During the final season of his first stint as manager of the Blue Jays, in 1997, Gaston got word of Roger Clemens' discontent that the manager had left starter Pat Hentgen in longer than what the former Red Sox hurler thought was necessary.

"I still regret that I didn't get right up in his face and challenge him," Gaston said before Thursday's game in Lakeland against the Tigers.

Gaston spoke candidly about the subject a week after the release of Jeff Pearlman's new book, "The Rocket That Fell to Earth: Roger Clemens and the Rage for Baseball Immortality," in which the former Sports Illustrated senior writer discusses how Clemens played a significant role in the firing of Gaston and was even more influential when Gord Ash passed over Davey Johnson, Paul Molitor, Larry Bowa and Willie Randolph to hire Tim Johnson, who was Clemens' manager of choice.

Gaston didn't mince words when asked if he thought that Clemens, in fact, contributed to him getting fired.

"I wouldn't doubt that," said Gaston, who was let go in 1997 following a fifth-place finish.

While Gaston was instrumental in leading the Blue Jays to divison titles in 1991, '92 and '93 -- including World Series titles in the '92 and '93 seasons -- Clemens clearly had problems with the way Gaston managed and apparently used his influence to get Gaston fired, even going so far as to forewarn the manager in a threatening manner.

"He said, 'What do you want to do ... do you want to stay here or leave,'" Gaston said. "I said, 'What do you mean, what do I want to do? What are you talking about? What do I want to do?' But that's what he said. 'What do you want to do, stay here or leave?'"

While Gaston praised the effort Clemens brought to the table, the Toronto manager said it was self-served.

"When he goes out on the mound, he gives you everything he has and he's probably the most popular player I've ever had on the team as far as everywhere we went, you'd see people everywhere looking for him," Gaston said. "And when he's on the mound, he's 100 percent, but when he's pitching everybody's in the dugout pulling for him. When he's not pitching, though, he's not in the dugout. I just don't think he's supported his teammates as much as he wanted support. I know that there's some guys who played on this team with Roger who don't like him. It's all about himself. It's all Roger."

While Pearlman chronicles Clemens' steroid use during his time with the Blue Jays, which included having Brian McNamee inject the pitcher with Winstrol, Gaston denies any knowledge of Clemens or other players using the drug.

"No, I never did. I didn't know that about any of those guys if they were doing it when I was here or not."

Gaston went on to describe how he thought Clemens' appearance before Congress to discuss his steroid use bordered on the comical side.

"Did anyone of you make sense of what he was saying. I had no idea what he was saying. He's a pretty good double-talker."

With the steroid news seeming to have a never-ending cycle, Gaston recognizes that, with Clemens, it boils down to what type of character he has.

"Oh yeah, he's not one of my favorite people," Gaston said. "He's a [great] pitcher, but other than that, to me he's not a good person, a lot of people don't like him."