By SCOTT SMITH
Tribune columnist
February 18, 2008 05:27 pm
—
The public getting a look at Brian McNamee in person may have been Roger Clemens’ best defense Wednesday, at least until U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., came to McNamee’s rescue.
To me, it almost looked as if McNamee, Clemens’ former trainer and friend, visibly relaxed a bit as Burton delivered a harangue, accusing McNamee of heaping “lie upon lie upon lie,” and jabbing his finger at the bespectacled former cop.
The vehemence with which Burton uttered his now famous phrase. “I know one thing I don’t believe, and that’s you,” was apparently followed shortly thereafter by Burton’s exit from the proceedings.
Why Burton chose to point out the obvious fact that McNamee is an admitted liar while saying nothing on the testimony against Clemens is a question as yet unanswered by the congressman. We’ll assume most people, including Mr. Burton, had already made up their minds before the hearing started.
Clemens hasn’t produced any exonerating evidence, apart from Jose Canseco’s rebuttal of McNamee’s claim that Clemens was at a certain party. Which brings us to the question of Canseco’s credibility, which is a joke.
Burton, however, treated Canseco’s memories of attendance at that party as damning evidence of McNamee’s perfidy. Then he proceeded to call Clemens a “titan of baseball,” and demanded of McNamee, How is [Clemens] supposed to recover his reputation?
That rhetorical question assumes Clemens had a sterling reputation to begin with, something fans at every one of The Rocket’s former teams would contest.
Dan Simmons, in a column for ESPN The Magazine, recalled Clemens’ lackluster final season at Boston, before a miraculous return to form resulted in a 20-strikeout game against the Tigers. Toronto fans will always wonder about Clemens’ remarkable turnaround midway through a season, which just so happened to coincide with McNamee’s recollection of a series of steroid injections.
Fans in The Bronx will remember Clemens’ tearful farewell, his touching habit of rubbing Babe Ruth’s plaque behind center field before starts, and his wish to always be remembered as a Yankee, all before deciding to unretire the next year to join the Astros.
Astros fans will remember Clemens’ decision to sit out half his last year with the club, and the club allowing him to skip road trips in which he wasn’t scheduled to start, and the Astros barely missing the playoffs his last year there. Maybe the ‘Stros would have made it if Roger had just pitched a few more starts, but well, you know, he had other priorities.
And of course everyone remembers 2000, when Mets catcher Mike Piazza was batting .578 career off Clemens before Roger hit Piazza in the head with a 97-mph fastball. Three months later, in the Yankees-Mets World Series, came the famous incident when Piazza’s bat shattered off a Clemens’ pitch and then Clemens angrily threw the barrel back towards Piazza. Where did that kind of inexplicable rage come from, we wondered at the time.
Then Wednesday, when Clemens attempted to explain why his buddy, Andy Pettitte, testified Clemens told him he’d used performance enhancing substances, Clemens offered that Pettitte had “misremembered” the conversation.
Clemens said he’d been talking about HIS WIFE using human growth hormone, you see.
It’s all so sad, Clemens posting on his Web site that McNamee had never injected him with performance enhancing substances, then later telling 60 Minutes’ Mike Wallace that McNamee injected him all right, but just with lidocaine and vitamin B-12. Clemens didn’t change his story, we’re asked to believe, but just omitted part of it.
To Burton, those details didn’t seem to matter Wednesday. Clemens will always be a “titan” of baseball, and all his accusers beneath contempt, so sayeth the congressman.
But after close to 10 years of steadily unfolding steroid scandals, we’re past the time when there are “titans” in baseball anymore. They’re back to being athletes on a field, playing a game. What to some people is a nightmare of scandal could just be sanity creeping back into the picture.
We still have the beauty of the game, the highs and lows, the drama of the season, and the moments time stands still. Just remember Joe Thatcher facing down the Rockies in a tough jam last October and remember why you love this sport, baseball fans.
Baseball will survive all of this, and more.
Scott Smith may be reached at (765) 454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com
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