Andy Pettitte Apologizes at Press Conference

On Monday, February 18th, the New York Yankees and pitcher Andy Pettitte held a press conference regarding Pettitte's given testimony on the topics of performance-enhancing drug use, Roger Clemens, and Brian McNamee.

Also present at the conference were Yankees' General Manager Brian Cashman, Yankees' Manager Joe Girardi, catcher Jorge Posada, pitcher Mariano Rivera, shortstop Derek Jeter, and Andy Pettitte's attorneys.

As the press conference began, after the "ground rules" were given, Andy Pettitte appeared to be loose and relaxed, at times smiling.

To begin the conference, Pettitte read from a statement that he himself prepared because he felt he was "too stupid" to remember everything. In his statement, Pettitte thanked the New York Yankees organization for their leeway, as they allowed him to remain with his family a few days extra. He then moved on to apologize to the Yankees and Houston Astros organizations for any embarrassment he may have caused them. He also apologized to all of his fans, especially any young children who may have looked up to him. He also apologized to his father, as he did many times during the press conference, for bringing him into this situation.

Also in his statement, he thoroughly explained that he used the Human Growth Hormone to rehab an injury, not to gain a competitive edge.

He also proclaimed that anything he said regarding Roger Clemens and all other matters were the complete truth.

In spite of the situation he was placed in, Pettitte thanked Brian McNamee for his assistance in Pettitte's workouts and also thanked Roger Clemens for the teacher that he was to Pettitte, and made it clear that he (Pettitte) values his friendship with Clemens.

After Pettitte's short prepared statement, the event moved to the question and answer portion, in which Pettitte assured that he would answer all of the questions that he could.

The questions of the day were diverse and there was only one question that Pettitte refused to answer and that was when he was asked to give his opinion on Clemens' statement that Pettitte "misremembered" a conversation that they had. However, when asked about Clemens he said that he has not recently spoken to Roger and that he hopes that their friendship will "still be there" once the situation is remedied.

Pettitte also added that he did not recall any conversation about specific HGH use and experience in said area with Roger Clemens.

Pettitte said that he was first told about HGH and that it may help him recover from his injury by Brian McNamee and that he was at first hesitant about using the drug. He said that he used HGH out of stupidity and desperation.

Andy Pettitte explained, when asked, that he does not know much about baseball's "clubhouse code" and is not worried about any such "violation."

In considering baseball itself, Pettitte said he believes that the game is "being cleaned up."

In regards to the New York Yankees organization, Pettitte says that he does not feel that he had misled the Yankees, since he signed his one year contract days before the Mitchell Report's release. Pettitte added that he had spoken to Hank, Hal, and George Steinbrenner and that they were "100 percent behind [him]."

In summation, Pettitte seemed remorseful saying that in hindsight he would never have used HGH had he known the outcome would be this. He also said that he was relieved to talk about his situation and that he hopes that he can put this situation behind him, and that he was ready for the upcoming season.