Fire Players Who Don't Care About HOF Induction

HOF'er? Probably not. Liar? Oh yeah.

Roger Clemens said recently that he doesn't really care about getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and he should be fired for lying. Again.

During an interview with ESPN's Mike and Mike, Clemens said he loves the HOF, but: "It's not the first thing that's on my plate right now. It's not something I'm looking at where it's going to be a big deal." Clemens didn't disrespect the HOF, and with his upcoming federal perjury trial for allegedly lying about steroid use, he's got some other concerns right now.

It seems disingenuous, though, that Clemens doesn't care about getting into the HOF. Athletes at the highest levels of their respective sports are almost always extremely competitive people (it's been said that Michael Jordan would cheat his own grandmother in a game of Go Fish). If you want to be the best, even if the HOF isn't expressly your goal, doesn't making the Hall fit in somewhere since it is THE measure of who the best players are? Ted Williams said he set out to be the greatest hitter who ever lived. Maybe he succeeded, but if he weren't in the HOF would he even be in the discussion?

Clemens is shrugging off the HOF because he knows he'll have a tough time getting in. It's a defense mechanism, and he's not alone in using it. Garry Sheffield, who said he received steroids unknowingly from Barry Bonds, in 2008 said: "There’s guys in the Hall of Fame that ain’t the best. I don’t even concern myself with it. It’s nothing I shoot for, it’s nothing I care about.”

Since Clemens seems pretty dishonest, it's no surprise he can't give an honest answer about his HOF aspirations. He should care about getting in, because he can't say he was among the best if he doesn't. Until he starts telling the truth, the HR Department is more than happy to fire him.