Bud Selig: When Will He Finally Be Held Accountable for the Steroid Era?

At a time when thousands of people are losing their jobs through no fault of their own, an utter failure continues at his occupation, leading me to ask, "What will it take for Bud Selig to lose his job?"

Considering the current sate of Major League Baseball and the continued steroid controversy, how much damage does he have to do, how much harm has to occur to the sport on his watch, before he is finally and appropriately held accountable?

With the news about Alex Rodriguez taking steroids, that makes it arguably the three greatest players during the Selig era—Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens—who are now caught up in the controversy. 

The allegations around all three are that they were taking steroids for years, going back as far as the late 1990s. Yet Selig, the man in charge of the sport, wants us to believe that he had no idea that steroids might be a problem during this time.

In February 2005 Selig said (with a straight face) about steroids, "I never heard about it."  I would compare that to a parent who walks into the kitchen, sees paint all over the refrigerator, sees a child covered in paint, but believes it when the child says, “It wasn’t me.” 

Selig’s failure to act for years, until forced to, means one of three things—either he is too stupid to notice what was going on in the sport he was trying to run, he knew and just didn’t care, or he knew, cared, but decided not to act because more home runs and more strikeouts meant more money.  All are unacceptable.  

The unquestioned primary reason Selig maintains his position as commissioner is that he makes money for the owners of baseball.  They like him for that. Also, Selig's lack of a backbone, a trait that makes me dislike him, is possibly appealing to the owners.

A powerful person running the sport might not always side with what the owners want to do, but put the incompetent Selig in charge, and the owners can essentially run the sport. They let Selig stay out front to take any criticism, while they retain the real power and authority over what happens.

When it comes to steroids, the owners deserve their share of the blame for letting it happen.  They know this, but so long as Selig remains in charge they remain relatively shielded from criticism for their role. 

Selig may have done some things that deserve credit, that is if you like inter-league play and the wild card.  But coming up with those ideas didn’t exactly require the splitting of the atom.  And let’s also be honest, inter-league play and the wild card are in place for no other reason than they make money for the league.

I am not saying that is a bad thing.  But when it comes to Selig, if it isn’t something that is going to line his pockets as well as those of the owners’, then it isn’t something he will concern himself with.    

The steroid era has cast a dark cloud over the game that will remain for a long, long time. The 2009 season will now mark, at a minimum, the fifth consecutive year where the primary topic surrounding the sport entering the season has been steroids. It could take decades before there is a Hall of Fame vote where steroids are not a factor in the selection process and in the press coverage.

The man in charge of the sport did nothing to stop steroids and did nothing to control it until any such action was long past due.  And the only reason he did anything at all was because he was shamed into acting by Congress.

He waited to respond until it had become beyond preposterous that no action had been taken, and he waited until any belief that baseball didn't have a steroid problem was as incomprehensible as J. Edgar Hoover's belief that there wasn't a mafia.  

As steroids became more and more prevalent in the sport, baseball needed a strong commissioner to step forward and prevent the problem from growing out of control. Unfortunately for baseball, at this most crucial time in the sport's history, it was being led by a man who proved not up to the task.  Bud Selig is not what Michael Corelone would call "a war-time consigliere."  

To say the prevalence of steroids in baseball grew out of control is a major understatement.  All statistics, all records, and really everything from the last 15 years or so, has been rendered meaningless due to Selig’s inactions.

Without question, the players are responsible.  But so, too, is Selig.  If a team fails, you look to the manager.  If a child fails, you look to the parents.  And if a school fails, you look to the principal.  Well, baseball has failed in a most astounding fashion due to steroids, so we must look to Selig.

The steroid question has brought to the forefront Selig's shortcomings as a leader. He is not someone who has ever shown the ability to stand up and solve a problem.  

Even when Selig decides to act, he does so tentatively. He always does it in a way where he isn’t the one responsible, but can point to someone else, or something else, as cover if anyone were to disagree or challenge him on the action.  This isn't leadership. 

Think about how A-Rod’s steroid use became known—because the results of what were to be anonymous tests turned out to be not so anonymous.

It is an article for another day whether names ever should have been put with those results. My question here, though, is why were the tests anonymous in the first place? In 2003, did Selig really need test results to tell him his sport needed to take action against steroids? 

The commissioner was afraid to do anything.  He chose to hide behind an anonymous test. This way, if not many players tested positive, he could justify his continued inaction. And if the results came back as they did, he could say to the Players’ Association, "It isn’t me who is asking for the drug tests." 

A competent commissioner would have put a real testing procedure into place in 2003, instead of this anonymous-test charade.  By then he would have only been a few years late. 

A strong commissioner would have demanded decisive action.  A strong commissioner would have stood up and said, “I am the commissioner, I am in charge of the sport, the integrity of our game is at stake, and we must do everything we can to rid our game of performance-enhancing drugs.”

Anyone who argued with Selig, had he done this, would have found themselves on the opposite end of not just public opinion, but what happened to be the right thing to do. 

Instead, however, Selig said nothing of the sort, and really to this day has never made such a strong statement about steroids.

In 2003 he, as he always is, was tentative to act.  He stuck his toe in the water instead of diving in.

Being cautious may have its time and place. This was not one of them. The steroid problem demanded swift, strong action, and those are two words that will never be mentioned in any profile of Selig. 

Fast forward to the Mitchell Report, which is just another example of how Bud Selig can never take the needed decisive action.

By 2006, no one, let alone the commissioner of the sport, should have needed a report to recommend what needed to be done.  Everyone knew what needed to be done.  Just take the action. Selig, however, needed someone to tell him what to do. 

Selig never acts, but always reacts. This is not something one would highlight when interviewing for any position of leadership. 

The players are responsible for their own actions, and they are being held accountable. It may not be everyone, and it may be taking a while, but one by one, players who cheated are facing the music. 

But so, too, must Selig. Steroids and performance-enhancing drugs invaded the sport and spread like a virus. This virus infected the whole sport, and it did so, while Selig sat on the sidelines.

For years, he paid it no attention; he couldn't be bothered. And when he couldn’t do that anymore, he still was incapable of taking the type of action that was needed—the type of action that, had it been taken, may have prevented us from heading into another baseball season talking about steroids.

If Selig had fought the good fight to keep steroids out, and we still found ourselves in the same spot in terms of its impact on the game, then possibly Selig would deserve a break. But he didn’t fight the good fight. He never even put on the gloves.

His failure to fight is what matters.  Any other possible accomplishment by Selig does not. If the roof of a recently-built house collapsed, I imagine the builder wouldn’t be let off the hook by pointing to the pretty lawn in the front yard.  During Selig's tenure, everything else is minor compared to the disaster of wide-spread, unchecked use of steroids in baseball.  

Selig’s incompetence, indifference, and inaction are as responsible for steroids' impact on baseball as anything else.  It is well past time he is held accountable.