Why Clemens and Bonds Are Victims of The Era

In my opinion, Bonds (an unlikable man) is the reason we have the problems we have today.  McGwire was a hero; Bonds was the bad guy.  It's Bonds that got people talking more and more and caused Selig to force his hand (seven years too late).

The point is, Selig knew what was going on in 1998 and should have put a stop to it then, but his buddies were getting money and he was restoring baseball to glory.

So as Selig prepares to retire in 2012, he needs to go out with a bang.  Instead of being known as the Commissioner who allowed the steroid era to occur (which he is), he must be the Commissioner who stopped the steroid era.  But a testing system with weak punishments clearly isn't enough.  So what does Selig do?  He contacts Senator George Mitchell to investigate steroids.

On December 13, 2007, after a 20 month investigation, Senator George Mitchell released the ever so talked about Mitchell Report.  The report stood tall at 409 pages and revealed the names of 89 Major League baseball players alleged to use steroids.  "I haven't seen the report yet," said Selig on December 12, "but I'm proud I did it."  Wait a second.... You had a witch hunt investigation conducted but didn't even bother to even skim it before releasing it?  Furthermore, you didn't even send a copy to the Players Union before release?  You go girl.

Call the Mitchell Report what you will, it's a document that could be discussed until the end of time.  What's bothersome about the report is that it has done nothing to change the steroid era.  Steroids tarnished at least seven years of baseball, and most likely up to ten or fourteen years.  Releasing a Joe McCarthy-esque report that goes as far as naming numerous players who aren't even involved in baseball anymore does not change the fact that this time period happened and Bud Selig stood at the helm during almost all of it.  Players careers may be ruined, but the steroid era cannot be removed from the books.  Bud Selig beat a dead horse.

So what now, Bud?  You brought baseball's revenue back and put money back in your friends' pockets.  You also managed to salvage your legacy as the man who put a stop to steroids in baseball.  But I'm sorry, Bud.  You ended something you created while pleasing everyone in the process.  You are to blame for steroids in baseball.

So the next time Clemens and Bonds are faced with issues regarding their alleged use of steroids, don't point the finger at them.  If they did do it, sure they were the ones that injected themselves and opted to do so.  But can you blame them?  Steroids weren't banned in baseball until 2005 thanks to Bud Selig.  Whether you want to hold Clemens and Bonds with ethical standards is a matter of your own, but what they did was no worse than cheating on a test while the teacher had his back turned.  The only difference in their case is that their teacher had his back turned for at least seven years.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?