Clemens Vehemently Denies Steroid Use

Tells Mike Wallace Trainer Only Injected Legal Drug

(CBS)  Update: Clemens filed a defamation suit against former trainer Brian McNamee on Jan. 6, 2008, the day this interview was broadcast and 10 days after it was filmed. Clemens filed the suit in Harris County District Court in Texas, listing 15 alleged statements McNamee made to the baseball drug investigator George Mitchell. Clemens claimed the statement were "untrue and defamatory."

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With 354 wins, Roger Clemens is one of the best pitchers in the history of baseball. There's no question about it. But as Mike Wallace reports, there are questions now about whether Roger Clemens cheated to enhance his record and prolong his career.

One of his former trainers, Brian McNamee, says that he himself injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone. McNamee's accusations were the biggest revelations in George Mitchell's report on steroid abuse for Major League Baseball.

But Clemens insists the charges are phony and that he never used steroids or any other banned substance. Clemens agreed to answer 60 Minutes' questions at his home outside Houston, where we found him to be frustrated, even furious, that so many people have been so quick to believe he cheated.

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"I'm angry that that what I've done for the game of baseball and the personal, in my private life, what I've done, that I don't get the benefit of the doubt," Clemens says. "The stuff that's being said, it's ridiculous."

"It's hogwash for people to even assume this," Clemens says.

"Twenty-four, twenty-five years Mike. You'd think I'd get an inch of respect. An inch," he adds. "How can you prove your innocence?"

"Apparently you haven't done it yet. People I talk to say, 'Come on. 45 years old? How does he still throw a ball and compete' and so forth? Impossible," Wallace remarks.

"Not impossible. You do it with hard work. Ask any of my teammates. Ask anybody that's come here and done the work with me," Clemens says.

"I was down here in 2001. You were pitching to a guy by the name of Brian McNamee," Wallace says.

"Brian McNamee, that's right," Clemens replies.

McNamee helped Clemens work out, on and off for ten years. Clemens is famous for his exhausting workouts; he's been called the hardest working man in throw-business. But now he's been thrown by what McNamee told George Mitchell.

"He gave very specific examples of times he says that he injected you with steroids. During the '98 season, you were pitching for the Blue Jays. McNamee was their strength and conditioning coach. From the Mitchell Report, quote: 'Clemens approached McNamee, and for the first time, brought up the subject of using steroids. Clemens said that he was not able to inject himself and he asked for McNamee's help. McNamee injected Clemens approximately four times in the buttocks over a several week period, with needles that Clemens provided. Each incident took place in Clemens' apartment in the Sky Dome,'" Wallace reads.

"Never happened," Clemens says. "Never happened. And if I have these needles and these steroids and all these drugs, where did I get 'em? Where is the person out there gave 'em to me? Please, please come forward."

"Mitchell Report, quote: 'According to McNamee, from the time McNamee injected Clemens with Winstrol, a steroid, through the end of the '98 season, Clemens performance showed remarkable improvement. Clemens told McNamee that the steroids, quote, had a pretty good effect on him. McNamee said Clemens was also training harder and dieting better during this time,'" Wallace reads.

"Never. I trained hard my entire career. It just didn’t happen," Clemens says.

Why would Brian McNamee want to betray him?

"I don't know," Clemens says. "I'm so upset about it, how I treated this man and took care of him."

"I imagine he's watching the two of us right now, wouldn't you?" Wallace asks.

"I hope he is," Clemens says.

"Okay. Anything you want to tell him?" Wallace asks.

"Yeah. I treated him fairly. I treated him as great as anybody else," Clemens says. "I helped him out!"

"Again, from the Mitchell Report, quote, 'According to McNamee, during the middle of the 2000 season, Clemens made it clear he was ready to use steroids again. And during the latter part of the season, McNamee injected Clemens in the buttocks four to six times with testosterone. Also injected Clemens four to six times with human growth hormone,'" Wallace reads.

"My body never changed," Clemens says. "If he's putting that stuff up in my body, if what he's saying which is totally false, if he's doing that to me, I should have a third ear coming out of my forehead. I should be pulling tractors with my teeth."

[denn034]

Clemens'' "with the painkiller lidocaine and the vitamin B-12" statement flies in the fact of McNamee''s "steroids and human growth hormone - both performance-enhancing drugs banned by the league" assertions. It boils down to who you''re going to believe. Personally, Clemens is just too big to believe him so, I''m going with McNamee.

[swakachi]

The mere fact that he says he was INJECTED with something shows how shady this is. Plus, everyone who''s been caught using steriods has always used the vitamin B12 ploy. He''s following the same cycle. Why can''t he swallow B12 capsules like everyone else in America? There''s little doubt...it wasn''t B12 he took but steriods. I don''t understand why these people can''t come clean. It''s not so much the steriod use as the deceiving. He''s going to be exposed like everyone else has and it''ll be a tragedy for him and his family.

[bobnjersey]

[Personally, Clemens is just too big to believe him so, I''''m going with McNamee.]
[Posted by denn034 at 04:09 PM : Jan 03, 2008]\

do you have any darts?

[godofredo29]

What''s actually the most ridiculous is the idea that baseball players would even use steroids. It''s like if bridge players used steriods--so they could throw the cards harder. Baseball is about as much of a sport as bridge is. Come back when you''re talking about real athletes using steroids.

[georgew1956]

trainers are too blame for ( some ) of this
they too could be talked into by ( owners ) to juice the player to get players like cleamons to play well
so fans would get into the game and boost attendance
so don''t blame all the players for something that ( could have ) been the fault of the Owners and trainers.

[Krazcarl]

Don''t you love it when the rich cover thier tracks!!

[antoniof123]

Let''s split hairs I only injected legal drugs.

What mushrooms now too god don''t you just love the way these jerks get away with everything.

[Al_Idaho]

Interesting group.... let''s hang Clements THEN see if he is guilty!

[fstop100]

I saw his nose grow longer during the interview.
Of course he is going to lie. Maybe he wants to run for public office in his next career.

[lonestar48-2009]

I think mocaleo''s remarks are not only right on the mark but extraordinarily profound: there are only two things you need to know about American Sports: THE NFL AND THE DALLAS COWBOYS.

This is the same we heard from Marion Jones. If Roger is as clean as he profess he is, HE SHOULD TAKE A POLYGRAPH AN SHARE THE RESULTS WITH THE FANS. His creditable wanes.

[care-less]

I am just amazed that my tax money has been spent on stadiums and now a congressional investigation of this most "pressing of issues". Do our politicians and congress not have "actual" business to attend to.

[klawkat]

Roger,why didn''t you say so at the beginning? Now I believe you. Yeah,right! The denial facade begins to crack.Until you are under oath, facing perjury charges if you lie, I don''t believe a word you say nor do I care.When you address those coaches and boys next week,I hope someone sneaks in a camera/video/cell phone.If the kids ask the right questions enough times, maybe we''ll all see a ''Kramer'' type meltdown. Roger, you are so''over''.

[thisandthat1]

Oh, please! You''re just digging the hole a little deeper with each ridiculous statement, Roger!

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[chuck4577]

Steroids and large amounts of money are turning most of these so called professional athletics in to idiots, they are clueless to anything we say or think, all the money they are given to play is just ridiculous and any records broken by them (steroid users) shouldn''t stand, they don''t just think their above other people in life they think they are gods!!! I took my nephew to his first baseball game 2 years ago and we were out by the players entrance where there was about 10 kids looking for autographs and here came Jason Giambi, he walked right passed (with his nose up in the air) those excited kids as if they weren''t even there. What a JERK!!!

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[thisandthat1]

raknyc ..... once would have been plenty!

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[bandolph]

I am amazed at the total acceptance of accusations as decrees of guilt. May you never stand accused.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[apolloknowsa]

I am an athletic trainer. I worked for two professional baseball teams and one team in the NFL and I NEVER injected ANYONE EVER. A personal trainer has NO medical certification/licensure. An Athletic Trainer has a specific scope of practice and it DOES NOT INCLUDE INJECTIONS. that is illegal, in and of itself.

To start off, no trainer should be injecting ballplayers. I never did, I don''t know any that did. I had players asking me for tips on drugs/etc. and I would tell them to work out, put down the beer, go to bed (your own) before 4 AM and show up to practice once in awhile (more than they normally do).

If he was getting an injection from a trainer, not a nurse or a doctor, he knew he was doing something wrong...every injection that I ever saw in pro sports was by a licensed physician (cortisone--a steroid used to reduce inflammation, or an anesthetic before surgery...never in the workout room and never by a trainer...if trainers (personal, especially that have NO MEDICAL TRAINING) are giving injections, they should be punished under the state licensing laws.

[bandolph]

Lidocaine works great at removing the pain by blocking nerves. There has also been a deafening silence in the media about the other named players.
Why draw attentin to yourself when the world just wants to pretend that just Roger and Barry are bad guys. Stay low.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[raknyc]

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you were unfairly accused of cheating, wouldn''t you defend yourself? How come then, there''s been a deafening silence from the other 100 major league ballplayers who were named in the mitchell report...Is it possible that only Clemens was unfairly accused? Fess up Roger, because you''re just miring yourself into a deeper and deeper pile of #@#$ every day.

[hazelknows]

It''s such a shame most atheletes today sell their future health for $$$ and fame. Baseballs hall of fame is tainted with drug addicts, and Roger is no different, he is from Texas (he''s a liar)

[random_radar]

Just because a trainer accuses people of using illicit substances doesn''t mean it is true. The government loves to lean on people to be witnesses.

If the trainer is guilty of a crime, the government will offer him leniency if he names bigger fish as criminals. Maybe they are guilty, but maybe they aren''t.

The government doesn''t actually care about guilt or innocence. They care about big name convictions that are feathers in their caps.

If you believe our justice system convicts the guilty and exonerates the innocent, you are pathetically naive. The justice system punishes those too weak to defend themselves and those who are targets of opportunity for the personal agendas of politicians and their supporters.

The moral of the story is don''t get on the bad side of politically powerful people or you, too, will wind up rotting in jail on trumped up charges.

[toldyousojoe]

Earth to Clemens. We ain''t buyin your ***.

[klawkat]

Great comment from apolloknowsa. If it was so ''legal'' Roger, why did he have to inject you in Skydome APARTMENT and NYC APARTMENT? Couldn''t he do it in the trainer''s room or did your ego even prevent you from letting your teammates know? You''re such a fraud.

[busdunc]

No one with any sense believe Clemens. There is no way this trainer guy just threw Clemens name in his list of players who did steroids or HGH. The trainer is not that stupid nor did he have to name Clemens. Others the trainer named have finally admitted it so obviously Clemens is running the table on excuses.

The last thing Clemens wants is a court date (which is why he did not file a lawsiut) so he is making speeches and doing TV interviews and talkng through his lawyer.

Bottom line if you did not take steroids/HG - you sue the guy - ah but that would make you get on the stand and do a Bonds perjery thing now wouldn''t it? Since you know you took them, you''re kinda screwed since no one believes your rhetoric.

[busdunc]

trainers are too blame for ( some ) of this
they too could be talked into by ( owners ) to juice the player to get players like cleamons to play well
so fans would get into the game and boost attendance
so don''''''''t blame all the players for something that ( could have ) been the fault of the Owners and trainers.

TOTAL *** -

Players have final say on what they take, not some trainer. The players bought these drugs with cash, under the table, and lied about it the entire time. No trainer is guilt of anything. What do you think happened? The trainer gets the drugs, the owners hold the players down yelling "take these drugs or you''re gone". Grow up Peter Pan, Count Chockula, the players did this for bigger numbers = bigger contracts .. ain''t no trainer living in Beverly Hills.