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Byline: Austin American-Statesman Editorial

Roger Clemens is either the most wronged athlete since Jim Thorpe or one of the most brazen liars in the history of athletics.

Clemens, baseball's only seven-time Cy Young Award winner, claims the eyewitness accounts in the Mitchell Report of him using steroids are lies. He denies ever using steroids or human growth hormone.

If Clemens is telling the truth and the Mitchell Report is wrong, he has been harmed beyond measure. His assured ascendance to baseball's Hall of Fame, his Cy Young Awards, his reputation, his endorsements and his livelihood will have been wrecked by false allegations.

Clemens, though, will need indisputable proof to thwart the statements by former trainer Brian McNamee that he injected Clemens with steroids. Clemens will need blood tests, a retraction from McNamee or other validation that will support his denial.

Simply saying he didn't cheat with steroids or growth hormone isn't enough for Clemens to sway public opinion or organized baseball in his favor. Worse for The Rocket, pitcher Andy Pettitte, Clemens' former teammate on the Yankees and Astros, admitted that McNamee's statement about him using drugs was true.

Pettitte's admission makes it harder for the public to accept Clemens' denials. Also, many of the other players and former players accused in the Mitchell Report have been linked to steroids or other drugs for years.

If Clemens did use steroids to help him enhance and extend his fabulous career, then he deserves all the criticism that will be heaped upon him. Clemens might never admit using performance-enhancing drugs and it might never be proved that he did, but if he can't prove McNamee is lying, his reputation will remain in tatters.

It is still in the early innings of this saga, and the former Texas Longhorns star is fighting back. He's got a video up on YouTube saying he never in his life used steroids or human growth hormone, and he's scheduled for an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes" early next month.

Clemens and his legal team also have hired a private investigator and are conducting their own investigation.

Unlike in a criminal trial where guilt must be established, Clemens is in the unenviable position of having to prove his innocence. And there's too much at stake for him to think a verbal denial or his own paid investigator can restore his reputation.

Clemens is one of the most successful and celebrated pitchers in baseball history. He was an automatic admission to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown before Mitchell's report. His record now bears a stain that can only be removed by verifiable proof. Even a lawsuit wouldn't necessarily remove the taint. Without other evidence, a trial would be more of what we have now - a swearing contest between Clemens and McNamee.

Surely McNamee knew that his statements could ruin one of baseball's greatest pitchers. Surely McNamee understands the devastating fallout from his accusation. He must, and that only adds to his credibility.

The stakes couldn't be higher for Clemens. No one has more to gain from proving his innocence or more to lose from failing to.

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Byline: Austin American-Statesman Editorial Roger Clemens is either the most wronged athlete since Jim Thorpe or one of the most brazen liars in the history of athletics. Clemens, baseball's only seven-time Cy Young Award winner, claims the eyewitness accounts in the Mitchell Report of him using steroids are lies.

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