The Clemens EffectCheating the Game and Cheating the Truth

On December 13th, 2007, Senator George Mitchell (D-ME) published the much anticipated Mitchell Report. This report was the conclusion of a twenty-month investigation regarding the use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball (MLB). For approximately the last fifteen years, there have been rumors and whispers around baseball about the use of steroids. Some of these rumors came to light with the publication of Game of Shadows by Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, a supposed “tell-all” book about steroid use in baseball. One thing this book did was to expand the scope of alleged steroid use in baseball from just small time players to the superstars of the era, such as Barry Bonds. The Mitchell Report was supposed to be a comprehensive report of steroid use, with the goal of stopping the use of steroids in baseball once and for all. This report named 89 current and former MLB players who allegedly used steroids or human growth hormone (HGH). After reading the report, I was immediately shocked, not by the fact that there were 89 players in the MLB who apparently cheated (in fact there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, more players who escaped this report), at the complete lack of evidence in Senator Mitchell’s report.

The bulk of the report’s case was based on the testimony of two men, Kirk Radomski, a former batboy and employee for the New York Mets, and Brian McNamee, a personal trainer to several high profile athletes. Sadly, none of the report’s evidence came in the way of any physical evidence (like positive test for performance enhancing drugs or anything along those lines), but less concrete circumstantial evidence. The fact that the words of two men have been taken as Gospel should be raising more eyebrows around the country.

Of these 89 players, the biggest name by far is Roger Clemens. Clemens is arguably the best baseball pitcher of all time. He has won seven Cy Young awards (the award given annually to the best pitcher in each division of the MLB), two more than any other pitcher in baseball history; he is also one of four pitchers to have more then 4,000 strikeouts in his illustrious career. Yet with the publication of the Mitchell Report, the question has been asked, Did Clemens cheat his way to the top?

Brian McNamee is the former trainer of both Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, who are long-time friends and teammates. Andy Pettitte has already admitted to using HGH in order to overcome an elbow injury; further, he claims to have been part of a discussion with Roger Clemens about the star pitcher’s own HGH use. As a result, Andy Pettitte has provided the most damning testimony against Roger Clemens.

The most recent turn of events has come in the form of a congressional hearing. In this hearing, Clemens and McNamee sat at a table in front of a congressional committee and, for lack of a better phrase, the two had a “lie off.” Clemens claims that Pettitte does not remember the conversation correctly and he was in fact talking about his wife’s use of HGH. He also maintains that he has never taken HGH or any other type of performance enhancing drug. On the other hand, McNamee has already changed his story multiple times. Both Clemens and MacNamee have made murky claims, and have proved that this situation is more ambiguous than concrete. Did Clemens take HGH or some other form of performance enhancing drugs? Chances are good that he probably cheated the system in one way or another. Did McNamee exaggerate the scope of players and number of times he directly saw these players take performance enhancing drugs? Chances are good that this is also true. So whom do we believe?

For the time being, the investigation has gone as far as possible. It is possible that Clemens, and potentially McNamee, will face charges of perjury, but unless new evidence comes to light, the chances of that happening are slim.

The repurcussions of the scandal may go beyond the players. In previous cases where professional athletes have been caught, or have admitted to, using certain performance enhancing drugs, there is evidence that the use of those drugs has increased by up to 1000% among youth. One troubling thing to keep in mind is that this spike came only after a few players admitted to cheating. If the entire scope of baseball’s steroid use comes to light, and hundreds or thousands of players are shown to be using various drugs, the effects on today’s youth could be catastrophic. I sincerely hope that the truth behind steroids and cheating will sink in, because if this happens, it could have devastating effects for the athletes of tomorrow.