Roger Clemens, whose link to PED era kept him out of Cooperstown, could gain induction come Sunday

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- In the quest for baseball immortality, some of the game's greatest players have been granted extra innings.

On Sunday, a 16-member committee will decide if eight candidates - each of whom failed to be elected multiple times in the past - are now worthy of induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Multiple players up for consideration - like seven-time MVP Barry Bonds - had their playing reputations tarnished due to allegations of performance-enhancing drug use. Among the players in that group and on Sunday's ballot: Houston's Roger Clemens.

"We just want to make sure that everybody has a fair shake, and nobody slips between the cracks," Hall of Fame President Josh Rawitch explained in a Zoom interview with ABC13.

In a one-on-one interview, Rawitch reiterated the Baseball Hall of Fame does not have a policy regarding players linked to steroids suspicions. He also explains that anyone elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee will be honored just like the other 340 people previously enshrined.

"Anybody who's elected on Sunday will be treated the same as everybody's been elected for all the years past," Rawitch noted. "All names will be brought up. They'll all be discussed, and their merits will be debated. We try really hard not to take a stance, and we try really hard not to tell people how to vote."

Albert Belle, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling were named on Nov. 7 as the candidates for Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee consideration. Clemens is an 11-time All-Star, twice a World Series champion, and winner of more Cy Young Awards - seven - than anyone in baseball history.

"It's always gone back to: not just what someone's done on the field, but the character and the integrity and the sportsmanship that also is part of our qualifications," Rawitch said.

Clemens, who has denied taking performance-enhancing drugs, said earlier this year that he and his family put the Hall of Fame in the rear-view mirror 10 years ago. Sunday's vote will feature either a fast lane to Cooperstown or another roadblock for The Rocket.

The 16-member Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee will consider only candidates on the ballot, and any candidate receiving votes on at least 75 percent of all ballots cast will earn induction into the Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2023. During his 10 years on the general ballot, Clemens never received more than 66 percent of the vote.

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