This Day In Sports - April 29th

1892 -- Charlie Reilly is baseball's first pinch hitter.
1961 -- ABC's "Wide World of Sports" debuts.
1985 -- Tony Tubbs TKOs Greg Page in 15th round for heavyweight boxing title.
1986 -- Boston's Roger Clemens strikes out 20 Seattle Mariners.
*From SI.com



Oh Roger Clemens. Talk about a fall from grace. Roger Clemons was the only baseball card that my dad still has from his childhood card collection (all others suffered a brutal death by bicycle spokes). For most of his career, Roger was worshiped as one of the best pitchers in the history of baseball. He has more Cy Young awards than any other pitcher (7), he is one of only four pitchers in baseball history to accumulate more the 4,000 strikeouts, proudly sports two world series rings, and has been named to numerous top 100 all time player lists (Sporting News, Sports Illustrated). Yet in 2005 Clemens was one of the many players that Jose Canseco blew the whistle on regarding steroid allegations. Clemens' representation vehemently denied these allegations yet in 2008 his longtime personal trainer found himself in legal trouble and further spilled the beans on Roger.

2008 was a year that was full of finger pointing and denial coming from the Clemens party. Roger decided that it would be a better idea to throw his wife under the bus than to take the blame and from this rumors of adultery and family issues surfaced regarding Roger's private life. It's safe to say that Roger didn't expect this type of backlash from his comments, but as it stands the baseball community has completely frowned upon the accomplishments and career of Roger Clemens. So what does baseball do with these guys? It will be very interesting in the next few years as once heroic players like Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens. Become eligible for the Hall of Fame. Thus far "Big Mac" has failed two times, but when 2012 rolls around and baseball's all time best power hitter (Bonds) and arguably baseball's best power pitcher (Clemens) become eligible for the hall things will be interesting.

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