Clemens calls Mitchell allegations "totally false"
Through his lawyer, pitcher Roger Clemens issued a vigorous denial that he ever used performance-enhancing drugs shortly after the Mitchell Report was released Thursday. The report details in a nine-page section how Clemens was injected with the steroid Winstrol in 1998 by trainer Brian McNamee, who was interviewed by Mitchell's group.
McNamee also said he injected Clemens in the buttocks four to six times with testosterone in 2000.
"It is very unfair to include Roger's name in this report,'' said Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin. "He is left with no meaningful way to combat what he strongly contends are totally false allegations. He has not been charged with anything, he will not be charged with anything, and yet he is being tried in the court of public opinion with no recourse. That is totally wrong.
"There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances and yet he is being slandered today.
Hardin also called McNamee a "troubled man.''
Clemens is a seven-time Cy Young Award winner who ranks eighth all-time with 354 career victories. He has played for 24 seasons and was 6-6 with a 4.30 earned-run average in 2007 for the New York Yankees at the age of 45.
Scott Boras, the agent for pitcher Eric Gagne, who was accused of using performance-enhancing drugs in the report, gave the following comment to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
"Players all over baseball have been smeared, and by whom? A convicted felon. Because there are legal parameters to this, our clients won't be making comments. "All I can tell you is that Eric Gagne has passed every drug test given him. As far as any punishment goes, in the due-process form this evidence is completely inadmissible."
