Jeff Pearlman, Author of 'The Rocket That Fell to Earth,' Dishes on Roger Clemens

Jeff Pearlman is best known as the reporter who was on the receiving end of John Rocker's now infamous rant about taking the No. 7 train to Shea Stadium in New York City, but he hasn't stopped digging up dirt on America's most famous -- and controversial -- professional athletes since that interview.

Jeff has authored four books over the last five years. The latest -- a biography of Roger Clemens titled The Rocket That Fell to Earth: Roger Clemens and the Rage for Baseball Immortality -- hits bookshelves nationwide Tuesday March 24.

FanHouse was lucky enough to speak with Jeff Tuesday afternoon about Clemens, the man, and many of the juicy details in the book. The full interview is after the jump.

FanHouse: Jeff, this is your second book about a fallen hero of baseball's Steroids Era, the first being Love, Me Hate Me about Barry Bonds, but Roger Clemens seems to come across as a much more sympathetic figure than Bonds. Would you agree with that?
Jeff Pearlman: I would agree. I don't feel that he's a more sympathetic character toward the end, but he spent most of his career as a pretty decent guy. He was not a bad teammate. He was accessible to the media. He was much more fan friendly and receptive than Bonds. Writing this book, it was much easier to be fair. I interviewed probably 500 people who knew Barry, and maybe 20 of them had something good to say about him. There was a guy in the Bonds book, a Pirates photographer, who said he hoped he would die. There are very few people who loathe Clemens like that, and he has quite a few defenders.

FH: Who is a bigger egomaniac -- Clemens or Bonds?
JP: I think both. Those last few years were painful for Clemens, the desperate way he was basically inviting attention and asking people to ask him to come back. I think you kind of have to have an ego to be that good, you can't help developing one when you're a star on that level. It's a tie.

FH: Is there a particular point -- and it seems like there could be many in the book -- but is there a particular point where you think Roger Clemens became "The Roger Clemens," where a great pitcher sort of bought into his own hype, started believing his own press clippings and set him on the road to where he is today?
JP: It started with his brother [Randy]. With most pro athletes, I think you learn that either you win and you're happy or you lose and you're a complete and total loser, and Randy was the first one to teach him that. I think the first real major change was at San Jacinto [College], where he suddenly started throwing in the 90s, and a lot of his teammates talked about his attitude.

He was definitely "The Roger Clemens" at Texas. I mean you think about him on the mound in the 1983 College World Series final against Alabama and looking up at the sky and yelling. He was basically challenging God.

And then you look his first start in the minors at Lakeland, Fla. He strikes out the first six guys he faces and then beans the seventh. I mean, there were a lot of little moments. Singular moments like that are great for movies.

FH: Clemens comes across as a pretty simple guy -- maybe even dumb -- in the book, yet his reasons for using PEDs are complex, or at least seem to encapsulate all the reasons a player would use -- to get an edge, to stay healthy and in good shape and to further enhance his legacy. What do you think was the biggest motivator?
JP: You know, that was the toughest thing about writing this book is that he really is a simple guy. Everything around him is interesting -- his mom, his brother, his teammates, even the decisions he makes -- but there isn't much to him.

Bonds was devious. The things he did, his reasons for doing things were complex and not always obvious.

Roger, sometimes I imagine his mind being like 'baseball, baseball, baseball, breasts, baseball, baseball, baseball, need to eat something, baseball, baseball.' He really makes everything in his life about the game. I mean he buried his mom in a necklace with 21 diamonds. Each of his four kids' names start with a K for strikeout. Who does that?

As far as the steroids, he wasn't the typical guy who used. He could have not used and had a lot of 14-10 seasons. Then he still gets into the Hall of Fame. Being great just isn't enough for some of these guys though. It's a bummer, and that's why I don't understand people who defend Bonds or Clemens now.

FH: You do a great job of painting just how tiresome Clemens' constant flirtation with retirement became at the end of his career. Do you think if the Mitchell Report never comes out Roger Clemens would still be playing Major League Baseball?
JP: I do. I could easily see if someone called him up right now and said come pitch for us, he'd do it. The excuse he used to use was his family, you know, he wanted to see his kids grow up. But now, half his kids are grown up, one of them [Koby] is playing in the minor leagues. If he still had a chance, yeah, he'd still be pitching. It comes down to what else does he do? It's the same thing with Bonds. I'd love to know what Barry is doing with his life right now.

FH: It seems like there's a parallel between Clemens and Mark McGwire too, in that both are never going to see the Hall of Fame and both ended their public life with a shameful appearance before Congress. Yet, McGwire seems comfortable or at least resigned to his fate and the Clemens in your book is probably being eaten up inside by the way things have turned out. Do you think he's blaming himself at all right now or wishing he could have done things differently?
JP: Tyler Kepner [of the New York Times] told me writing this book that "[Clemens] doesn't do introspection." Over the course of his life, he's very infrequently blamed himself for anything, even losses in baseball. It's just the way he's wired. I think he believes he's been wronged here. It's the same way he convinced himself the guy at the plate, even if it was Sal Fasano or something, was Darth Vader trying to steal his lunch money or something. He's convinced himself he's been wronged.

It's sad. I take no pleasure in seeing an icon like this fall.

FH: You get the sense that Roger Clemens is only comfortable on the pitching mound, so how much is his virtual banishment from the game killing him?
JP: It has to be killing him. He liked pitching and he liked being in the spotlight. You know, he did a lot charity -- and this is no criticism -- but he did it because he liked bringing that joy to people. He enjoyed it -- him being Santa Claus. I gotta think he misses that. You know he was active in the Houston community, now his name's being taken off of stuff.

The thing is, I don't think he's evil. He did a lot of good. He just kind of a doof and a bully (on the mound).

FH: Do you think Alex Rodriguez owes his former teammate a thank you note for showing him the way not to handle being outed as a steroid user and do you see any similarities between the two?
JP: I think both of them are glaring examples of why I don't want my kid to be a professional athlete. It's like you were saying about being comfortable on the field. This is what it takes to make it as an athlete and they often end up poorly adjusted. I think you end up comfortable in so few areas of life.

Anyway, I think Clemens owes A-Rod more of a favor because he took him off the back pages.

FH: Finally, two of the more controversial parts of the book don't even have anything to do with Clemens directly. The first being the part where you basically expose Mike Piazza as a steroid user and the second where you describe [general manager] Brian Cashman in the Yankees clubhouse during a game yelling at Jason Giambi to get back on whatever stuff he was using in Oakland. Can you talk a little about those parts and what they say overall about the culture of baseball?
JP: Baseball was out of control. Cashman, I'm sure he was joking, but it all adds up to a generation gone wrong. Everyone was under suspicion and players keep being outed. What bothers me is did anyone ever ask Roger Clemens -- and I mean team executives with the Astros or Yankees -- did anyone ever ask how he was throwing 'have you ever used because on this team we don't want to go that way.' Where is the accountability from executives in baseball. Shouldn't you at least ask someone in his 40s how he's throwing 98 mph fastballs. It's wrong for the players to take all the blame.

You can order Jeff's book here and read his blog here.