Jeter: Steroid scandal 'bad time for the game'

BY KAT O'BRIEN | kat.obrien@newsday.com

February 13, 2008

TAMPA, Fla. - It's not only fans of the game who are curious about the outcome of today's congressional hearing involving Roger Clemens. Yankees captain Derek Jeter is among those who will be paying attention.

"I think everyone's a little bit interested," Jeter said yesterday after working out at the Yankees' minor-league complex. "You hear so much about it. Like I said before, it's a soap opera. Interested is one of the words you could use."

Jeter, however, is more than interested about the negative impact the steroid scandal has had on baseball.

"I think it's disappointing for everyone who plays baseball," he said. "Not just the players, but management, ownership, the commissioner. I mean, it's a bad time for the game."

Among players alleged in the Mitchell Report to have used performance-enhancing drugs, Jeter is particularly close to Clemens and teammate Andy Pettitte.

"It's disappointing. I mean, I feel for what their families have to go through," Jeter said. "As far as Andy's situation, he admitted it, it's over with, it's done with. I'm sure he'll address you guys, whether he wants to or not ... but after that, it's a dead issue."

Jeter said he couldn't speak for Pettitte, but because Pettitte is human, he "can only imagine it will bother him." Jeter also said he has had contact with Clemens, but not about steroids.

Despite the number of players who have been caught using performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball, Jeter said he never saw or heard anything firsthand. "If someone were to do it," Jeter said, "I don't think they'd announce it."

The Yankees shortstop said no one ever offered him steroids: "No, uh-uh. Not at all," he said. "I never even had a conversation."

Jeter said he never felt tempted to try steroids. He first joked that the reason was: "I realized a long time ago, I wasn't going to hit home runs, so it was never an issue."

He then said that because his father, Charles, was a drug and alcohol counselor, he knew more about the dangers and potential negative effects than others might have.