a great article...
Selig and Fehr need to take responsibility
Ken Rosenthal
When a corporate scandal occurs, the company's leadership often is forced to resign. The steroids crisis is Major League Baseball's moment of disgrace, but the players shouldn't be the main targets of the U.S. government's cleanup effort.
The leaders of the sport, commissioner Bud Selig and union chief Donald Fehr, must bear responsibility. If they won't apologize for their past neglect and enact the most stringent testing program available ? complete with MLB yielding control to an independent agency ? they should resign.
If commissioner Bud Selig can't hold himself at least partially responsible for the steroids crisis, he should resign. (Lisa Blumenfeld / GettyImages)
Of course, neither revisions nor resignations are forthcoming. Selig answers only to the owners he makes rich. Fehr answers only to the players he makes rich. MLB effectively flips off Congress, acting like a spoiled brat who never gets spanked.
Enough.
If the House Government Reform Committee truly wants to effect change, it should pressure the sport to adopt Olympic-style drug testing and appoint new leaders of integrity and conscience.
And if MLB and the union persists in their holier-than-thou act ?? it's rather amusing to see these arch-enemies finally united in their desperation ? Congress should remove the sport's anti-trust exemption once and for all.
Enough.
Selig predicts that MLB's new testing program ? improved from toothless to cavity-filled ? will "effectively rid our sport of steroids in this coming season." Well, maybe the ones covered by MLB's urine samples, but certainly not human growth hormone (HGH), which players can still use to their cheating hearts' delight. HGH can be detected only through blood tests, and the baseball agreement allows only for urinalysis.
Fehr can't understand all the fuss ? he thinks the new program wasn't even necessary, claiming the previous one was working just fine. Given the choice, he still would be dug in, bitterly opposing testing while players continued setting fraudulent records and inflicting untold harm on their bodies.
Just once, I'd like to hear Selig say, "We blew it. The warning signs were there, but we didn't fully grasp their implications. We turned a blind eye, basking in the game's revival. The resistance of the union was no excuse. We should have forced the issue."
Just once, I'd like to hear Fehr say, "We blew it. Our mistrust of the owners should not have prevented us from agreeing to a comprehensive drug-testing program sooner or even enacting our own plan. While we value our members' right to privacy, our failure to act put every one of them under suspicion."
If Selig and Fehr had taken such positions earlier, they could have avoided the current uproar and allowed the sport to heal. But, as with Watergate, the cover-up is worse than the crime. Baseball officials have a point when they challenge the credibility of those making steroid allegations. They have a point when they challenge the subpoenas of selected players and confidential drug-testing records. But it's difficult to muster sympathy for a sport that long ago forfeited the moral high ground. After all its lies and denials, MLB's credibility is no better than Jose Canseco's.
Only months ago, Selig was drawing praise for presiding over the game's renaissance. His legacy now will include, "Commissioner of the Steroid Era." It's astonishing that Selig didn't immediately volunteer to appear before the House committee, offering MLB executive VP Rob Manfred instead. Think NBA commissioner David Stern or NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue would send a surrogate to confront a similar crisis? Think either would be in such a crisis to begin with?
The only prerequisite for the next commissioner should be that he or she is not presently working in MLB. Someone like former Sen. George Mitchell, who once was a member of the sport's blue-ribbon panel on economic reform, would meet that requirement. The next union chief also needs to come from the outside. Someone like attorney Ron Shapiro, the longtime representative for Cal Ripken and author of a book on negotiating strategy called "The Power of Nice," would make sense.
Granted, there's a level of hypocrisy in Congress' fixation with baseball. NFL players use performance-enhancing drugs; their league just does better public relations. But baseball is the sport that once was known as the national pastime. Baseball is the sport with the anti-trust exemption. Baseball is rightly held to a higher standard.
Baseball wants to move on. It can't move on.
Not until its leaders 'fess up. Or get out.
Selig and Fehr need to take responsibility
Ken Rosenthal
When a corporate scandal occurs, the company's leadership often is forced to resign. The steroids crisis is Major League Baseball's moment of disgrace, but the players shouldn't be the main targets of the U.S. government's cleanup effort.
The leaders of the sport, commissioner Bud Selig and union chief Donald Fehr, must bear responsibility. If they won't apologize for their past neglect and enact the most stringent testing program available ? complete with MLB yielding control to an independent agency ? they should resign.
If commissioner Bud Selig can't hold himself at least partially responsible for the steroids crisis, he should resign. (Lisa Blumenfeld / GettyImages)
Of course, neither revisions nor resignations are forthcoming. Selig answers only to the owners he makes rich. Fehr answers only to the players he makes rich. MLB effectively flips off Congress, acting like a spoiled brat who never gets spanked.
Enough.
If the House Government Reform Committee truly wants to effect change, it should pressure the sport to adopt Olympic-style drug testing and appoint new leaders of integrity and conscience.
And if MLB and the union persists in their holier-than-thou act ?? it's rather amusing to see these arch-enemies finally united in their desperation ? Congress should remove the sport's anti-trust exemption once and for all.
Enough.
Selig predicts that MLB's new testing program ? improved from toothless to cavity-filled ? will "effectively rid our sport of steroids in this coming season." Well, maybe the ones covered by MLB's urine samples, but certainly not human growth hormone (HGH), which players can still use to their cheating hearts' delight. HGH can be detected only through blood tests, and the baseball agreement allows only for urinalysis.
Fehr can't understand all the fuss ? he thinks the new program wasn't even necessary, claiming the previous one was working just fine. Given the choice, he still would be dug in, bitterly opposing testing while players continued setting fraudulent records and inflicting untold harm on their bodies.
Just once, I'd like to hear Selig say, "We blew it. The warning signs were there, but we didn't fully grasp their implications. We turned a blind eye, basking in the game's revival. The resistance of the union was no excuse. We should have forced the issue."
Just once, I'd like to hear Fehr say, "We blew it. Our mistrust of the owners should not have prevented us from agreeing to a comprehensive drug-testing program sooner or even enacting our own plan. While we value our members' right to privacy, our failure to act put every one of them under suspicion."
If Selig and Fehr had taken such positions earlier, they could have avoided the current uproar and allowed the sport to heal. But, as with Watergate, the cover-up is worse than the crime. Baseball officials have a point when they challenge the credibility of those making steroid allegations. They have a point when they challenge the subpoenas of selected players and confidential drug-testing records. But it's difficult to muster sympathy for a sport that long ago forfeited the moral high ground. After all its lies and denials, MLB's credibility is no better than Jose Canseco's.
Only months ago, Selig was drawing praise for presiding over the game's renaissance. His legacy now will include, "Commissioner of the Steroid Era." It's astonishing that Selig didn't immediately volunteer to appear before the House committee, offering MLB executive VP Rob Manfred instead. Think NBA commissioner David Stern or NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue would send a surrogate to confront a similar crisis? Think either would be in such a crisis to begin with?
The only prerequisite for the next commissioner should be that he or she is not presently working in MLB. Someone like former Sen. George Mitchell, who once was a member of the sport's blue-ribbon panel on economic reform, would meet that requirement. The next union chief also needs to come from the outside. Someone like attorney Ron Shapiro, the longtime representative for Cal Ripken and author of a book on negotiating strategy called "The Power of Nice," would make sense.
Granted, there's a level of hypocrisy in Congress' fixation with baseball. NFL players use performance-enhancing drugs; their league just does better public relations. But baseball is the sport that once was known as the national pastime. Baseball is the sport with the anti-trust exemption. Baseball is rightly held to a higher standard.
Baseball wants to move on. It can't move on.
Not until its leaders 'fess up. Or get out.
