STEVE INSKEEP, host:
All-star pitcher Roger Clemens says he never took anabolic steroids or any other banned performance-enhancing drugs.
(Soundbite of TV show, "60 Minute")
Mr. ROGER CLEMENS (Pitcher): The stuff that's being said is ridiculous. It's hogwash for people to even assume this.
INSKEEP: That's a taped interview in which Clemens spoke on the CBS program "60 Minutes." It was broadcast last night. This was Clemens' latest attempt to salvage his reputation after last month's release of the Mitchell Report on doping in baseball. Roger Clemens was the most prominent player named in the report.
And we have more this morning from NPR's Tom Goldman.
TOM GOLDMAN: Nearly a month ago, the Mitchell Report revealed testimony by Roger Clemens' longtime personal trainer, Brian McNamee. McNamee said he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone several times during three different seasons. But it wasn't until last night that the public got to hear Clemens answer questions about those allegations for the first time.
Clemens' interrogator was the venerable Mike Wallace, famous tough guy journalist who's taken on heads of state and religious leaders. But critics noted Wallace also was a friend of Clemens and an occasional visitor to New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner's ballpark suite. Would that be enough to soften Wallace's hard edges? Here is some of last night's Q and A.
(Soundbite of TV show, "60 Minute")
Mr. MIKE WALLACE (Host): Did your former trainer, Brian McNamee, ever inject you?
GOLDMAN: Yes, said Clemens, with Vitamin B12 and Lidocaine, a local anesthetic.
(Soundbite of TV show, "60 Minute")
Mr. WALLACE: Never, never a human growth hormone?
Mr. CLEMENS: Never.
Mr. WALLACE: Never testosterone?
Mr. CLEMENS: Never.
Mr. WALLACE: And never anabolic steroids?
Mr. CLEMENS: Never.
Mr. WALLACE: Swear?
Mr. CLEMENS: Swear.
GOLDMAN: McNamee testified for the Mitchell Report with a guarantee that he'd avoid going to jail by telling the truth. But Clemens told Wallace, McNamee's claim of steroid injections is not the truth.
(Soundbite of TV show, "60 Minute")
Mr. WALLACE: What did McNamee gain by lying?
Mr. CLEMENS: Evidently not going to jail.
Mr. WALLACE: Jail time for what?
Mr. CLEMENS: Well, I think he's been buying and moving steroids.
Mr. RICHARD EMERY (Attorney): Roger's answer makes no sense.
GOLDMAN: Richard Emery is Brian McNamee's lawyer.
Mr. EMERY: Because in order to stay out of jail, Brian had to tell the truth, which is what he did.
GOLDMAN: But Emery says Wallace didn't point that out. John Sowatski(ph) is a professional journalist who teaches reporters how to do interviews. He says he was disturbed by Wallace's lack of follow-up questions with Clemens. For instance, Wallace noted that McNamee said in the Mitchell Report that he injected Clemens' longtime pitching buddy Andy Pettitte with human growth hormone, and Pettitte publicly acknowledged it.
(Soundbite of TV show, "60 Minute")
Mr. WALLACE: Why would Brian McNamee tell the truth about Andy Pettitte and lie about you?
Mr. CLEMENS: Andy's case is totally - is totally separate.
GOLDMAN: John Sowatski.
Mr. JOHN SOWATSKI (Journalist): Wallace never asked what is separate about it. Again, he just dropped it.
GOLDMAN: Wallace did ask Clemens why he was speaking out now rather than before the Mitchell Report came out in mid-December.
(Soundbite of TV show, "60 Minute")
Mr. WALLACE: Why didn't you speak to George Mitchell's investigators?
Mr. CLEMENS: I listened to my counsel. I was advised not to. A lot of the players didn't go down and talk to him.
Mr. WALLACE: No, I know.
Mr. CLEMENS: But if I would have known what this man - what Brian McNamee would have said in this report, I would have been down there in a heartbeat to take care of it.
GOLDMAN: In his report, former Senator George Mitchell writes: In order to provide Clemens with information about these allegations and to give him an opportunity to respond, I asked him to meet with me. He declined.
It appears Clemens and several other players will not have that luxury next week on Capitol Hill. They've been invited to testify at a congressional hearing about the Mitchell Report. Clemens says he'll say under oath what he said last night. Brian McNamee's lawyer, Richard Emery, insists what Clemens said is enough to sue for defamation, but Emery says he wants to see what happens when this battle over the Mitchell report goes to Congress before he goes to court.
Tom Goldman, NPR News.
INSKEEP: And by the way, Clemens has filed his own defamation suit against the personal trainer. This is NPR News.