October 22, 2010 (now yesterday) was the tenth anniversary of the Clemens-Piazza World Series Game, in which I had three cameo roles. I was the dugout reporter charged with trying to find out what the hell had happened, I was the guy who first interviewed Clemens after the game, and I wound up with the smallest piece of the bat.

For the record, I’ve always actually believed Roger Clemens’ story, though he articulated it so poorly. When Mike Piazza’s bat shattered, at least four projectiles left the area of his hands: three pieces of bat, and one ball. Clemens couldn’t be certain that the blur coming at him was not the ball. In the split second he had, he grabbed it, found it indeed wasn’t the ball, and tossed it. Supporting evidence: What? He tried to break Piazza’s bat in hopes of getting a projectile at him (rather than using the ball again)? And as crazy and hopped up as he was, if he had aimed the bat shard at Piazza, wouldn’t he have hit him?

Hopped up?

Check this scan of a print of a freeze frame from our interview. Ten years after, it still makes me laugh: