Sat, Jan 05, 2008 page19

• Clemens admits injections, not steroids

  'FOR MY JOINTS' Pitching great Roger Clemens told '60 Minutes' his former trainer injected him with a painkiller and vitamin B-12, not steroids as the trainer had claimed

  • AFP
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  Roger Clemens, the 45-year-old Major League Baseball superstar pitcher accused of being a dope cheat by his former trainer, denied taking performance-enhancing substances in a television interview.

  CBS released a partial transcript of Clemens' interview to be aired Sunday on the 60 Minutes news program in which Clemens claims that Brian McNamee injected him only with the painkiller lidocaine and the vitamin B-12.

  Asked if McNamee ever injected him with any drugs, Clemens said, "Lidocaine and B-12. It's for my joints and B-12 I still take today."

  Clemens called McNamee's accusations "ridiculous" and said he "never" used banned substances, although for much of Clemens' career there was no doping test program or any ban on steroids.

  The comments by Clemens, saying McNamee lied when he told investigators that he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone (HGH), set the stage for a defamation lawsuit that McNamee's lawyer vowed to file.

  Clemens, expected to answer more questions about the doping accusation after the airing of the interview, was among more than 80 players named last month in an investigation of baseball doping by former US Senator George Mitchell.

  McNamee cooperated with the probe as part of a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid charges of drug dealing or lying to federal agents. He said he supplied steroids and human growth hormone to Clemens and Andy Pettitte, who has already admitted taking the performance-enhancing drugs.

  Richard Emery, McNamee's attorney, told the New York Times he would file a lawsuit against Clemens if he claimed McNamee was lying.

  "He has got a chance to protect himself," Emery told the Times. "We're not going to sue him if he doesn't do it. But if he does it we're going to sue him."

  That would likely send Clemens to a court trial and could force him to testify under oath whether or not he was taking steroids and HGH.

  "It's really a huge risk ... to subject Roger to a Manhattan jury on either our defamation case or a perjury case when he testifies under oath," Emery said.

  Rusty Hardin, a lawyer for Clemens, said that when it came to the 60 Minutes interview, "Roger told the truth. It is that simple. I encourage Mr McNamee to watch the program."

  McNamee worked with Clemens while he pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees and said he injected Clemens with steroids at least four times in the 1998, 2000 and 2001 seasons and four to six times with HGH in 2000.

  Clemens is a seven-time Cy Young Award winner for top league pitcher and together with tainted home run king Barry bonds lead the list of doping tainted talent unearthed by the Mitchell Report.
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