Teri Thompson

354 wins. Some 4,000 strikeouts, millions of dollars earned, hundreds of millions of dollars in value sold to the world-consuming public. Around fifteen shots in the tail took him down.

This book came out in the middle of 2009, a year removed from the 2008 hearings which sank Roger Clemens. Most of the reporting contained here can be sniffed out in a few long articles published that summer, maybe one or two SI pieces. Fact of the matter, the authors here rehash what we already know, just like this review so far.

The authors miss out on why this story fascinated so many - Roger's out-sized personality, the banality of McNamee's testimony and the sleaziness of the lawyers involved. While McNamee & the lawyers dance and prance for the pleasure of the reading audience, we miss out on the space the 95-mph fastball left: no Roger. At no time does book move beyond the police blotter and into the realm truly great sports writing. Read the Times Review (smart piece) and try Book of Shadows, or anything written in an earlier era. It will be pure, like American nostalgia.

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