Stats' Spiel Archive :: The Sad Truth

Stats is back. I'll be dipping into the Stats' Spiel archive over the next few months to see what I can find. For my first edition of the Stats' Spiel archive, take a look at this Spiel from last year, slightly updated to reflect changes in the story...

Guilty until proven innocent is right, Roger. That’s the argument Roger Clemens has used in trying to defend himself from accusations that he used steroids.

Guilty until proven innocent. It’s sad to think in America it could be true, but indeed it is, especially in the case of Clemens.

We all remember back at the end of 2007 and early in 2008 when Clemens was implicated in the infamous Mitchell Report by a guy you’ve never heard of…Brian McNamee. And, by default, the no-name was hailed as right and the star was branded guilty.

Sure, there are a lot of red flags which go to show that McNamee’s claims are true. He accused Andy Pettitte of using HGH, and Pettitte came out and admitted it, giving the former trainer some credibility.

Clemens had pitched very well into his middle forties, an extraordinary age for an athlete to still be at the top of the sport. Barry Bonds falls in that category as well.

Clemens is accused of being overly defensive and angry. In his taped phone conversation with McNamee, some point out that he didn’t simply tell him to come to his news conference and say that Clemens was not a juicer.

Doubters have said that Clemens should have immediately come out, without a lawyer’s backing, and denied the charges in a press conference if he was truly innocent.

And I’m sure there are other reasons people think he is guilty, and have thought so before he got the chance to explain himself.

Now, I’ll come right out and say it, I have always wanted to believe Roger Clemens. And if you are a true baseball fan, you should want to believe that of the best players in history has done it naturally. Perhaps that’s influencing my thoughts.

First off, Clemens has never failed a drug test. That’s impossible to argue with.

Clemens really did not get that much bigger throughout his career. He always was a big guy, unlike Bonds. The size Clemens did gain seems to be from working out and aging.

The Rocket did come out the day the Mitchell Report was released and denied the accusations about him in a statement through his lawyer. In a situation like that, it was smart to consult his lawyer first.

He issued a video statement denying the charges. He had a tougher-than-expected interview with Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes. He conducted a live press conference. All of the things doubters wanted to see.

To me, the taped phone conversation was a positive for Clemens. Roger said several times that he needed the truth to come out, and never did McNamee say that he did indeed tell the truth.

If McNamee had indeed told the truth to Mitchell, wouldn’t he have responded to Clemens and said that? I think he would have.

I also agree with Clemens on a couple points he makes. Steroids do not make you hit the ball or throw strikes. They can build muscle to help you hit farther or throw faster, but they can’t do everything.

Now as we enter 2009, Clemens is about to be indicted by a grand jury to try to prove that he lied to the government when he testified on Capitol Hill back in January 2008.

The sad fact is that today you are guilty until proven innocent. He is right. He does deserve the benefit of the doubt after a great career. But one guy nobody has ever heard of says Roger Clemens is guilty.

And Clemens is never going to be able to prove otherwise. Guilty until proven innocent is right, Roger.