Steroid-Drenched Goon 'Heartbroken' By Yankee Snub

It just tears at your soul, doesn't it?

Estranged former Yankee Roger Clemens was "heartbroken" when his former team left him out of Sunday night's Stadium-farewell festivities, which included a video montage honoring the Bronx Bombers' greatest pitchers - but not him, a relative told The Post yesterday.

Clemens was sitting at home in hurricane-ravaged Texas, in front of a battery-operated television on his living room couch, when the team delivered a final crushing blow to its former star.

Clutching wife Debbie's hand on one side and mother-in-law Jan Wild's on the other, Clemens tuned in to his final team's last home game hoping for some recognition for helping win two World Series titles, Wild said.

But that Rocket never launched.

When the team played the video celebrating its greatest players at every position, the steroid-scandal-scarred Clemens was nowhere to be seen.

"Debbie and I held his hand while we watched the game, and he was heartbroken," said Wild, 70. "Not mad. He still loves baseball and the Yankees, but it was sad what they did to him."

Even Chuck Knoblauch - who was also named in the scathing Mitchell Report on steroids - was acknowledged on the big screen, hailed as the second baseman of the 1990s. Fellow steroid targets Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi were at the Stadium in uniform for the Yankees.

Aside from Clemens, also noticeably absent from mention was former manager Joe Torre, who guided the Yankees to 12 straight playoffs and four World Series victories.

"A lot of great Yankees were not mentioned," the team insisted in a statement. "There was no slight intended, and perhaps both Clemens and Torre should have been mentioned as well as several others."

If anything, Torre should have gotten more mention, but I sense that's just lingering bad blood coming off their split last year. Torre was shown during some highlights, however. I'm sure when his managing career is over in Los Angeles he'll be welcomed back at the new ballpark and should rightfully have his number retired.

As for Clemens, the less we hear from him, the better.

Report: Clemens Took Viagra to Help On-Field Performance?

Is there anything this guy wasn't taking?

No wonder he's so hard-headed?

He told little white lies ... and he took little blue pills.

Roger Clemens, whose claims he never took steroids are under federal investigation, has apparently discovered the benefits of another performance-enhancing drug sweeping the sports world - Viagra.

Clemens stashed the clearly marked, diamond-shaped pills in a GNC vitamin bottle in his locker at Yankee Stadium, according to a source familiar with the clubhouse, perhaps keeping the drug undercover to avoid the inevitable wisecracks about all the girlfriends he needed to please.

Clemens wasn't alone. The pitcher, who is believed to have scored the drug from a teammate, joined the burgeoning number of athletes who have turned Vitamin V and its over-the-counter substitutes into one of the hottest drugs in locker rooms.

The drug is so widely used for off-label purposes that it has drawn the attention of anti-doping officials and law-enforcement agencies in the United States and beyond.

"All my athletes took it," BALCO founder Victor Conte, whose acolytes included Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds and Marion Jones, said of an over-the-counter supplement he claimed mimicked the effects of Viagra.

"It's bigger than creatine. It's the biggest product in nutritional supplements."

Viagra, apparently, has its benefits outside the bedroom.

Helps build endurance, especially for athletes who compete at high altitudes.

Delivers oxygen, nutrients and performance-enhancing drugs to muscles more efficiently.

Counteracts the impotence that can be a side-effect of testosterone injections.

And, of course, it helped most for Clemens' nightly booty call.

Clemens: Sorry for My 'Mistakes'

Looks like somebody finally gave this idiot some useful advice. Maybe they can tell him to dummy up and slink off into permanent retirement.

Of course, he still refuses to acknowledge he used steroids or HGH. Looks here like he's trying to salvage his marriage.

On the eighth day, Roger Clemens apologized.

Following a week in which the Daily News reported his affairs with several women, Clemens released a statement Sunday night apologizing for "mistakes in his personal life," while again denying he ever used performance-enhancing drugs.

"I need to say that I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry," Clemens said in a statement handed to the Houston Chronicle, a favorite outlet for Clemens and his lawyer Rusty Hardin.

"I have apologized to my family and apologize to my fans," Clemens said. "Like everyone, I have flaws. I have sometimes made choices which have not been right."

Those mistakes, of course, are related to recent reports he was sleeping with any woman with a pulse.

Clemens is reeling from The News' reports of his long-term affair with country singer Mindy McCready, with golfer John Daly's ex-wife Paulette Dean Daly, and several other women around the country. The News reported last Monday that McCready met Clemens, then a 28-year-old Red Sox ace, when she was 15 and singing in a karaoke bar, and that she returned to his hotel with him that night, but that the two didn't have a sexual relationship until a few years later. McCready and several of her family members have confirmed the report.

"Now, I have been accused of having an improper relationship with a 15-year-old girl. Nothing could be further from the truth. This relationship has been twisted and distorted far beyond reality. It is just one of many, many accusations that are utterly false," Clemens. said in his statement.

"I cannot refute anything in the story," McCready said of her relationship with Clemens, who did not say what false accusations he was referring to.

Now He'll Test Positive for Viagra

Hi Rog, remember me?

When we noted Roger Clemens had a long affair with country singer Mindy McCready yesterday, little did we know the women would come crawling out of the woodwork.

Well, this idiot should have just fessed up when the Mitchell Report came out that he'd taken steroids and by now everyone would've forgotten about it.

No, can't do that. He's got to embarrass himself before Congress and filed suit against Brian McNamee. Of course, Clemens is too stupid to realize McNamee's attorneys like to play hardball and they managed to dig up a treasure trove of dirt on the idiot.

Now we have McCready confirming their relationship and a couple more women linked to Clemens. Frankly, outside of the psychotic Jeremiah Wright, nobody has less credibility today.

Country singer Mindy McCready "spilled the beans" about her decade-long, secret relationship with pitching ace Roger Clemens because she has moved on and is intent on reigniting her once-hot career, her father told The Post.

"She's working on a documentary, a reality show and a new album; she knew everything was going to come out. She's very career-minded right now," doting dad Tim McCready said, noting that he supports his daughter and also "feels really bad" for Clemens, whom he described as "a gentleman."

McCready spoke from his Florida home yesterday in the wake of published reports that Mindy and Clemens, then married with two kids, had struck up the 10-year relationship in 1990, when she was just 15.

But Tim McCready insisted there was "nothing physical" between his little girl and the hurler until "years later" - when, in 1998, Mindy ended a yearlong engagement to Dean Cain, who played Superman on TV's "Lois & Clark."

"I've been talking to Mindy about this a lot, and I can assure you that nothing went on between them physically until well after she had moved to Nashville and broken up with Dean," he said.

"With Roger, there was a definite attraction between them. But it was an on-again, off-again thing," Tim McCready added, noting that his daughter traveled with Clemens to Las Vegas and New York. "For Roger, once spring training comes around and the season starts, he is dedicated to baseball. So they had about three months a year when they could see each other."

Meanwhile, sources yesterday revealed that Clemens also struck up relationships with at least two other women during his career, including former Manhattan bartender Angela Moyers.

Sources said the Rocket helped pay the rent on the pretty brunette's Houston apartment and continued to pal around with her after she moved to New York and landed the bar gig in 2000.

Moyers, now 30 and a Pennsylvania real-estate agent, declined to comment on whether Clemens helped foot her housing bills. Asked about the nature of their relationship, she said, "No comment."

Mrs. Clemens was also unavailable for comment. If she has half a brain, she's meeting with an attorney herself, unless for some reason she's OK with all this nonsense.

Update: Thanks to Ace for the link.

Steroids May Be The Least of His Problems

The problems continue to mount for Roger Clemens. Absolutely buried in the steroid mess, now he has to contend with news that he carried on a ten-year affair with a country singer that began when she was 15.

Roger Clemens carried on a decade-long affair with country star Mindy McCready, a romance that began when McCready was a 15-year-old aspiring singer performing in a karaoke bar and Clemens was a 28-year-old Red Sox ace and married father of two, several sources have told the Daily News.

The revelations could torpedo claims of an unsullied character that are central to the defamation suit Clemens filed Jan. 6 against his former personal trainer Brian McNamee. Vivid details of the affair could surface in several media projects that McCready is involved with - including a documentary that begins filming today in Nashville, a new album and a reality show.

McCready, who lives on a quiet, tree-lined street in Nashville, is attempting a career comeback following a string of legal and personal woes.

Contacted by the Daily News Sunday through his lawyer Rusty Hardin, Clemens confirmed a long-term relationship but denied that it was of a sexual nature.

"He flatly denies having had any kind of an inappropriate relationship with her," Hardin said. "He's considered her a close family friend. ... He has never had a sexual relationship with her."

Sure. And he never did any steroids.

What a guy.

Mrs. Clemens was unavailable for comment.

Clemens a Real Boob

The legal woes continue to mount for Roger Clemens.

The New York Times reported on Monday that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has drafted a letter recommending that the Justice Department launch a criminal investigation into whether Clemens committed perjury during his testimony on Feb. 13.

Citing three lawyers familiar with the matter, the newspaper said that Clemens' accuser, Brian McNamee, was not included in the letter, prompting speculation that the committee has concluded that the trainer's testimony was truthful.

I know that since this report is coming form the New York Times it is very suspect, but if the Old Grey Hag managed to accidentally report this accurately, Mr. Clemens may have a very rocky 2008 ahead of him. It's not a good thing to have congress send the Department of Justice after you. As Martha Stewart found out in her insider trading case, judges don't like you lying about your activities to investigators.

Does anybody really think the Mrs. Clemens was taking HGH but not the Rocket? From the same trainer?

Maybe the prison team has an opening for a starting right hander.

Speaking of Mrs. Clemens, that party at Jose Canseco's house that her husband denied being at? Well, it appears Debbie Clemens and Canseco's then-wife Jessica were comparing boob jobs at said party.

Congress is believed to have received new evidence over the past 10 days that may further undermine Roger Clemens' sworn testimony that he did not attend a suddenly notorious 1998 party at Jose Canseco's South Florida home.

The Daily News has learned that in the days since the Feb. 13 public hearing on steroids in baseball, another major leaguer has informed congressional investigators that Clemens often joked in the clubhouse about a memorable account of the party - a scene in which Debbie Clemens and Canseco's ex-wife Jessica compared the results of their surgical breast enhancements.

The new revelation adds to the probability that Congress will make a criminal referral of the matter to the Justice Department, which lawyers on both sides have told the News was always a likelihood.

Care to retract that story, Rog?

Now We Know Why Andy Pettitte Won't Be There

Looks like the insufferably arrogant Roger Clemens is going to have a nuclear device dropped on his oversized head today.

WASHINGTON — Roger Clemens will be confronted with a new and damaging affidavit from Andy Pettitte when he appears before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday to testify about allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs, two lawyers familiar with the matter said late Tuesday.

Clemens will also be asked about corroborating information that committee staff members developed on their own that ties Clemens to such drugs, the lawyers said. That information, they said, stands separate and apart from the assertions made about Clemens by his former personal trainer, Brian McNamee, who contends that he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone from 1998 to 2001.

The two lawyers familiar with what may be confronting Clemens at the hearing spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. They would not reveal details of the new Pettitte affidavit or of the new information obtained apart from McNamee’s assertions.

“The committee is not messing around and has other damaging evidence against Roger,” one of the lawyers said.

The other lawyer said, “Andy said enough to really hurt Roger.”

Should have just been a man about it, fessed up and walked away into retirement a filthy rich man.

Now he's probably looking at jail time.

I'll shed no tears for this jerk.

More here.

Update: Hot Air links. Thanks.

Live updates of the Congressional hearing here. Remarkably, Clemens throws his wife under the bus.

From SI's Tom Verducci: "The first bomb to drop was reference to the devastating affidavits from not only Andy Pettitte, but also from Pettitte's wife, Laura. Pettitte swore that Clemens told him in '1999 or 2000' that Clemens used HGH and that it helped his body recover. Pettitte immediately told his wife about that conversation, and she corroborated it to congressional staff. In 2005 in Kissimmee, Fla., Clemens denied to Pettitte having told him that he used HGH, claiming that Pettitte misunderstood him and that he was referring to HGH use by his wife, Debbie. But as Waxman pointed out, that would have been 'Impossible,' because both Clemens and McNamee tie Debbie Clemens' HGH use to 2003 -- not as far back as 1999 or 2000. Now you understand why Pettitte didn't want to be in the same room with Clemens. It was a severe blow to his friend's credibility."

WARNING! WARNING! Mormon alert.

Dale Murphy played for the Atlanta Braves in the 80's and 90's and is one heck of a nice guy.

Murphy started the “I Won’t Cheat Foundation,” which preaches ethics in youth athletics and against the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Maybe this will be his legacy.
He won consecutive MVP awards (1982-83) with the Braves. He hit 398 home runs. But in 10 years on the ballot, he has never come close to being elected to the Hall of Fame. Candidates require at least 75 percent of the vote. Murphy has never garnered more than 23. Interestingly, his 75 votes this year (13.8 percent) were his most since 2001. So maybe he’s talking his way back into the spotlight.

So why am I talking about Dale Murphy? Well because he has some honest words about baseball players and steroids.

In playing days, he would’ve stopped right here. In retirement, he has become outspoken, particularly about the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Last year, he publicly admonished Bonds during the home-run chase. Now he watches as Clemens scrambles to protect his legacy with choreographed fits on “60 Minutes.” He finds it all rather disgusting.
“If you’re asking me if I think Clemens took steroids or something — yes, I think he took them,” Murphy said. “I don’t have any proof. I’m just giving you my opinion, and that’s my opinion. I’m like everybody else. This isn’t a court of law. I don’t see all the evidence. Why would Brian McNamee just throw [Andy] Pettitte and Clemens out there? What does he have to benefit from it?

I would love to see him in the hall of Fame instead of some of these juiced up, glow in the dark, plastic players we have nowadays.

Shocking Clemens Steroids Photo

I have no reason not to believe him.

Just some supplements and vitamins.

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.

Yankees Sign Clemens

The New York Yankees today announced the signing of Roger Clemens during their 5-0 win over Seattle.

Roger Clemens is a Yankee.

With those five words, displayed on Yankee Stadium's matrix screen in a surprise announcement during the seventh-inning stretch on Sunday, the 44-year-old right-hander ended all the speculation and confirmed his return to the Bronx.

The Yankees officially announced that they have signed Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, to a Minor League contract.

Following the playing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," public-address announcer Bob Sheppard instructed the crowd to draw its attention to the owner's box and the video screen.

The image of Clemens, holding a microphone, drew a loud ovation from the crowd at the game between the Mariners and Yankees, but his comments would soon be drowned out by an even more raucous ovation from the paid attendance of 52,553.

"It's a privilege to be back," Clemens said. "I'll be talking to you all soon."

More here.

If it annoys even one Red Sox fan, then it's worth it.