relying on what he called “rumors and innuendo” while pursuing the former pitcher.
“Roger Clemens is the only pitcher who has won 300 games to not have the honor of being enshrined in the Hall of Fame, which is a total travesty!” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.
“He never tested positive and, when the Obama DOJ went after him in a criminal case claiming that he did take steroids, Roger, who has always denied taking any drugs, was FULLY ACQUITTED OF ALL CHARGES.”
In San Antonio, Trump again pushed back on the drug allegations that have trailed Clemens’ legacy.
“By the way, people talk drugs. He never admitted to anything,” Trump declared. “They didn’t find anything. He’s just a physical monster.”
Trump called Clemens “maybe the greatest pitcher of all time” and leaned into the hard-throwing image that made the former ace a menace on the mound.
“He was known for two things as a pitcher: power and accuracy,” Trump said. “He hit more batters than any other pitcher in history. And when he hit you, it hurt.”
The president then contrasted the honor he was giving Clemens with the baseball shrine that has kept him waiting.
“He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, but this is a big step up from the Hall of Fame,” Trump said. “Along with the congressional Medal of Honor, it’s the highest award bestowed upon anyone.”
Clemens returned to the microphone looking caught off guard by the announcement.
“Well, I’m stunned, number one,” Clemens told the crowd. “And again, 24 years, y’all. This supersedes anything that, obviously, I’ve done in my playing career.”
The Texas-raised former ace made clear that the source of the honor mattered to him as much as the award.
“There isn’t another president I’d want to get it from, and to announce it here in my home state, from this man, you’re talking about winner, that’s a winner right there,” Clemens told the cheering crowd.
He also needled Trump over the president’s glowing version of his career totals, joking that Trump could become his agent and maybe even help get him back into uniform.
“I don’t think I lead Major League Baseball in hit batters, Mr. President,” Clemens quipped. “Besides that, when you let it go inside, it’s the hitter’s job to get out of the way.”
Across 24 MLB seasons, Clemens won 354 games and built a résumé that stretched from Boston to Toronto, the Bronx, Houston and back to the Yankees for his final season in 2007 at age 44.
Trump’s Clemens move puts him again on the side of a baseball great whose career has been celebrated in record books but complicated by controversy.
In 2018, Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously to Babe Ruth, one of baseball’s most famous sluggers.
He also pressed for Pete Rose to get another look from the Hall of Fame. Rose, the Cincinnati Reds legend known as Charlie Hustle, died in September 2024 at age 83 after decades of exclusion over gambling on baseball as a manager and lying about it for 15 years. Rose still owns MLB’s all-time hits record with 4,256.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred later reopened a possible Hall of Fame path for Rose after his death, which Trump argued came too late.
Sports figures were also part of Trump’s Tuesday stop in Maryland, where a handful of Baltimore Ravens players attended his Tradepoint Atlantic event in Baltimore County.
Trump was promoting Anduril Industries’ $3.7 billion “Arsenal-2” high-tech shipyard project for submarine components when he spotted four Ravens in the audience: four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey, kicker Tyler Loop, long snapper Nick Moore and punter Ryan Eckley.
“What a team you have this year,” Trump said. “What a great team.”
Moore became the focus of Trump’s attention when the president praised the odd pressure of a specialist whose job is usually noticed only when something goes wrong.
“You know, nowadays, those long snappers are very valuable,” Trump remarked. “It’s an amazing job you do with that. And he’s got an unblemished record.”
WATCH: Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey on his experience yesterday at Sparrows Point and with President Donald Trump. Also doesn't consider himself political and hasn't voted, ever, but plans to next election. pic.twitter.com/ZtVs5yQ8yU
— Morgan Adsit (@MorganAdsit) October 7, 2026
The Ravens appearance took an unexpected turn when Trump invited the players into the presidential motorcade, with Humphrey later recording the president and Moore talking about a past Super Bowl.
“That was a little surprising; that’s not how things were supposed to go,” Humphrey explained. “But President Trump asked us if we wanted to ride with him, and I was not going to turn down a ride with the president.”
Humphrey described himself as “not very political” and acknowledged that he had not voted before, though he planned to do so in the next election.
“So, I don’t really have any political beliefs,” he added. “[But] I do plan on voting the next time around.”