In the wake of Roger Clemens’ acquittal on Federal perjury charges, The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman is quick to declare said verdict doesn’t make the Rocket, “any less a manipulative sleazebag.” Of course, “one man’s creep is another woman’s hero,” and without further ado, here’s some quotes Raissman collected from the besotted Suzyn Waldman (above), she of the orgasmic, “oh my goodness gracious” moment.
“There are a lot of people in this game, who write about this game, and who talk about this game, who were very invested in Roger Clemens being guilty,” Waldman said. “They are not going to change what they think.”
No, she wasn’t going to name names. She left that for the rest of us to figure out. Waldman was more transparent saying Cooperstown is all about the “history” of baseball and those alleged to be steroid cheats “with the numbers” – such as Clemens and Barry Bonds – still deserve to be voted into the Hall. The steroids era, she said, is part of the game.
“You can’t whitewash history. You can’t keep an entire group out because you don’t like how they got to the game,” she said. “We don’t know what happened. You can think you know Roger Clemens and everybody else took steroids. I don’t know and you don’t know.”
Waldman had some choice words about commentators with that particular opinion. The only ones fit to print in a family newspaper are “self-important.” Yet there was also an undeniable media consensus that the next “jury” Clemens faces, Hall of Fame voters, is the panel most important to him. And that he will be crushed, his life will come tumbling down, if he is not enshrined in Cooperstown.
“You don’t think Roger Clemens is prepared for this? Waldman asked. “. . . You don’t think Roger knows some writers don’t like him for one reason or another? Roger Clemens is a lot of things but he’s not stupid.”