Clemens is linked to country singer

NEW YORK -- Roger Clemens had a decade-long relationship with country star Mindy McCready that began when she was a 15-year-old aspiring singer and the pitcher was a Boston Red Sox ace, the New York Daily News reported.

Clemens’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin, confirmed a long-term relationship but told the newspaper it was not sexual.

“Mindy McCready is a longtime family friend of Roger Clemens and the Clemens family,” Hardin said in a statement Monday. “At no time did Roger engage in any kind of inappropriate or improper relationship with her. It is unfortunate that the Daily News has chosen to report anonymous allegations that are completely unfounded, have no basis in fact, and have nothing to do with Roger’s baseball career or the issue of steroid use in baseball.”

The story, which appeared on the newspaper’s website Sunday night and in editions Monday, quoted several people who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.

McCready’s lawyer, Lee Ofman, said he did not have any comment on the Daily News story.

Clemens was 28 and a married father of two when he met McCready, the newspaper reported.

The story could undermine Clemens’ reputation, which is central to the defamation suit the former pitcher has filed against former personal trainer Brian McNamee. McNamee contends Clemens used performance-enhancing substances during his major league career.

The newspaper said Clemens sent cash to McCready to help her with legal issues and reached out to her when she was in jail last year.

McCready, 32, was sentenced in September for violating probation from a 2004 drug arrest and was released from jail Dec. 30. The violation occurred in July when McCready was accused of scuffling with her mother and resisting arrest at her mother’s home in Fort Myers, Fla. She still must serve two years’ probation.

McCready had a No. 1 single in 1996 with “Guys Do It All the Time.”