Johnny Damon came close to getting to the 3,000 Hit mark in his career (2,769) and did have other decent career numbers with 235 Home Runs, 1,139 Runs Batted in, and 408 Stolen Bases. Damon was also a very popular figure who won two World Series (one in Boston and one in New York), but a look at his individual campaigns show that of a statistical compiler, as he never had a top ten MVP season, only made two All-Stars, and only was in the top ten in WAR for Position Players once. Throw in his sub .800 career OPS and sub-par defense, do we have a more popular Vada Pinson on our hands?  His vote tally of 1.9% in his first year of eligibility was interesting and told the tale of his Hall of Fame chance.

With all due respect to Ivan Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrero, statistically speaking, Manny Ramirez is the top dog of the new possibilities for the 2017 Class. We will also say, he was the most entertaining. We are all aware of the eccentric “Manny being Manny moments, but ahead of all that was a man who was an incredible hitter who had a career slash line of .312/.411/.585/.996 that included one Batting Title, three On Base Percentage Titles, three Slugging Titles, and three OPS Titles. Most importantly of all, Ramirez maintained his offensive production in the Post Season and was the Most Valuable Player for the Boston Red Sox in their World Series win in 2004. Arguably, Manny Ramirez is one of the most prolific offensive superstars to never win an MVP award, or even make a runner-up, though he was in the top ten in voting eight ties, and he has more than enough stats to be a Hall of Fame entry.

For the record, we love outspoken athletes. They may not always be popular with fans (and other players), but they sure make for far better sound bites than “we gotta go out there and give 100 percent” or other such statements from the “Athlete’s guide to dealing with the Media”. Ironically, Schilling is now part of the media, but remains as outspoken as ever.

Couldn’t we just say look at the previous Barry Bonds entry and say “Ditto”? Seriously, the parallels are too great to ignore.

Like Bonds, Clemens may have had a Hall of Fame career before he allegedly took PEDs, and like Bonds, he dominated the steroid era as he did the decade before. He has the career statistics (353 wins and 4,672 strikeouts), the dominating seasons (seven Cy Youngs and an MVP), and two World Series Rings. “Rocket” Roger Clemens is arguably the best Pitcher in the past twenty-five years.