The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime, by Teri Thompson, Nathaniel Vinton, Michael O’Keeffe, and Christian Red. Knopf, 2009.
In case you haven’t been paying attention, the topic du an in baseball lit is steroids/PED. No less than four major titles consider the science and those who use performance enhancers and several others have it as at least a main theme.
American Icon kind of flew in under the radar. A collective work by a quartet of NY Daily News reporters cobbled this research-intensive expose on Clemens and his “partner in crime, ” Brain McNamee, who supplied and injected him with the drugs. Clemens denied all the allegations long and loud.
In the opening author’s’ note, they write
We stand by the sources, both on and off the record, we’ve chosen [emphasis mine] to believe. And we feel strongly that anyone who reads this book carefully and objectively will come to the same conclusion.
Sorry, no.
This book preaches to the choir. Those who believe Clemens guilty have no need to read, save to claim “conclusive proof” of the pitcher’s guilt and lies; those who still have faith in his innocence and those on the fence will not be convinced.
The writers — who form a macho-sounding “sports investigative team” — spend the majority of the book in McNamee’s corner. Sure, he may have supplied the drugs, just doing what his boss (Clemens) wanted him to do, but he was just trying to get along, not really doing any harm to anyone. It’s not like he was standing on a street corner dealing crack…. Several times the authors refer to McNamee’s time as a former police officer, as if that alone would indicate what a standup guy he is (what, there are no crooked cops?).
Like Selena Roberts in her biography on Alex Rodriguez, American Icon relies too much on unnamed sources, those who might have a professional or personal axe to grind against Clemens. They also have a tendency towards the over-dramatic: “McNamee had become a drug delivery man on the same streets he’d once policed as an undercover cop.”
The book follows a chronological format; the latter chapters cover in great detail Clemens’ appearance before Congress in February, 2008. Much of the information was covered in great detail at the time. The biggest revelation for me came in the Congressional testimony part of the book. That the federal government has nothing better to do with its time and our money is appalling, even for one who loves the game so much and wants to see justice prevail. But that the politicians would use this as a means to build their own agendas is even worse (although not, unfortunately, surprising).
Recently sports pundits such as the crew at Pardon The Interruption, have opined that it comes down to an age thing when discussing how to handle Clemens and all these players under the steroids cloud. Those over forty, they say, are much more strict as to who to let in while those under 40 just don’t care. American Icon tries hard to be the definitve book on Clemens, the fallen hero. If it becomes so, it will only because the fans just don’t care any more to warant further discussion.
is available on Amazon.com,
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