Blame Game: Why Steroids In Baseball Is Selig's Fault

Baseball as we know it is over and as far as we know it may never be the same again. Steroids have plagued the media and baseball world for the past 10 or so years. Bud Selig has been the commissioner of Major League Baseball for the past 17 years. He is known for the many great things he has done for the game, such as introducing the wild card, inter-league play and he lead baseball through its infamous strike in 1994. With the latest allegations being released about Alex Rodriguez, a player who was thought to be clean and to many a man who would eventually be known as the greatest player of all time, the sport has been thrown right in to the middle of yet another media hurricane involving Performance Enhancing Drugs. With Selig’s recent comments coming out about how disappointed he is in Alex and the game in general, people are beginning the blame game again. I think we have to contemplate who we are blaming. Yes Selig has done a lot of good for the game, he has brought baseball back, he has made it America’s pastime again, but how much credit does he really deserve. Selig was commissioner during what is now know as the most damaging era in sports history, it has created an unmatched amount of distrust between the players and their fans. Selig will continually say that it’s the player’s fault and they were the ones not being honest, but in my mind Selig is completely to blame. He allowed all of these terrible things to happen right under his nose. The reputation of baseball was on his watch and he failed miserably to sustain it. It must be really nice to take the credit for all the great things you have done, while passing the buck on all your wrong doings, which is exactly what Selig is doing. As commissioner of Major League Baseball you are in charge of everything, you must know what’s going on, if not, you are performing your job poorly. There is no way that all of the players and managers knew about this problem but Selig had no clue. Selig was just swiping the dirt under the rug and doing all he could to cover his own trail of mistakes, so when everything eventually hit the fan he would have an alibi. He knew what was happening and he knew it was wrong, so why didn’t he do anything, because he saw how much steroids were helping the business side of baseball. In the end that’s all this is about, money as long as the fans are happy and they keep spending money, everyone will be content. Steroids gave Selig a fake reason to brag and he has milked every second of it.  Selig should take the blame for this entire era and it amazes me that no one has jumped on him for, especially how vocal he has been against the issue. The way I see it, Selig is in charge, if he hates the way the game is so much, then change it, like he should have been doing the past 15 years while he had a chance. Selig is taking credit as a hero of baseball, but what he really is, is baseball’s number one villain.