When Roger Clemens attacked a Boston Herald journalist over a controversial story published about him

Roger Clemens, a former MLB legend, had a historic career that stretched more than 24 years. During that time, he established himself as one of the greatest pitchers of all time. He played for four different franchises and was selected to the All-Star team eleven times. But post-retirement, certain off-field controversies painted Clemens in a bad light. Because of this, he was never included in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Even in his playing career, he was embroiled in a few controversies. One of them included a major tiff with a Boston Herald journalist dating back to 1992. Roger Clemens was disturbed about a column written by Herald journalist George Kimball. In the article, Kimball claimed that in 1990 Clemens refused to sign an autograph for a 70-year-old woman's dying grandson.

After a post-match media outing, Clemens refused to give an interview to anyone unless Kimball was kicked out of the room. He went on to insult George with profane statements and eventually left.

“I’ve been here 8 1/2 years, and that’s the lowest blow I’ve ever had since I’ve been here. I can take criticism on the field, but you’re bleep. Take off. You’re a bleep lowlife, and it’s obvious the way you take care of yourself. Take a hike. Get your dead bleep out of here. That’s a low blow, and you know it. I hope you can sleep at night.” -Roger Clemens was quoted saying

Kimball, on the other hand, tried to clear it out to the rest of media personnel that Clemens waited till he had an audience. Clemens admitted that he had not encountered Kimball till the story was published, but Kimball countered by saying that he and Clemens had met mere days before their altercation.

“That’s an absolute lie,” Kimball had said. “I was standing in front of his locker. I was there Thursday and Friday if he had something to say, but he waited until he could count on an audience and also waited until he won his first game in six weeks.”

Roger Clemens didn't even read the story about him

George Kimball further cleared it out that Roger Clemens was accusing him of nothing. The Red Sox star hadn't even read the entire piece that was written about him. Nowhere in the article was it claimed that him not signing the autograph hampered the child's health in any manner.

“Roger didn’t even read the column. He said (that) the kid died because he didn’t sign. There’s not the slightest suggestion of that. She (the grandmother) also admitted in the column that she didn’t tell Roger of the situation. I made it clear that, had she told him what she wanted the autograph for, I’m sure he would have gone out of his way to accommodate, but that still doesn’t excuse his appalling rudeness,” Kimball had added.