CBS newsman Mike Wallace recovers from surgery

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Veteran CBS newsman Mike Wallace is recovering from heart surgery three weeks after the broadcast of his headline-making "60 Minutes" interview with baseball star Roger Clemens, the network said on Tuesday.

Wallace, 89, underwent triple bypass surgery to treat blockages near his heart last Friday at a hospital in Manhattan.

"Mike is recovering nicely and has taken his first steps after undergoing heart bypass surgery late last week," a CBS News spokesman said. "His doctors say it was a great success."

Wallace, part of the original "60 Minutes" team when the venerable CBS News magazine show was launched in 1968, has been semi-retired as a "correspondent emeritus" for the past two years.

His last "60 Minutes" report was his January 6 interview with Clemens, one of major league baseball's leading pitchers and a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, who denied accusations that he had used steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman; editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Todd Eastham)