Baseball Musings: Pettitte News Conference

February 18, 2008

Pettitte News Conference

The Andy Pettitte news conference is just getting underway. Cashman and Girardi are sitting on either side of Pettitte. His attorneys are going to be available after the conference.

Update: Pettitte thanks the Yankees for giving him more time. He apologizes to the Yankees, Astros, their fans, baseball fans, and his own fans for the embarrassment. He's sorry for the mistakes he's made, but did it to get off the disabled list, not get an edge.

Update: He hates being between Clemens and McNamee, since both are friends. He's sorry he didn't tell the whole truth at the beginning, but was trying to protect his father.

Update: Jeter, Rivera and Posada are there in support. Andy says he hasn't talked to Roger Clemens.

Update: Pettitte is refusing to answer questions of the type, "Did you misremember what Clemens told you?"

Update: A reporter just asked Pettitte if he thought about not pitching. Andy said it crossed his mind. Pettitte said it wouldn't be honorable to do that.

Update: George Vescey asks about how Pettitte's religious beliefs weighed on the decision. Pettitte says in 2002 he felt it was the right thing to do. He says having this press conference will help him sleep at night.

Update: Pettitte is asked about breaking a ballplayer's code by talking. He says when you're put under oath you have no choice, and that sitting there in front of the committee was intimidating.

Update: Pettitte was just asked if he knew about the Mitchell report before he signed the contract. He had to be reminded of the dates of the contract and the report, then he says he did know, but he didn't feel he misled the Yankees.

Update: Andy is asked if he's a cheater. He doesn't think so because he didn't use it to get stronger. He understands, however, that people may think he's lying and they probably think he's a cheater.

Update: Peter Abraham asks if Andy ever used PEDs at any other time. Pettitte says no. Someone else asks if HGH helped him. Pettitte says no, he probably didn't use it long enough.

Update: They just asked Pettitte how he can concentrate on the season if Roger is indited and Andy is asked to testify. I'm always amazed at these questions. He's a professional athlete! He gets on the field and competes.

Andy says he hopes it doesn't come to that.

Update: I'd say so far the questions and answers haven't been too adversarial. Pettitte is keeping calm, and doing his best to answer the questions he can. If he doesn't understand a question, he asks the reporter to rephrase it.

He just asked why McNamee wouldn't be truthful. Andy says that as far as his use is concerned, McNamee was truthful.

Update: My Baseball Bias is also live blogging the conference.

Update: Andy is asked if the game is clean now, or what MLB should do to clean it up. He says after seeing what he's gone through, players are going to clean up quick.

Update: Pettitte says he hasn't heard from MLB, but he doesn't think he'll be suspended. Asked if he's ready for spring training, Pettitte says his arm is fine, but his legs aren't quite there yet.

Update: Andy says he's not worried about what people will think of his career in historical terms. He's very humble about his pitching. He says he's not a great pitcher, but he battles and plays for a great team.

Update: At the end of the conference, Andy's lawyer says the contract was signed a week before the Mitchell report came out. So it's not clear if he knew about the Mitchell report before he signed the contract.

Update: I thought that went well for Andy. There was no confrontational questions, and Andy tried to be as cooperative as possible. He wouldn't answer the one question most people wanted answered, what does he remember of his conversations about HGH with Roger Clemens. He appears to be getting a lot of support from his teammates and the owners. I'm guessing he'll be okay.

Posted by David Pinto at 03:04 PM | Cheating | TrackBack (0)

Comments

While Pettitte wasn't completely forthright with his usage of HGH initially, he truly is one of the classiest guys in the league.

Posted by: Andrew Ryan at February 18, 2008 03:18 PM

What makes him classy? Is it because he's a decent pitcher?

Posted by: Basura at February 18, 2008 03:33 PM

if he were classy, he wouldn't have done it in the first place. Pettitte squeezed out the truth in drips and drabs after getting caught, kind of like Bill Clinton.

Posted by: rmt at February 18, 2008 03:38 PM

Ridiculous. He says nothing of substance and he's lauded as honorable for speaking out at all (not by BM, by the general media). We've certainly set low standards.

Andy isn't disliked as much as Roger, so he gets less flack. I used to think it naive for others to call the steroid investigations as a witch hunt. Now I can see that I was the one being naive. While it may be important for me to see the game cleaned up, clearly the majority just want to see the douchebags gets humiliated while the other cheaters get a pass. Shame, that.

Posted by: JC at February 18, 2008 04:18 PM

JC is right - but under that douchebag theory, why would anyone read Mike Lupica's work?

Posted by: rmt at February 18, 2008 05:39 PM

I should have elaborated more on the classy part. While I in no way condone Pettitte's behavior, or any other MLB'er who's taken the illegal road to improve performance, Pettitte appears to have a heart and has shown genuine contrition for his actions. Maybe he's like the rest of them too, but I don't get that feeling.

Posted by: Andrew Ryan at February 18, 2008 09:07 PM

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