duncan228
05-08-2009, 04:26 PM
Baseball just keeps getting answers that it never wanted (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/mike_finger/Baseball_just_keeps_getting_answers_that_it_never_ wanted.html)
Mike Finger
Hindsight is easy to come by, and few understand that better today than those in baseball. If Manny Ramirez knew when he went to see his “physician” what he knows now, he might have asked for a different prescription. If Alex Rodriguez knew his dining habits would eventually become part of a best-seller list, he might have tipped the waitresses at Hooters a couple of extra bucks.
And Bud Selig, the commissioner who oversaw all of this hoopla?
If he had a chance for a do-over now, would he take it?
Selig often gets a large share of the blame for allowing baseball's steroid culture to blossom in the 1990s, but he also played a significant role in exposing it. He pushed for the anonymous testing that began in 2003, he followed Congress' suggestion of stricter drug regulations in 2005, and he later appointed a bulldog of a former senator to put together the Mitchell Report in 2007.
All of those steps were taken, in theory, to clean up the game, to bring a merciful end to one of baseball's ugliest chapters, to allow everyone to move on, once and for all.
But now, in his darker moments, Selig might be tempted to wonder:
Did all of this testing and fact-finding do him more harm than good?
It would have been cowardly for Selig to have kept averting his eyes from baseball's performance-enhancing issues, and if he hadn't acquiesced to lawmakers' wishes or called for the Mitchell Report, he would have been lambasted for ignoring a problem.
Every player in the game would still be under a cloud of suspicion, but how is that different than what Selig is dealing with now? The average fan's perception that players are finding one way or another has not changed. It's just that thanks to test results, suspensions and official investigations, there is proof to go with the doubts.
Think about it. Does Selig benefit now that his policies have unmasked Rodriguez (the man who was once destined to return the career home-run crown to an honest, all-natural slugger) and Ramirez (the character some figured was too flaky too figure out how to inject himself) to be liars and cheats? Or would the commissioner had been better off continuing as the same ambivalent, bumbling fool he was in the 1990s?
Maybe it all would have come crumbling down either way. After all, it was investigative reporting that broke the news of Barry Bonds and BALCO, and other leads were bound to be uncovered sooner or later. But without Rodriguez's leaked positive test from 2003, there might not have been enough evidence to support a new book that reveals, among other alleged details about Rodriguez's steroid use, some sordid tidbits about the star slugger tipping pitches to opponents and stiffing the staff at Hooters on gratuities.
Deep down, Selig probably knows it was right to try to put a stop to it. The integrity of the game demanded some kind of solution, so he did what little he could, even if it came far too late to make any kind of real impact.
But on days like Thursday, when Ramirez received a 50-game suspension for a positive test, Selig might think about how he could have resisted the pressure. He could have argued that the performance-enhancing drug problem was only an isolated one, and that testing would be fruitless, and that there was no need to overreact.
He could have gone on allowing everyone to presume his game was dirty.
Instead of removing all doubt.
Mike Finger
Hindsight is easy to come by, and few understand that better today than those in baseball. If Manny Ramirez knew when he went to see his “physician” what he knows now, he might have asked for a different prescription. If Alex Rodriguez knew his dining habits would eventually become part of a best-seller list, he might have tipped the waitresses at Hooters a couple of extra bucks.
And Bud Selig, the commissioner who oversaw all of this hoopla?
If he had a chance for a do-over now, would he take it?
Selig often gets a large share of the blame for allowing baseball's steroid culture to blossom in the 1990s, but he also played a significant role in exposing it. He pushed for the anonymous testing that began in 2003, he followed Congress' suggestion of stricter drug regulations in 2005, and he later appointed a bulldog of a former senator to put together the Mitchell Report in 2007.
All of those steps were taken, in theory, to clean up the game, to bring a merciful end to one of baseball's ugliest chapters, to allow everyone to move on, once and for all.
But now, in his darker moments, Selig might be tempted to wonder:
Did all of this testing and fact-finding do him more harm than good?
It would have been cowardly for Selig to have kept averting his eyes from baseball's performance-enhancing issues, and if he hadn't acquiesced to lawmakers' wishes or called for the Mitchell Report, he would have been lambasted for ignoring a problem.
Every player in the game would still be under a cloud of suspicion, but how is that different than what Selig is dealing with now? The average fan's perception that players are finding one way or another has not changed. It's just that thanks to test results, suspensions and official investigations, there is proof to go with the doubts.
Think about it. Does Selig benefit now that his policies have unmasked Rodriguez (the man who was once destined to return the career home-run crown to an honest, all-natural slugger) and Ramirez (the character some figured was too flaky too figure out how to inject himself) to be liars and cheats? Or would the commissioner had been better off continuing as the same ambivalent, bumbling fool he was in the 1990s?
Maybe it all would have come crumbling down either way. After all, it was investigative reporting that broke the news of Barry Bonds and BALCO, and other leads were bound to be uncovered sooner or later. But without Rodriguez's leaked positive test from 2003, there might not have been enough evidence to support a new book that reveals, among other alleged details about Rodriguez's steroid use, some sordid tidbits about the star slugger tipping pitches to opponents and stiffing the staff at Hooters on gratuities.
Deep down, Selig probably knows it was right to try to put a stop to it. The integrity of the game demanded some kind of solution, so he did what little he could, even if it came far too late to make any kind of real impact.
But on days like Thursday, when Ramirez received a 50-game suspension for a positive test, Selig might think about how he could have resisted the pressure. He could have argued that the performance-enhancing drug problem was only an isolated one, and that testing would be fruitless, and that there was no need to overreact.
He could have gone on allowing everyone to presume his game was dirty.
Instead of removing all doubt.