Clemens Denies Steroid Allegations

What else do you do when your reputation goes down the crapper?

You lawyer up and deny, deny, deny.

After being implicated of steroids use in the report former Senator George Mitchell released this afternoon, Roger Clemens has enlisted the services of powerful Houston attorney Rusty Hardin to defend him from the accusations.

"Roger Clemens vehemently denies allegations in the Mitchell report that he used performance-enhancing steroids, and is outraged that his name is included in the report based on the uncorroborated allegations of a troubled man threatened with federal criminal prosecution. Roger has been repeatedly tested for these substances and he has never tested positive. There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances and yet he is being slandered today,” Hardin said in a release sent to the media.

“The use of steroids in sports is a serious problem, it is wrong and it should be stopped.

“However, I am extremely upset that Roger’s name was in this report based on the allegations of a troubled and unreliable witness who only came up with names after being threatened with possible prison time.”

In the release, Hardin's office specifically addressed the claims that were made in the Mitchell Report by Clemens' former trainer Brian McNamee, who also linked Andy Pettitte to steroids use.

"Brian McNamee, a former trainer who worked with Clemens on the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees, has repeatedly denied these current claims, including in June of this year when he was first contacted by federal investigators," the release stated. "According to McNamee, after a day of repeated denials to federal investigators, he changed his story under the threat of federal criminal prosecution. He says he was then forced by those federal prosecutorial authorities to tell the same story for inclusion in the Mitchell report."

Frankly, I believe little of what Clemens has to say. He should just fade quietly away and count the millions the Yankees threw at him.

I always considered Andy Pettitte more of a straight shooter and am disturbed to find out he may have also used performance-enhancing drugs.

Here's a complete list of players named in the Mitchell report, 77 in all. Many no longer are in baseball and quite a few I've never heard of (Tim Laker? Bobby Estalella? Bart Miadich?).

Now at least we know perhaps why John Rocker behaved so erratically.

Still, back in 2003, it was reported 7% of major leaguers failed drug tests, so I find the list to be fairly limited. Jose Canseco alleged in his book that many players used steroids or HGH, and I have to think many more than 77 managed to escape this report.

Still, it's a dark day for baseball, which really has a dilemma on its hands as to how to treat the records of some of the players listed. I think those who are Hall of Fame candidates such as Barry Bonds and Clemens may now have a long wait before they're ever enshrined in Cooperstown.