Yankees Great Don Mattingly Blasts Clemens Trial As 'Waste Of Money'
OAKLAND, Calif. (WFAN/AP) — Tell us how you really feel, Donnie Baseball.
Yankees great Don Mattingly ripped the five-year federal investigation into pitcher Roger Clemens on Tuesday as a complete "waste" of resources and money.
The 49-year-old Clemens was acquitted Monday on all six counts that he lied to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs.
"What a waste. I was thinking about it after all this time, what a waste of resources," said Mattingly, now manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. "Then you hear about teachers and stuff who don't have paper and pencils for kids, and it seems like what a waste. What a waste of money. Really, I don't think anybody cares. At this point nobody cares, it's like, 'So long.'"
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Mattingly played against Clemens for more than a decade while with the Yankees early in the 354-game winner and seven-time Cy Young Award winner's career with the rival Boston Red Sox. Mattingly — a .311 career hitter (23 for 74) with eight RBIs and three doubles against the right-hander — also served as bench coach of the Yankees in 2007 during Clemens' final big league season in the Bronx.
Mattingly figures the government has much better ways to spend money than investigating superstar athletes such as Clemens, Barry Bonds and cyclist Lance Armstrong.
"What a waste of money," Mattingly said.
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Mattingly said he hopes Major League Baseball is finally beginning to move forward from the Steroids Era thanks to improved testing and stiffer penalties for those who fail drug tests.
"I don't know. It seems like something always pops up, you know? It always creeps back a little bit," Mattingly said. "It's definitely getting behind us, I think, as we go. I think the biggest thing is better testing and thorough testing. You start getting HGH testing and you're getting better testing, it just kind of reinforces to guys that you can't get away with it, and it's going to be an equal playing field. That's what I like.
"It kind of protects players from the players, it protects organizations, it protects fans, it protects everybody. I think the testing protects everybody."
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