Roger Clemens Loses In the Ballfield of Public Opinion

A book is coming out today about Roger Clemens and his inabilty to maintain his success on the mound into real life firepower against his accusers. The book, American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime is written by four reporters for the New York Daily News, Teri Thompson, Nathaniel Vinton, Michael O'Keefe and Christian Red.

In the book, the writers contend Clemens' story is right out of a classical tragedy. The very qualities that once made Clemens unstoppable on the mound- aggression, a huge ego and a relentless compulsion to win were the very qualities that brought him down, "in the legal arena, on Capitol Hill, and in the court of public opinion."

A year and a half ago we predicted this outcome as Clemens and his attorney Rusty Hardin launched a win-at-all-costs defense against Clemens accusers that left absolutely no room for any question as to Roger's innocence. Accusers were attacked, Congressional members with questions were threatened by Hardin and his famous quote, "If any of these guys dares to question my client's innocence, Roger will eat their lunch".

In short, Clemens vociferous denials actually turned a roving spotlight on a number of MLB players completely fixated on him. In many ways, the authors suggest, Clemens sealed his own fate when he decided in early December of 2007 that he was going to respond to the Mitchell report by doing what he's spent his career doing- going on the offensive. He hired Rusty Hardin as his attorney and the two launched a barrage of noisy, self-righteous public denials on You Tube and 60 Minutes- denials, the Daily News learned from congressional sources, that actually persuaded lawmakers they needed to question the pitcher under oath.

So what should Clemens and Hardin have done in the wake of allegations of steroid abuse? We would have suggested first executing a vulnerability audit of the pitcher and the potential allegations that could have been thrown at him from others like McNamee with "skin in the game". The Mitchell report was a surprise to no one and Clemens must have known he would be included in the report- so why didn't he prepare ahead of time? Who remembers Andy Petitte acknowledging he took steroids before a game or two to speed recovery from an injury so he could help his teammates win a tournament? Sometimes a mea culpa that is restricted to a specific instance or two can go miles in exonerating a person about a larger issue.