By BRIAN COSTELLO
May 7, 2008
WILMINGTON, Del. - As Koby Clemens travels to Carolina League stadiums from Delaware to South Carolina, he hears the hecklers. As he walks past the clubhouse TVs tuned to ESPN, he hears the commentators joking about his family. He tries to tune it out, but sometimes he'd like to yell back.
"I just want people to look themselves in the mirror before they judge," Koby said. "People make mistakes. I'm not perfect. I'm sure you're not perfect. Nobody's perfect."
Switching from third base to catcher should have been the most difficult part of this season for Koby Clemens. Instead he's spent bus rides from Delaware to Myrtle Beach thinking of his family back home in Texas, trying to tune out TV talking heads screaming about what his father may or may not have done. The 21-year-old is Roger Clemens' oldest son and is in his fourth year in the Astros farm system, currently playing for the Salem (Va.) Avalanche.
His father's inclusion in the Mitchell Report and the subsequent fallout overturned his life. Since then, he's watched his father get beat up in the media, the latest round dealing with whether his father was faithful to his mother.
He sat down with The Post last night before his team faced Wilmington and acknowledged the last few months have been difficult, but the recent storm has not fractured his family.
"We're strong and closer than ever," Clemens said. "No matter what anybody can write, no matter what anybody can say, you'll never break our family. That's how I feel about it. I'm not even going to give him a name because I'm not as low as that guy."
That guy is, of course, Brian McNamee, his father's former trainer and the man who has accused his father of using steroids.
"There's a lot of people that you think are your real friends. As it's gone further and further there aren't that many people pulling for my dad anymore, which really hurts. There's a lot of people that have done tons and tons of worse stuff, including the man that is against him."
Koby Clemens has thrown himself into baseball. He was batting .292 with one home run and 12 RBIs before last night, but the harder part has been adjusting to his new position. Koby has leaned on his father for advice on how to call games and how to communicate with pitchers.
"I can say that there is no person that could say that they could possibly ever have a better dad than I've had," he said. "My dad's always been there for me. My dad's done so much for other people. That's what really fires me up and (ticks) me off."
