Clemens needs to come clean

Roger Clemens’ continuing denial of drug use is beginning to do irreparable damage to his reputation as one of the greatest pitchers of all time.

By Sean Nolan

Imagine if allegations of drug use were levelled at DJ Carey regarding the second half of his career. The allegations then sparked a ‘Hurling Tribunal’ which also implicated fellow Kilkenny legend Henry Shefflin. Shefflin admitted to limited drug use and was brought before a Dáil committee where he testified against Carey. Carey maintains his innocence but charges of lying under oath are eventually brought against him by the state and the nine-time All-Star forward is staring at serious time in prison.

Incredible, but this is exactly what is happening in baseball. For Carey, read Roger Clemens, one of the greatest pitchers of all time. For Shefflin, read Andy Pettitte, a former teammate, friend and another genius of the mound. Both have been fingered as drug cheats by a former trainer, Brian McNamee and while Pettitte admitted it in front of a Congressional hearing in 2008, Clemens continues to maintain he never took performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).

A federal grand jury have now decided that he is lying and last week he was indicted on one count of obstruction of Congress, three counts of making false statements and two counts of perjury in connection with his testimony.

Clemens’ response on Twitter to the indictment? “I never took HGH or Steroids. And I did not lie to Congress. I look forward to challenging the Governments accusations, and hope people will keep an open mind until trial. I appreciate all the support I have been getting. I am happy to finally have my day in court.”

‘The Rocket’ is either the victim of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in the history of US sports or incredibly self deluded. Most people suspect the latter.

Undoubtedly, Clemens is one of the greats. He pitched in the big league for 23 years. He won two World Series and seven Cy Young awards for best pitcher, the most ever. He is one of only three pitchers with more than 350 wins and one of only four with more than 4000 strikes.

But it was the improvement in his numbers in the years after he left the Boston Red Sox in 1996 that prompted suspicion and when Jose Canseco named him as a steroid expert in his book Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big in 2005, the net began to close in.

Combined with the BALCO revelations, the book prompted baseball commissioner Bud Selig to appoint George Mitchell, the former Northern Ireland envoy, to investigate PED use in baseball. The report, published in December 2007, named 89 players as PED users, including Clemens, Pettitte and Miguel Tejada.

Two days later, Pettitte admitted his use of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) and in February 2008, Pettitte, Clemens and McNamee appeared before a congressional committee investigating PED use in baseball. Clemens was not forced to appear but did of his own volition, remarkable considering the evidence against him, but he stated he wanted to face down the allegations.

Pettitte confirmed that Clemens had told him he had taken HGH and McNamee told them that he had injected Clemens with the steroid Winstrol on numerous occasions. Clemens denied all allegations, claiming that Pettitte had ‘misremembered’ and that McNamee had only injected him with vitamin B12.

Federal authorities have now concluded that Clemens lied and his only hope of escaping a jail term is to disprove the testimony of Pettitte and McNamee. It looks a tall order as McNamee claims to have physical evidence to back up his claims.

The saddest part of all is that if Clemens had admitted limited drug use some years ago this could all be behind him.

Pettitte did and he is still playing for the New York Yankees. Tejada did and he is currently playing for the division-leading San Diego Padres. Alex Rodriguez eventually did and he continues to be feted in Brooklyn.

But Clemens is a man with almost maniacal self-belief. Some have argued that Clemens is trying to protect his chances of entering the Hall of Fame but that ship surely sailed years ago. Others posit that Clemens truly believes he did nothing wrong, that is why he is persisting.

Always an aggressive pitcher, he is defending his legacy just like he defended the strike zone. Clemens is so in love with his reputation that he gave each of his four sons names that begin with ‘K’(Koby, Kory, Kacy and Kody ) to symbolise strikes. That takes a particular kind of self-regard.

The evidence against him seems overwhelming but if Clemens going to jail, like Marion Jones, is what is required for him to come to terms with his alleged actions, then so be it.

Baseball is edging its way back to respectability. Clemens coming clean would be a big step on that road.