When Roger Clemens stepped in front of a House committee on Capitol Hill in 2008 and said, “Let me be clear, I have never taken steroids or HGH,” he set himself up for a battle bigger than any he faced during his famed baseball career.
After being mentioned in the Mitchell Report, Clemens voluntarily spoke in front of Tom Davis, the top Republican on the House panel, and Henry Waxman, the committee’s chairman at the time, and potentially dug his own grave.
Davis and Waxman told Clemens before he spoke, “Whatever you do, don’t lie.” Whether there is truth in the subsequent response from Clemens is now anybody’s guess.
It’s a case that is now under investigation, as a federal grand jury indicted Clemens on Thursday for allegedly lying under oath. The jury indicted Clemens on six counts of obstructing a congressional inquiry.
The grand jury believes that Clemens made 15 dishonest statements under oath, including denying that he ever used steroids or human growth hormone.
“Self-Inflicted Wound”
The most shocking, or idiotic, part about all of this is that, if Clemens indeed lied to Congress, he did it voluntarily.
Clemens was not under subpoena when he raised his right hand and shunned the Fifth Amendment.
Clemens wanted to go to court in order to clear his name, as if he thought that would wipe his reputation clean.
He wanted to be accepted as a great pitcher, not as a guy who spent 13 seasons with the Boston Red Sox—more than a full career for most pitchers—and then went to the Toronto Blue Jays and mysteriously proceeded to put up the best numbers of his career and win back-to-back Cy Young awards in the process.
Davis and Waxman both believe that Clemens lied to them during his hearing. Given the fact that Clemens could have quietly walked away from it all and into a life without professional baseball, Davis called Clemens’ testimony a “self-inflicted wound.”
It’s a wound that could cut deeper than any positive steroid test ever could. Clemens could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
An indictment is far from a conviction, however, and Clemens would never face the max penalty if found guilty. Legal analysts say Clemens would probably face an imprisonment of six to 18 months.
A conclusion will not come for a few years if Barry Bonds’ indictment is any indication of the timetable for these proceedings. A grand jury indicted Bonds in 2007, and his court date isn’t scheduled until March.
But Clemens’ court date means little at this point, as the damage has been done.
He will never be seen as innocent in the eyes of baseball fans, regardless of what a grand jury finds. If nothing conclusive has been found since 2008, why is there any reason to believe that the dirt will come up now?
It’s Clemens’ word versus Brian McNamee’s, his estranged trainer and a former strength and conditioning coach of the New York Yankees, and neither side is going to fold.
McNamee said to a jury during his testimony, among other things, that he injected Clemens with steroids. McNamee gave the grand jury eight-year-old needles that he said he used on Clemens.
McNamee also said that he injected Clemens’ wife with HGH before she appeared in a Sports Illustrated photo shoot.
Clemens has continually denied all claims, and therefore the saga continues. The grand jury will have to wade through the alibis, and the outcome remains uncertain.
What about the Hall of Fame?
One outcome that is no longer uncertain is that of Clemens’ Hall of Fame candidacy.
The only players who fans and media members despise more than steroid users are those who lie about being steroid users.
Mark McGwire ended up being a phony on the field, but he chose not to speak about his steroid use under oath, before admitting all of it prior to this season as he prepared to become the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.
If McGwire can’t obtain the 75 percent of votes required for induction into the Hall of Fame, then there’s no way Clemens will.
Some say Clemens, and other alleged steroid users who haven’t admitted their use, should be inducted if his career merits such an honor. Unfortunately, athletes are not innocent until proven guilty. Perception and reputation are oftentimes far more important than the truth.
“In my opinion he’s a Hall of Famer, period,” Lance Berkman, a former teammate of Clemens, said. “Whatever you want to say about the guy, he belongs in the Hall of Fame. Legacy-wise, I mean 200 years from now, who cares?”
Berkman makes a valid point, but this isn’t about Clemens’ legacy. His legacy has already been trashed, and there’s no going back on that.
Because Clemens approaches all of this with such arrogance, he doesn’t have many, if any, fans in his corner. America has long made up its mind about Roger Clemens, and this investigation won’t change that.
Clemens could be found innocent by the grand jury, and it probably wouldn’t matter. Would anybody believe he never took steroids or HGH, not even once, if nothing came of this investigation? Doubt it.
Clemens can continue to post denials on Twitter and his attorney, Rusty Hardin, can continue to tell people, “how happy Roger is” that he’s finally “getting his day in court.”
Spare us.
Federal investigators need some more time to determine whether or not Clemens lied under oath.
Innocent or guilty, the rest of the country has already reached a conclusion on Clemens.
Follow Teddy Mitrosilis on Twitter. You can reach him at tm4000@yahoo.com.
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