Roger Clemens, Red Sox Hall of Famer. Say what?

So it's that slow time of year between the Super Bowl and Spring Training where you really gotta dig for some hot sports takes. Especially this year, with the Bruins off two weeks for the Olympics and the Celtics taking a page out of the Patriots' playbook and having a bye, just for a whole season instead of a week.

Fortunately, the Red Sox decided to throw us a bone here and announce their 2014 Hall of Fame class. Now normally this wouldn't be a huge deal, because I consider myself as die-hard a Sox fan as there is, and I can barely recognize half the names on this list. But for the first time, a trio of players from my generation have been elected: Pedro Martinez, Nomar Garciaparra, and....Roger Clemens (as well as legendary WEEI announcer Joe Castiglione). 

When I say "my generation," I'm referring to kids who probably fell in love with the Nomar/Pedro teams in the late '90's, followed by some frustrating years leading up to winning it all in 2004 when it was the Manny and Papi show. I realize Nomar was traded during '04, so I should throw it out there I don't hold him in nearly as high esteem as I do Pedro, but I'd still consider him worthy of the Red Sox Hall of Fame.

Where was Roger Clemens during this time frame? The Yankees. True, he didn't go directly from Boston to New York, he stopped in Toronto for a few PED injections Molson's first. But he orchestrated his way to the Bronx and wound up winning two World Series there, as well as a Cy Young award in 2001. The Cy was one of four he'd win after leaving Boston. 

Not that simply playing for the Yankees after leaving Boston should be a death kneel to your credentials here. After all, Wade Boggs and a guy named Babe Ruth are in this Red Sox Hall of Fame. But Clemens had two chances near the end of his career, in 2006 and 2007, to return to the Red Sox, and turned them down both times. In '06 he signed with the Astros, fresh off a 1.87 ERA at age 42. In '07, when the opportunity presented itself again, where did he go? Back to the Yankees. He's a guy who clearly wanted no part of returning to his Boston roots back then, so why should we accept him back now? 

While Clemens did have great success after leaving the Red Sox in 1996, it's not as though he spawned a modern age "Curse of the Bambino." The Red Sox won in 2004 and again, in spite of Clemens's decision to join the Yankees, in 2007. And obviously this past year. There's literally no reason to remember him as one of ours, as "the one that got away."

If this were Cooperstown, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, we'd be dealing with a whole other set of issues involving statistics, steroids, and all that good stuff. I'm not going down that road right now. This is simply a local Hall of Fame, something I'd consider more "cool" to be inducted into than "honorable." I get Clemens is at or near the top of the Red Sox leader board in nearly every major statistical pitching category along with Cy Young, Tim Wakefield, and of course Pedro. But I can't turn a blind eye to the fact that for the final decade of his career, he made it his goal to burn the Sox.

Am I off base here? Should I let the grudge against Clemens go? Am I too young to appreciate what Clemens did here 1984-1996? Is it pathetic I'm getting worked up over the Red Sox Hall of Fame? You decide. Go vote in that poll on top of the page. But I'm willing to bet if you polled a decent amount of New Englanders which team they associate Clemens with, the answer sure wouldn't be the Red Sox.

Phil Kessel wasn't the first Boston athlete to bolt for Toronto.