TAMPA, Fla. -- David Wells disputed a claim in his autobiography that he was "half drunk" when he pitched his perfect game, maintained he gets along well with teammate Mike Mussina and hoped his book wouldn't be a distraction to the New York Yankees .
Wells apologized to Mussina and general manager Brian Cashman on Saturday and also said he should have looked closer at the draft of Perfect I'm Not! Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches and Baseball the book he wrote with Chris Kreski.
"I'm not going to rip the guy," Wells said. "I'm accountable for everything that I said in that book. That's just the way it comes out. It's my fault for not going through it with a fine tooth comb."
Wells addressed three of the major criticisms he heard about the book: his condition for the perfect game, comments he made about his teammates and claims of rampant drug use in baseball.
"Sometimes I'm too honest and that's probably my own fault," Wells said.
According to the book's galleys, Wells said he was "half drunk" when he pitched a perfect game against Minnesota in 1998 after partying until just a few hours before the game.
"I wasn't drunk the day I pitched the perfect game," he said. "I went out the night before. I took some aspirin and had a headache the next day."
Cashman said Wells apologized to the Yankees' organization in a 15-minute meeting. Wells plans to talk to Roger Clemens and other teammates on Sunday.
"I'm going to have more fun with what's written than worry about it," Mussina said. "I don't feel any different toward Boomer now than I did two days ago.
"He said something to me because he didn't want me to think that we wasn't pulling for me or wasn't as much a teammate as anybody else. He felt the need to say something."
Wells said his claim that he doesn't see "eye to eye" with Mussina referred to their first time as teammates in 1996 with Baltimore.
"We've grown up," he said. "We're different people now than we were then. That was just my opinion back then. Now we see eye to eye. He is a great guy. There's nothing wrong between us."
Wells also commented on Clemens in the book, saying: "If I were Mike Piazza, that broken bat would still be shoved up Roger's (butt)."
Wells said that wasn't meant as an insult.
"That's just me," he said. "That's not taking a shot at Roger. That's not bad mouthing him and putting bad blood between us. Just not the way it was. Maybe it came out like that."
Clemens, who pitched Saturday in Kissimmee, said he didn't need any explanation from Wells.
"I don't take too much of what he says to heart," Clemens said. "I don't worry too much about what Boomer says. He needs to live his life and leave the rest of us out of it."
Manager Joe Torre, who seems more bothered by the book than his players are, was pleased that Wells began addressing his teammates.
"That's the best way to diffuse things and get past it," Torre said. "Talking to the people involved is healthy. It's not always pleasant but it gets it over with quicker."
Wells estimated that 25 to 40 percent of major leaguers are using steroids and said that amphetamines are commonplace in big league clubhouses.
Wells said he was surprised those comments got so much attention after other players made similar claims last year.
Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti both admitted they used steroids. Canseco estimated up to 85 percent of major leaguers did, and Caminiti said half did before retracting his statement, saying he thought the percentage was far lower.
Piazza also said use of amphetamines was common.
"I don't know who's juicing," Wells said. "I couldn't tell you. You can look at people and assume. But I could not tell you honestly that he's juicing. But I'm not the first person to come out and say it. Nobody really said anything when Piazza came out and said it. It really wasn't that big of a deal. I said it and it's nationwide. I don't understand."
Wells said his biggest worry was that he would disrupt the team as it prepares for the season.
"I don't regret anything," he said. "I just don't want this to be a distraction."
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