NEW YORK — Baseball star Roger Clemens is usually the one throwing the fastballs, but in the last few months, most of the heat seems to be aimed at the legendary hurler.
Already facing allegations of steroid use, Clemens, 45, is now the center of an affair with Mindy McCready, which was confirmed by the country singer on Tuesday.
"I cannot refute anything in the story," McCready, 32, tells the New York Daily News, which first broke news of the pair's relationship on Sunday.
According to the Daily News, the couple first met in 1990, when McCready, who was just 15 years old at the time, was singing in a karaoke contest at a Florida bar. Clemens was 28 at the time and already a married father of two.
"Yes, I have known Roger Clemens for a long time," McCready confirmed to the paper in a prepared statement. "He's a kind and caring man."
McCready went to the Rocket's hotel room later that night, but sources say the relationship wasn't physical in the early stages. It wasn't until McCready became a star some time later that the couple became intimate, the Daily News says.
The affair could have an impact on the ongoing FBI investigation into whether Clemens committed perjury when he denied, under oath, that he had used performance-enhancing drugs during the course of his career. The accusations were made by Brian McNamee, a former personal trainer for the seven-time Cy Young Award winner. In January, Clemens filed a defamation suit against McNamee.
"If the case heads to trial and is not dismissed, as we feel it should be, we will be calling [McCready] as a witness," McNamee's attorney, Richard Emery, tells the Daily News.
On Monday, Clemens's lawyer, Rusty Hardin, confirmed the couple's longtime relationship, but said it was not of a sexual nature.
"At no time did Roger engage in any kind of inappropriate or improper relationship with her," he said in statement.
- Comment
