Roger Clemens indicted for lying to Congress



By James Vicini and Jeremy Pelofsky –
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Baseball great Roger Clemens, one of the best pitchers in the sport's history, has been indicted on a series of charges related to lying to the U.S. Congress during an investigation into doping, court papers said.
Clemens has been charged with obstruction of the U.S. Congress, making false statements and committing perjury, according to the papers filed on Thursday. The indictment was handed up by a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The charges stemmed from testimony Clemens and his former trainer gave under oath two years ago to a House of Representatives panel, contradicting each other on whether Clemens had used banned substances.
A lawyer for Clemens, Rusty Hardin, was not immediately available for comment.
Clemens, 48 and retired from the sport, was noted for his longevity, fierce approach and record accomplishments during a 24-year career. He was linked to performance-enhancing drugs by another former star, admitted steroid user Jose Canseco, who wrote in a memoir that Clemens was very knowledgeable on the subject.
In his 2008 testimony before the congressional committee Clemens denied claims by former trainer Brian McNamee, who told investigators the pitcher had used performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens later accused McNamee, who cooperated with federal authorities to avoid charges of steroid distribution, of fabricating the allegations.
At the hearing, Clemens was also confronted with a sworn statement by former teammate and longtime friend Andy Pettitte that Clemens told him in 1999 or 2000 that he had used human growth hormone.
"I think he (Pettitte) misremembers," Clemens told lawmakers.
The FBI began investigating whether Roger Clemens lied to Congress soon after his testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
MITCHELL REPORT
Clemens disputed his inclusion in a report on performance-enhancing drug use in baseball conducted by former Senate Democratic leader George Mitchell that named more than 80 former and current players suspected of having used steroids, human growth hormone or other banned substances.
Clemens began his major league career in 1984 and became one of baseball's most dominant pitchers. He finished with a 354-184 record and is one of only four pitchers to strike out more than 4,000 batters.
Clemens won the Cy Young Award, which goes to the league's best pitcher, a record seven times and was named to the all-star team 11 times.
He spent the first 13 seasons of his career with the Boston Red Sox before joining the Toronto Blue Jays for two years. After four seasons with the New York Yankees, he joined Houston for two years before closing out his career with the Yankees in 2007. He bowed out at the age of 45, which is unusually old for a player.
Another former baseball star, Barry Bonds, who set the career record for home runs, faces trial in March on charges of perjury related to his testimony about performance-enhancing drugs.

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Stubborn Roger Clemens was his own hangman

By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports
1 hour, 24 minutes ago

He tied his own noose, a 13-looper, the hangman’s knot. Already Roger Clemens had ruined his career, wrecked his reputation and rendered his legacy fraudulent. He didn’t have to do a lynch mob’s work, too.

Except that he couldn’t help himself. A man’s strength is often his downfall, and that of William Roger Clemens, indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on six charges stemming from allegedly false statements made to Congress, was stubbornness. It – along with the performance-enhancing drug use the government claims he lied about – helped him win seven Cy Young awards, 354 games and two World Series rings. It also could damn him to an orange jumpsuit.


The indictment alleges that Clemens obstructed a congressional inquiry with 15 different statements that he made under oath in 2008.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Clemens wasn’t in trouble when baseball released George Mitchell’s report on steroid use. Sure, it disintegrated the purity of everything he spent 24 seasons building, but Clemens was no felon. Just a guy who chose the wrong drug dealer. Only when he went on the warpath to prove his innocence did Clemens tiptoe near a law that people in power are interested in prosecuting.

He offered to say under oath he never used steroids or human growth hormone. He embarrassed himself on “60 Minutes” contending the same. And ultimately, he testified, in a deposition and in front of Capitol Hill’s most ravenous grandstanders, that not only had he never used steroids or HGH, he hadn’t even talked about them.

There is stupid, and there is Roger Clemens. He invited himself to the scene of a crime he knew he’d be accused of committing. He saw what happened to Barry Bonds, how the anti-doping attack dogs literally will Dumpster dive to scrounge up evidence to get an athlete’s pelt. He witnessed congressmen foam at the mouth for their opportunity to moralize during the original steroid hearings in 2005. As he admitted in his opening statement Feb. 13, 2008: “No matter what we discuss here today, I am never going to have my name restored.”

And he plodded forward anyway. Had pride not intervened – had the alpha sense Clemens nurtured on the baseball field not grown to Kilimanjaran levels – the world would never have his former trainer and main accuser, Brian McNamee, say that he shot Clemens’ wife full of HGH before a Sports Illustrated swimsuit shoot. And Clemens’ affair with country singer Mindy McCready that began when he was 28 and she was 15 would’ve likely died a skeleton in two closets. And Clemens would have faded away like most other shamed athletes, left to his riches instead of preparing to defend himself and stave off prison time.

The indictment, 19 pages long and rich with information, highlights 15 utterances the government deemed false leading to an obstruction of justice charge. Testimony regarding steroids, HGH and vitamin B12 comprise three false statement charges and two more perjury charges, each of which could carry five years prison time.

On page 10 is the statement most horrifying to Clemens, the rubbing alcohol in his gaping wound: “The Committee did not issue CLEMENS a subpoena, and CLEMENS was under no obligation to testify. CLEMENS retained his right under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution to refuse to answer any questions that might tend to incriminate him.”

He could’ve taken the Mark McGwire tack, treating the Fifth like his best friend. He could’ve done what so many other accused steroid users did: not say a thing and let the allegations fade into the ether, a black mark, sure, but not one that torpedoes a life. He could’ve done what his friend Andy Pettitte(notes) did: admit use, apologize for it and move on.

There remains the possibility, of course, that Clemens never did use steroids, that McNamee used his name in a plea bargain to weasel out of a drug-distribution charge, that all of this is a big conspiracy and witch hunt and, like Bonds, he’s a pawn, a patsy, a victim. To which anyone not in Clemens’ fan club would reply: Have I got a bridge to sell you …

Whenever Clemens’ case goes to trial – Bonds was indicted on perjury and obstruction charges Nov. 15, 2007, and his trial isn’t scheduled until March 2011 – the question will be whether the government compiled more evidence than the testimony of McNamee and the eight-year-old needles he said he kept in an empty beer can. Getting an indictment is one thing. Racking up a conviction on perjury charges against a group of high-octane attorneys is something altogether different.

Still, it’s harrowing to see another all-time great baseball player, steroids or not, paraded in front of the country as an example that thou best not trifle with the feds. Baseball wants so desperately to rid itself of steroids. Except they’re like herpes, and no amount of Bud Selig-sanctioned Valtrex is ever going to make them go away. This day was long coming – in addition to McNamee, Jose Canseco, former pitcher Jason Grimsley and steroid distributor Kirk Radomski were all summoned before the grand jury – and it adds another chapter to the sport’s darkest moment since the Black Sox.

Clemens’ bleakest days are only beginning. Seeing your name in a federal indictment is not a pleasure in which many partake, and the best he can do from hereon is hope like hell that Rusty Hardin and the rest of his jurisprudence dream team find plenty of reasonable doubt.

Because Clemens’ freedom is all that’s left to save. He put himself here, through his choices: taking the drugs he took, saying the words he said, making the decisions he made. None of this had to happen, least of all his self-guided walk down the Green Mile. He could have just dropped the rope.

Jeff Passan is a national writer for Yahoo! Sports.

I really have no sympathy for Roger Clemens...and even less for Barry Bonds.

Barry Bonds was a quick wristed hitting machine who drank the juice or used the creme or ____. But way smarter then Roger.

roger the dodger was a weak coward who threw at batters heads in the American League knowing that they could not throw back at him in the next inning because he would not have to bat in the American league. Those batters had wives and families and lives to live after their baseball career was over. Very weak roger,very weak!

The 28 year old roger was banging a fifteen year old. 28 should never go into 15..never..ever.....he was a famous baseball player, he could of had any legal aged girl or boy.

Since we are in the sports arena we know that in baseball you never throw anything at the runner when he is running between the bases; you throw only to your teammate or to your the base your teammate is close to .

But when Mike Piazza broke his bat on a roger pitch.. as mike is running from home plate to first base... roger throws a piece of the broken bat at him...what the heck is that!!!

roger later said he thought the bat was the ball....dah....even if you thought it was the ball..you don't throw the ball at the runner...this is baseball not dodgeball!!! YOU THROW THE BALL TO THE BASE! That may be why they call it baseball!

I never wish bad on anyone but sometimes the always been catered to professional stubborn athlete gets his just dessert.

Yes, we always hear he works hard so he can make it to 5 and 1/2 innings to get the win. (Bob Gibson just turned over in his grave)

This will show all the youngsters that it isn't right to cheat and it is a crime to lie to Congress.

BOB GIBSON IS STILL ALIVE AT 74 YEARS OF AGE!
If you want to read the bio of a great man, you can't go wrong with his.

Not to be mean, but I hope Roger Clemens receives all that he's entitled to...

What is he entitled to? His day in court.

...and hopefully it will be a long day.

I'm hoping its short....and ends with cuffs.

Roger and his super ego. Does anyone think he finally realizes he messed up?

The great Rusty couldn't even keep Roger's mouth shut.

As Jack would say, You can't handle the truth rog.

I know this is redundant, but all these guys were great players without the chemical help. The only thing positive to come out of this is maybe the young players will take notice and go the natural path.

You're right and the people who run the league also share in the blame.

quote:

I really have no sympathy for Roger Clemens...

If congress indicted Roger they have more than enough to put him away. By refusing the plea deal he is saying that he is willing to do jail time in order to have a chance to get to the hall of fame. My son is a college pitcher and when he was young he idolized Clemens. Now he is repulsed by him, not so much for using steroids as refusing the admit to it, and indemnifying others in the process. The American public is very forgiving of fallen idols who are honest, but not to those who refuse to fess up.

If you want strong circumstantial evidence of Clemens steroid use, look at his ERA 1997 thru 1998 vs 1999 thru 2003 vs 2004 thru 2006. His trainer claimed the Clemens used steroid in 97 and 98, stopped 01 thru 03 because he feared getting caught, and then started again in 2004 when a "fail safe" protocol became available. He showed marked improvement in 97/98 and 04-06 vs prior periods. Coincidence?

Roids are used by athletes because they work. Simple as that. With the aid of steriods an athelete can become 10% more powerful (stonger) than he/she could ever become if they lived in the weight room. Golf and tennis may be the next dominos to fall. Look at average PGA driving distance in golf (+30 yards) and first service speed in professional tennis (+14 mph) over the last 10 years. Yes, the equipment is better, but only marginally so. The athletes in those sports are juicing. No doubt.