Roger Clemens is still fighting claims he abused steroids and performance enhancing drugs. Carlton Fisk isn’t waiting for him to come clean, the way Mark McGwire did recently.
“The reason [Clemens] got let go from the Red Sox was because he was starting to break down,” Fisk told the Chicago Tribune.
“His last couple of years in Boston just weren’t very productive, a la ‘The Rocket.’ Then all of a sudden he goes to Toronto and he wants to show somebody something. Then he gets two consecutive Cy Young Awards (in ’97 and ’98). Come on, give me a bucket.”
In 1995 and 1996, Clemens’ final two years with the Red Sox, he went 20-18 with a 3.83 ERA. In his two years with the Blue Jays, Clemens went 41-13 with a 2.58 ERA. Clemens signed with the Yankees the following offseason.
“It’s obvious to players. You notice that stuff,” Fisk said. “You know how hard it is to play the game. You know how hard it is to be productive at any age, but especially at an older age. You see guys who are as productive later on as they were early (in their careers). It offends guys that stayed clean. But (the abusers) set their great, great, great grandchildren up for the rest of their lives. “
McGwire said he used steroids to recover from injuries and it had no effect on his on-field performance. McGwire hit 583 home runs in his career, including a record-setting 70 in 1998 — one of the years he owned up to using steroids.
“That’s a crock,” Fisk said.
“There’s a reason they call it performance-enhancing drugs. That’s what it does: performance enhancement. You can be good, but it’s going to make you better. You can be average, but it is going to make you good. If you are below average, it is going to make you average. Some guys who went that route got their five-year, $35 million contracts and now are off into the sunset somewhere. Because once they can’t use (steroids) anymore, they can’t play anymore.”
Fisk said he knew McGwire was doing steroids even before he came clean last week.
“I didn’t just find this out,” the former Red Sox and White Sox catcher said.
“I worked hard in the gym to look like I did and feel like I felt. (Catching) took a toll on me, too. A lot of people knew. Nobody wanted to really address the issue. But when you have some of these obscene numbers being put up by people who shouldn’t even be there. … I mean, you know what’s going on. … The people it should have been most obvious to are the people who covered it up by not addressing it.”