Clemens speaks out

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Roger Clemens, participating in an interview Tuesday for the first time in months, repeated his denial that Brian McNamee injected him with performance-enhancing drugs, called allegations of such use "hurtful" and said that excerpts he has read from a book that has just hit stores are "completely false."

Clemens appeared on the "Mike and Mike in the Morning" show on ESPN Radio and ESPN2 TV, his first high-profile media appearance since his Jan. 6, 2008, segment on "60 Minutes," during which he denied steroid use. Five weeks later, on Feb. 13, Clemens testified under oath at a Congressional hearing that he has never used performance-enhancing drugs.



Clemens said that any evidence, such as syringes provided by McNamee, his former trainer, that allegedly link him to the use of steroids or human growth hormone cannot exist.

"Impossible, because he's never given me any," Clemens said. "He's never given me HGH or any performance-enhancing drugs."

"American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime" was written by four reporters from the New York Daily News who, according to a story published Monday by that newspaper, concluded that Clemens had lied last year in a deposition and at the hearing.

"It's piling on," Clemens said. "It's hurtful at times, but I'm moving on.

"All I can do is speak the truth and from the heart. I know what your polls say, [but] I get great responses in every city I go to. ... When you've got someone out there crawling up your back to make a buck -- and that's what it is -- how do you defend a negative? The garbage that's in this book, I've got an opportunity to [talk about] that today."

The Daily News said that its reporters -- Teri Thompson, Nathaniel Vinton, Christian Red and Michael O'Keeffe -- came to their conclusion after interviewing scores of sources, including Major League Baseball players and executives, Players Association officials, political leaders, law-enforcement agents, steroid suppliers, trainers, doctors and gym rats.

The reporters also reviewed thousands of pages of documents -- including court records, Congressional depositions, medical files and the Mitchell Report -- while preparing the book.

Clemens, a 354-game winner who last pitched in 2007 for the Yankees, reportedly is being investigated by the Justice Department regarding whether he may have lied to the House committee during the February 2008 hearing. Clemens also sued McNamee for defamation. A judge dismissed most of that suit, but it remains active. Clemens said that he has not been summoned by Congress.

"The legal proceedings are still going on," Clemens said. "Like I said, I'm trying to stay positive about it. I know I'm a public figure, but I'm getting out there and doing the things I normally do. I hear people saying that you're not doing this or doing that, but I've been doing what I normally do," instructing high school and college players as well as taking part in charity events such as dinners and golf tournaments.

Clemens offered generic answers to questions from hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic about Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez, who this year have been connected to steroid use, recently in the case or Ramirez and dating back, for Rodriguez, to his seasons with the Rangers. Ramirez was suspended last week for 50 games and Rodriguez admitted to using steroids from 2001-03 after a report revealed that he had tested positive in survey testing in 2003.

He said that he didn't know the "exact details" of Ramirez's suspension, and said of Rodriguez, a teammate in 2007, "I just wish him the best."

Clemens repeatedly said that he talks to young people about the dangers of steroid use, and restated his claim that former teammate Andy Pettitte "misremembers" a conversation the left-hander testified to that he and Clemens discussed steroid use.

Gene Grabowski, senior vice president of Levick Strategic Communications, which has been hired by Clemens, appeared on the show an hour earlier and explained why his client had decided to begin speaking publicly again.

"He realizes that he has to get out there, defend himself, and in the end we'll find out that he's been falsely accused," Grabowski said. "It's no coincidence. This book ... there's nothing new in it. It's a patchwork job, a narrative [of newspaper stories] woven together in a more enticing way. It's filled with a lot of the lies that were repeated before.

"Roger feels a need to get out there and tell his side of the story before it gets out of hand and people's opinions are cemented."