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Why did would-be Hall of Famer Roger Clemens choose to stay in his hometown of Houston this season? Maybe it was to stay closer to his lawyer.
When scrub pitcher Jason Grimsley got popped this May for receiving human growth hormones in the mail, he retired and started squawking like a stool pigeon, ratting out several former teammates until he hired a lawyer who told him to shut the hell up.
In his affidavit he named former Yankees trainer Brian McNamee as the guy who told him where he could get amphetamines, anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. McNamee also happens to be the personal trainer of The Rocket and his Houston teammate, former Yankee Andy Pettitte.
Four four months the names of the players who Grimsley accused of being on some sort of juice were redacted from the documents... until today. Your local paper the LA Times became privy to the names, and several are all-stars: Miguel Tejada, Brian Roberts, and Jay Gibbons of the Orioles; Pettitte and Clemens of the Astros; and former Oriole, David Segui, who admitted earlier that he was on HGH.
A source with authorized access to an unredacted affidavit allowed The Times to see [the affidavit] briefly and read aloud some of what had been blacked out of the public copies. A second source and confidant of Grimsley had previously disclosed player identities and provided additional details about the affidavit. The sources cooperated only on condition of anonymity. According to the affidavit, Grimsley told investigators that Clemens "used athletic performance-enhancing drugs." He also allegedly said Tejada used anabolic steroids.
Local boy Gibbons went to Mayfair High and attended Cal State LA and was part of a Baltimore team that also included would-be Hall of Famer Rafael Palmeiro who tested positive for steriod use last August after he told Congress that he had never used steriods.
Palmeiro later claimed that the reason that he tested positive was due to a "vitamin" that he received from teammate Tejada. Baltimore later absolved their MVP shortstop of any wrongdoing, believing his word that he had given Palmeiro a B-12 injection, and not anything illegal.
photo via Aerosmith.com
