Back in 1986, Roger Clemens was arguably the second most beloved athlete in Boston, behind Larry Bird. For Clemens, the highlight of that year was April 29 when he broke the MLB record for strikeouts in a game with 20 against the Seattle Mariners. That night was not only one of the greatest games ever pitched, it also threw Clemens into the spotlight. Now, in 2010, over 24 years later, Clemens is back in the spotlight. Only now, it’s not for the right reasons.
Since Senator George Mitchell presented his landmark report in 2007, Clemens has found himself in the midst of the giant scandal known as the steroid era. The report questioned the integrity of many of the games superstars. When Clemens and close friend Andy Pettite were named in the report by their former trainer Brian McNamme, they reacted very differently. Pettite quickly admitted to steroid use and explained that he only used PEDs in 2002 to recover from an injury, never to gain a competitive advantage. Meanwhile Clemens flatly denied every claim and called McNamme a liar.
However, 2 years later Clemens is back in the news. This time because he was indicted by the federal government on a charge of lying to congress, stemming from a 2008 hearing where he denied use of performance enhancing drugs. What this indictment means is that the government has evidence that Clemens took performance enhancing drugs. This basically means he lied to the public.
The Clemens’ saga is not going away anytime soon. With Clemens entering a plea of not guilty on August 30th and a trial coming around a year from now, if anything, it’s only going downhill from here. If Clemens is found guilty the penalty is most likely 15-21 months in prison and a hefty fine. However, what a conviction would really mean is that Clemens could surpass Barry Bonds and Rafael Palmeiro as the official face of the steroid era. Not only will all of the former Cy Young winner’s records and awards be invalidated, Clemens’ chances of making the Hall of Fame would be slim to none. It’s a terrible turn of events for a man who was once the most respected and beloved athlete in all of Boston.
The truth is, an indictment means nothing without a conviction. So perhaps it is best to withhold judgement on Clemens until all the evidence has been presented. After all, now that the issue has entered a court of law, Clemens is innocent until proven guilty. And that is how he should be seen.