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WW: Can you provide some more detail on how you found the best chapter subjects? Was there anyone that you found that you wanted to feature in the book and could not?

Mayo: I’ll answer the second question first. Probably the guy I wanted to talk to the most was Mike Piazza, for obvious reasons. I figured if I could get him to talk about the 2000 World Series as well as how well he hit Clemens, that would be ideal. But Mr. Piazza wasn’t interested. Maybe he’s saving the story for his own autobiography?

In terms of finding other chapter subjects…It started with a lot of searching on Retrosheet.org. Those guys are awesome and I always have to give them credit. I began by looking at Clemens’ career batter vs. pitcher stats. From there, I was able to pick out the guy who’d faced him the most (Cal Ripken Jr.) and a guy who’d had considerable success against him (Ken Griffey Jr.). Doing some more digging allowed me to find someone who was in the lineup when Clemens made his big-league debut (Julio Franco) and, in general, the research enabled me to build out chapters based on a single meeting like a World Series. Along the way, I found interesting tidbits like the fact that Dave Magadan faced Clemens in the 1983 College World Series. Doing something on one of the 20-strikeout games was a must and I was able to contact Phil Bradley who was on the Mariners in 1986 and was the 20th and final “K” of the game.

WW: It is interesting that, with each subject who talks about Clemens, in your book, you're able to paint a picture about them or about some event they were part of (etc.) while also staying true to telling their "Clemens" story. During this process of learning more from the subject themselves, was there one thing that amazed you the most? What was it?

Mayo: I don’t know if there was any one thing about the subjects that came out that amazed me. It certainly was enjoyable uncovering facts like the fact Torii Hunter really wasn’t as serious about baseball as he was about football until late in his high school career when scouts started paying attention to him or that Johnny Drennen, the minor leaguer who homered off of Clemens in 2006, has a dad who had a military career. There were great tidbits like the fact that Cal Ripken Jr. never struck out more than 100 times in a season and only topped 90 twice, the first two years of his career. Or how about that Clemens wasn’t even supposed to pitch against the Mariners in 1986 when he struck out 20. He was supposed to pitch one game earlier on the road, but it got rained out. The most amazing thing about that game, and his repeat performance in 1996 against the Tigers, is that he didn’t walk anyone in either start. That’s right, 18 IP, 40 K, 0 BB. That’s amazing.

WW: With all that we've been hearing about Clemens lately, is there anything that was not included in the book that, now, you wish you had been able to address?

Mayo: Wow, that’s a loaded question now, isn’t it? Had there been time, I would have liked to go back and either include reaction from each subject in each individual chapter or do some sort of epilogue, a one chapter add-on that would include as much reaction to the recent news as I could get. I’m sure some players might want to stay away from the subject, but I bet some of the former ones would have some really interesting things to say. Who knows, maybe some day I’ll be able to do just that (second printing? Sequel?), but for now it’ll have to suffice to let the book stand on its own merits and try to address the Mitchell Report and everything in interviews like this.

WW: Timing is everything, huh? When I read the chapter from Ripken (on Clemens) where Cal said that Roger's fastball had dropped off in his last few years in Boston and then suddenly came back strong when he was in Toronto, I thought "Had George Mitchell read this, Cal Ripken may have had a date on Capital Hill!" Actually, in reading the book, to me, it comes across as a good "old fashioned baseball book." By this, I mean that it was entertaining and educational to me, as an adult - but, it was also a book that I would have no reservations recommending to a younger baseball fan - say, someone as young as ten years old - because there's nothing in these stories that you would not want a kid to read. Was there a target audience that you had in mind for your book? Or, did it just work out that way that it's a good read for baseball fans of all ages?

Mayo: I think the idea was just to target baseball fans in general, though I had adults in mind as I was reading it. I wouldn’t have hesitated to put some salty stories into it had they come up, but almost all of the conversations I had were very baseball-centric. There were other tales told about friendships and meetings, things of that nature, but it’s not like I kept any sordid clubhouse lore from the book because I was catering to a younger audience. If it works out that it’s good for baseball fans of all ages, I’m all for that!

WW: What would you say is the one, or most important, thing that you want people to take away from reading “Facing Clemens”?

Mayo: That I’m a nice guy with two young children to support? In all seriousness, if it’s at all possible to separate out what’s happened in recent months, do so. There is no doubt that the landscape has changed, but I think the one thing the book says strongly is that the challenge of trying to hit Roger Clemens is no different. Regardless of your current opinion of him, at the time of the meetings between the hitters I interviewed and Clemens, none of that mattered. He was, and will forever be, one of the toughest right-handers to face in the history of the game. I think readers of the book will gain an understanding and appreciation of that far beyond what looking at his career numbers would do.

Thanks to Jonathan Mayo for spending some time to share more about "Facing Clemens: Hitters on Confronting Baseball's Most Intimidating Pitcher."

I found the book to be an interesting read. The book gives you a good feel for how batters felt about Clemens' "mound presence" - in that, when he pitched, it was as if "he owned the ballpark."

There's plenty of other insight in the book as well. For example, here's Darryl Hamilton talking about the 2000 World Series: "We [the Mets] went into the World Series thinking we had a better team the year before, but we didn't get there. I think we were happy, obviously, to be in the World Series, but we weren't so locked that we were saying we could win it. I know that's weird to hear, but I think that's just the way a lot of guys were thinking. Especially after losing the first game the way we did, it really brought a downer to the way we were going, If we win Game 1, obviously, the intensity turns around."

Hey, what can a Yankees fan say to that - other than "Thank you Timo Perez!" And, of course, thanks to "Facing Clemens" for the telling of the story!