The 1998 baseball season Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa had the great home run chase that recaptured the hearts of baseball fans across the country. And as the new millennium came to pass, home runs shot off of players' bats like lava out of volcanoes. Unfortunately for the fans of the game, these home runs resulted from players taking illegal substances in order to hit more pitches out of the park and make more money. But all of those who hoped their favorite players cheating was just some sick dream could not look away from the report that senator George Mitchel sent commissioner Bud Selig in 2007. Within the pages of the report, the names of sluggers, power pitchers, and bench guys who were all trying to make the team, were found to have used some form of performance enhancing drug. On that list was one player, the most defiant of all who testified before Congress, decided to approach his accusers the only way he knew how; head on without fear of consequences. This man's name is Roger Clemens, and today, his perjury case was deemed a mistrial.
According to reports, the trial was called off because the prosecution had presented evidence that was previously ruled out of the case; videotaped testimonies of teammate telling Clemens' wife that Clemens confessed to using a performance enhancing drug. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton deemed the evidence to be too prejudicial and that such evidence would not enable a fair trial. And although Walton scheduled a hearing on September 2nd to determine the possibility of a new hearing, he could declare double jeopardy and stop the case completely. Under double jeopardy, Clemens could not be tried for perjury again, and the rocket could away from his alleged crimes unpunished.
Clemens may have been able to blow people away on the mound, but his performance in court had been the equivalent of a junk ball pitcher that got every break imaginable. Clemens was called to the stand in 2008, and said to congress that he never knowingly took performance enhancing drugs. When evidence that his teammate, Andy Pettitte, had recalled a conversation with Clemens in which Clemens directly told Pettitte he took human growth hormone, the rocket had said Pettitte 'misremembered' their conversation. But Pettitte's testimony was barred from the trial. And yesterday, there was evidence presented to the court that Clemens had needles and cotton balls with the star pitcher's DNA and steroids on them. Clemens' lawyers even said that the DNA on the needles and cotton balls was from Clemens. This case should have been a slam dunk for the prosecution, but instead, they got reckless and now Clemens is virtually off the hook.
Clemens may have a mistrial in a court of law, but he, like every other steroid user, has been found guilty in the court of public opinion. Sports writers who are voting on which players get into the hall of fame have taken a hard stance against former players found guilty of steroid use. Take Mark McGwire for example. Big mac denied that he took steroids, and got caught in his lie. Not even a blubbering admittance of his wrongdoing on ESPN has aided McGwire in his hall of fame bid; for the percentage of writers who voted McGwire in the hall has dropped each year big mac has been on the ballot. But unfortunately for the people's court, the memories created by Clemens on the field will be forever tainted by the steroid era stigma; and the jilted feeling all of the fans have gotten from cheating players will not fade.
