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HOUSTON, Texas: The lawyer of Roger Clemens responded on Friday to
reports that photo evidence exists that may contradict the embattled
baseball star’s sworn testimony before Congress.
The New York Daily News reported that a man has
a photograph of seven-time Cy Young Award-winner Clemens at a 1998
party hosted by former Toronto Blue Jays teammate and admitted
steroid user Jose Canseco.
The man in question was a neighbor of
Canseco’s and was just 11 years old at the time. He reportedly
walked around at the party taking pictures of his baseball heroes.
“It is impossible for us to comment on the
photograph itself because we haven’t seen it,” Clemens attorney
Rusty Hardin said in a statement.
Canseco has testified that Clemens was not at
the party.
“We know that baseball announcers broadcasting
the games at the time said Roger was not at the party,” Hardin
said. “Jose Canseco has said Roger was not at the party, as has
Canseco’s former wife.
“Roger was playing golf at the time of the
party and has stated that he may have stopped by the Canseco house
after playing golf before heading to the ballpark for the game.”
Whether Clemens attended the party was a focal
point of the February 13 hearing before the House Oversight and
Government Reform committee, where Clemens and former trainer Brian
McNamee gave sworn testimony regarding Clemens’ alleged use of
performance-enhancing drugs.
Clemens testified under oath that he was playing
golf prior to that night’s Blue Jays game against the Florida
Marlins.
However, McNamee testified that the 45-year-old
Clemens was indeed at the party, which was mentioned in Senate
Majority Leader George Mitchell’s report on steroids and human
growth hormone use in baseball.
McNamee told Mitchell he saw Canseco, Clemens
and a third person talking together but didn’t hear what was said.
According to Mitchell’s report on doping in
baseball, it was sometime after that party that Clemens approached
McNamee and raised the subject of using steroids.
The House committee still is debating on the
next step regarding the steroids investigation.
Sources have told the Daily News that they
expect the committee to refer the entire matter, not just the
Clemens investigation, to the Justice Department.
“We haven’t heard anything one way or the
other,” Hardin told the Daily News.
-- AFP
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