Clemens began affair with singer when she was 15: report
NEW YORK (AFP) — Embattled Major League Baseball star Roger Clemens began a 10-year affair with country music singer Mindy McCready when she was just 15 years old, the New York Daily News reported Monday.
Citing several unnamed sources, the newspaper's report is the latest blow to the legendary pitcher's reputation as he fights allegations of steroid doping and remains under investigation for lying at a Congressional hearing.
Clemens began the affair when he was 28, a married father of two and pitching for the Boston Red Sox while McCready, now 32, was a karaoke bar performer dreaming of a singing career, the News reported.
Such an affair would undermine the defamation lawsuit Clemens filed on January 6 against former trainer Brian McNamee, who claimed he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone several times between 1998 and 2001.
Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award-winner nicknamed "The Rocket", testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on February 13 that he never took steroids or human growth hormone.
But two months ago, committee chairman Henry Waxman asked the US Justice Department to investigate Clemens because his accounts differed greatly with those of McNamee and Andy Pettitte, a former Clemens teammate also trained by McNamee.
McCready is the subject of a reality television show and documentary and lives in Nashville, Tennessee, as she attempts a musical comeback with a new album.
Rusty Hardin, Clemens' attorney, said Clemens and McCready had a long-term relationship but also told the Daily News it was not sexual in nature.
"He flatly denies having had any kind of an inappropriate relationship with her," Hardin said. "He has considered her a close family friend. ... He has never had a sexual relationship with her."
Hardin also said Clemens' wife Debbie knew McCready and knew the singer had traveled on the plane with the pitcher.
McNamee attorney Richard Emery told the News that a romantic link between Clemens and McCready that spans his years pitching for Boston, Toronto, the New York Yankees and Houston Astros could haunt Clemens.
"The issue in Roger's suit against McNamee is Roger's reputation and how it has been damaged," Emery told the News. "If it's proved he's a philanderer, his reputation is already damaged.
"When you sue for defamation, you put your whole reputation in the community at issue. Anything is fair game, including his claim of sanctimonious purity. We would cross-examine him and other witnesses who might impact on his alleged behaviour. We would probably subpoena her and witnesses who knew (them).
"He's a 'family man'. He implies that. It's about what his damages are. All is fair game."
