The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime
Starred review from May 11, 2009
In a definitive examination of illegal drug use in America's pastime, "sports investigative team" Thompson, Vinton, O'Keeffe and Red (of New York's Daily News) focus on one-time Hall of Fame-bound pitcher Roger Clemens and his former trainer, Brian McNamee, who accused Clemens of relying on steroids and human growth hormone to prolong his lucrative career. (Clemens, upon this book's publication, continued to deny the allegations.) Both men were featured prominently in 2007's 409-page Mitchell Report investigation; in this decade-spanning account, they're surrounded by a motley cast that includes sports execs, drug dealers, lawyers, mistresses, elected officials, and former and current players such as Jose Canseco, Andy Pettitte and Alex Rodriguez. Richly detailed, the muscular narrative often reads like a thriller, though numerous subplots don't always connect. Relying on hundreds of on- and off-the-record interviews and access to public and private documents, this is an intricate and compelling case in which there are no heroes, but a notable villain-the League itself-whose lax approach to the issue ensures baseball's steroids era isn't over.
Starred review from May 15, 2009
By now the scenario is all too familiar. There is the iconic sports figure who defies the effects of aging and the ravages of his sport. There is this athletes shadowy personal trainer. Then come accusations of steroids use, a federal investigation, flat denials, Senate hearings, and so on. Now, take this framework and plug in Roger Clemens, one of the greatest baseball players of his generation, and the familiar story becomes shocking all over again. Clemens, who earned seven Cy Young Awards and was one of baseballs elite, saw his reputation torched when he was named in the famed Mitchell Report on the illegal use of steroids in major-league baseball.The investigative team for the New York Daily News traces Clemens spectacular fall in this comprehensive and well-written account. Using court documents, copious interviews, and other sources, they painstakingly lay out their position that Clemens began using steroids back in 1998, when he first asked his personal trainer, Brian McNamee, to inject him. The book then carefully follows Clemens career, showing a relationship between Clemens accomplishments on the mound and his use of performance-enhancing drugs. Theaccount often reads like a detective novel, with the authors revealing the underbelly of professional baseballthe furtive injections, gravy trainers (hangers-on), secret mistresses, and smarmy agents who pervade the sport. Things turn ugly when federal authorities put the squeeze on McNamee, and Clemens lashes out at McNamee and demands a congressional hearing. The reporting here equals that of another steroids-in-baseball book, Fainaru-Wadas Game of Shadows (2006), andit buildsa daunting case against Clemens.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)