Roger Clemens thought he was walking into a Republican National Committee rally in San Antonio to introduce President Donald Trump.
Instead, he walked away with one of the highest honors the United States can give.
Trump surprised the seven-time Cy Young Award winner Wednesday night by announcing that Clemens will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, catching the baseball legend completely off guard in front of the crowd at Freeman Coliseum.
Trump praised Clemens as one of baseball’s greatest pitchers before making the announcement, telling the crowd that he was being given “the single highest award along with the Medal of Honor.”
Clemens soon returned to the stage, visibly stunned by the honor.
“Well, I’m stunned, No. 1,” Clemens told the crowd. “Again, 24 years y’all – this supersedes obviously anything I’ve done in my playing career.”
But for Clemens, the significance went beyond the medal itself.
“To get it from this man, this president. There wouldn’t be another president I’d want to get it from,” he said.
The moment carried even more weight because Trump made the announcement in Clemens’ home state of Texas.
“Announcing it here in my home state, and again, from this man. You talk about a winner – that’s a winner right there,” Clemens said.
The former MLB ace then brought some humor to the moment, joking that Trump might as well become his agent after the president rattled off Clemens’ impressive pitching résumé from memory.
“I guess I could come out of retirement again with all those stats he read off,” Clemens said with a smile.
And Clemens had already made his feelings about Trump abundantly clear before the surprise announcement.
Introducing the president, Clemens praised Trump for putting America first and credited his administration with making the country stronger and safer.
“What a privilege it is for me to intro our great president,” Clemens said. “A man that loves our country, that puts all of us first, and puts America first.”
“He’s made us better, he’s made us stronger, and more important, because of the border and everything here, he’s made us safer.”
Then Clemens delivered a particularly personal message about Trump’s willingness to endure political attacks.
“And don’t forget, this is really important, this man put his life on the line for us. Don’t ever forget that,” he said.
Trump also used the appearance to renew his push for Clemens to receive another major honor: induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Despite a career that includes seven Cy Young Awards, two World Series championships and 24 MLB seasons, Clemens remains outside the Hall of Fame. His candidacy has been clouded by allegations surrounding performance-enhancing drug use during baseball’s Steroids Era, including his naming in the 2007 Mitchell Report.
That debate, however, has never erased what Clemens accomplished on the mound.
Now Trump is giving the baseball legend an honor that Clemens himself says rises above everything he achieved during his playing career. And in a night already filled with politics, baseball and Texas pride, the president made sure the biggest surprise was saved for one of the game's most recognizable names.
