Barrygate Redux: Why Baseball’s Investigation Is Bound to Fail
Apologies to the TPMCafe community for the unplanned hiatus between this and my previous post. Back on Monday, I promised a discussion of Major League Baseball’s investigation into steroid abuse, to be led by former Senate majority leader George Mitchell. Here it is, better late than never (I hope).
This probe, as previously noted, and has been pointed out elsewhere, is fundamentally flawed, and for several reasons:
-By precluding any investigation into the period before September 2002, when baseball instituted its first formal policy on steroids, it’s washing under the carpet the period of most egregious abuse, and relieving the investigators of any ability to evaluate the context in which the problem developed.
-The investigation is to be led by George Mitchell, who serves on the board of the Boston Red Sox and the Disney Corporation (owner of ESPN). Despite his denials, this presents serious conflict-of-interest issues. (For instance, two New York Yankees, Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi are implicated; can they be treated fairly?)
-The investigation was launched under the direction of Major League Baseball, and not as a collaborative probe sponsored by MLB and the Players Union. The commissioner, Bud Selig, claims the probe will have authority to challenge all parties in the game, but the players have little reason for good faith. Baseball’s ownership refuses to learn that it needs to treat its players as partners.
-Without the cooperation of the players, the potential for any useful outcome is minimal.
Okay. So what should be done? I wouldn’t mind seeing a joint players-owners commission into the history of performance enhancing drugs in baseball, and the conditions that allowed them to proliferate. It should not be a witch hunt intended to punish steroid abusers. That’s a recipe for disaster. As a corollary, we need to understand that the historical record is sacrosanct. We may not be proud of our history, but that’s no excuse for going back and altering the record of what happened. That’s a slippery slope, and one baseball, and baseball fans, would best avoid.
I'm willing to bet that any baseball player who suddenly beefs up and develops a big increase in power hitting is using steroids or other similar medications. If anyone remembers as I do, years ago professional football linemen were almost all obese, with guts hanging out as they played. Along came steroids. A year or two later, almost no NFL lineman was obese, but they were even heavier masses of muscle. The league cracked down on steroids. Now, you see almost all NFL lineman are obese again. The story this tells is that it is very unusual for a man to be 300 pounds heavy without being obese and without the assistance of steroid-like drugs.
If you followed baseball back when Giambi first came up from the minor leagues, you remember he was a slender man, with a great hitting stroke, an obvious keeper, but not a homerun threat. Within two years he was the mass of muscle typical of steroid users.
Sammy Sosa played most of his career as a fast, slender good hitter, but not a home run hitter. Suddenly he became a mass of muscle and hit over 60 home runs. Of course he used steroids.
Mark McGuire, who topped Sosa in home runs when both hit over 60 in one year, came up as a slender but strong hitter. In a few years he was a mass of muscle, with never before seen power. Of course he used steroids.
Barry Bonds? Well I am a Bonds fan, since I am a Giants fan. He developed his muscles through dedicated training and careful use of weights, year around. May he hit 715+ home runs for his career!! Steroids? Nah.
Hoppy in Sacramento
April 7, 2006 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink