Roger Clemens has told a Houston TV station that he isn’t upset with the Yankees for not including him in the final festivities at Yankee Stadium and claims he didn’t even watch the game.
Interviewed today by FOX 26 (KPIV) prior to a Champions Tour pro-am round of golf, Clemens said he did not watch the final game played at the Stadium, when his name was not mentioned during pregame ceremonies honoring many Yankees greats and not-so-greats.
“They had some story that I was watching it. I was actually in Florida in the Instructional League at the time the game was going on, the last Yankee Stadium game was happening, I was on a plane flight coming home. So I never saw any of the game itself,” Clemens said.
After being named in the Mitchell Report detailing performance-enhancing drug use in baseball, and testifying in front of Congress along with accuser Brian McNamee, Clemens has been in a sort of baseball exile.
That testimony prompted an FBI investigation into whether Clemens lied to the committee.
The right-hander did not pitch in 2008 after going 6-6 with the Yankees following a ballyhooed return midway through the 2007 season.
Clemens, an 11-time All-Star and seven-time Cy Young Award winner with a 354-184 career record, told the station he has no intention to play again.
“Right now I don’t have the desire to do so,” Clemens said. “I’m enjoying what I’m doing, the number of things I’m doing around town, just enjoying that.
“I don’t know if I will ever say no. I would have to know that I could perform at a high level and that my body would be able to hold up.”
Clemens has a personal services contract with the Houston Astros and last season worked with the team’s minor leaguers, which include his son Koby.
Clemens and Dodgers manager Joe Torre were the most notable names omitted from the Stadium closing celebration the night of Sept. 21.
Clemens’ mother-in-law, Jan Wild, told The Post that Clemens was “heartbroken” while watching the final game at home in Texas after Hurricane Ike.
“Debbie (Clemens’ wife) and I held his hand while we watched the game, and he was heartbroken,” Wild said on Sept. 22. “Not mad. He still loves baseball and the Yankees, but it was sad what they did to him.”
That report says Clemens flew to Florida the next day.