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Report: Clemens had affair with country singer

Country star Mindy McCready, left, and former New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens reportedly began an affair when McCready was just 15 years old. (Photocomposite. AP and PAUL J. BERESWILL, Newsday)

BY JIM BAUMBACH | jim.baumbach@newsday.com; This story was

April 29, 2008

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It was one year ago next week when Roger Clemens made his surprise appearance in the Yankee Stadium owner's box and announced his return to pinstripes. He received a resounding standing ovation that day.

My, how things have changed in The Rocket's life.

As if it wasn't bad enough that his former trainer implicated him as a steroid user in the Mitchell Report and in front of Congress, Clemens' reputation yesterday took another hit. The Daily News reported that Clemens had a 10-year affair with a one-time country music star.

Oh my goodness gracious.

The newspaper's report stated that Clemens met Mindy McCready at a karaoke bar in Fort Myers, Fla., when she was 15 and he was 28. McCready's mother, Gaye Inge, confirmed that version yesterday in a story posted on the Fort Myers News-Press Web site. But she described the relationship as purely platonic.

"They were friends," she said. "That's about all I could tell you."

Clemens' lead lawyer, Rusty Hardin, did not return messages yesterday after he told the Daily News the same thing, that Clemens and McCready were longtime friends, but nothing more.

Although it seems unlikely, this alleged affair could potentially impact Clemens' defamation lawsuit that he filed against his former trainer, Brian McNamee. Clemens said McNamee's accusations of Clemens' steroid use hurt his otherwise clean reputation.

Now McNamee's lawyers appear ready to argue that Clemens' reputation never was clean to begin with.

McNamee's defamation lawyer, Richard Emery, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press, "If true, it's just another example of Roger's pervasive prevarications which will be at the core of any defamation case."

McNamee's team of lawyers have already filed papers to get the suit thrown out of court and to have Hardin removed from the case because he at one point represented Clemens and Andy Pettitte, a potential witness. They have also discussed filing their own defamation lawsuit against Clemens.

McCready, 32, is currently attempting a comeback after a six-year stretch in which her music career plummeted and she had trouble with drugs, alcohol and the law. She spent three months in jail last year after repeatedly violating her probation terms.

McCready's lawyer, Lee Ofman, refused to comment.

This story was supplemented with an Associated Press report.