Point a Finger at Mark McGwire, Point 100 More at the Baseball Writers

In his press release on Monday, Mark McGwire said, "I wish I had never played in the steroid era."

Many would say the comment is foolish. McGwire, Canseco, and all the rest who have now admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs were the cause of this so-called steroid era. They created it, so how could McGwire regret playing within it?

The fact is the players were not alone. All of Major League Baseball was culpable in steroids permeating the game. The owners knew. The GMs knew. Managers and coaches knew. They can play dumb, as Tony LaRussa has with McGwire's admission, but not all fans are so naive as to believe them.

Perhaps most importantly, the ones who should have been looking out for the fans all along—the "hallowed" Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA)—also had to know. Yet they never lifted a finger to write an article to reveal that knowledge.

The BBWAA like to think of themselves as the "protectors" of the game. They know all.  They know the stats, the history, and are the ones who select each and every player who is enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The BWA routinely pat themselves on the back for keeping Pete Rose out of the Hall because he smeared the game with his gambling.  Now, these same writers will further reach behind themselves for a pat on the back for "protecting" the Hall of Fame from these "steroid cheats." 

But where were they during the steroid era? 

These same writers passing judgement from their high and mighty perches today were nowhere to be seen while the game was consumed by performance-enhancing drugs.

These reporters lurked around the game from the winter meetings through spring training and all the way to the final out of the World Series.  Yet none of them apparently suspected steroids were infecting the game.

Sports Illustrated first fingered Jose Canseco (correctly) for using steroids in 1988. But between then and MLB instituting steroid testing in 2005, few suspicions were raised by those in the know.

Of course, no writer could throw out names of suspected users without proof. Lawsuits would have quickly followed any such groundless accusations. Yet even hints about the general usage within the game were not dropped by baseball writers. 

Then, in 1998, when McGwire and Sammy Sosa (along with Ken Griffey Jr.) were battling for the single-season home run record, an Associated Press reporter by the name of Steve Wilstein broke the story of McGwire having the drug androstenedione in his locker.  The drug was neither illegal or banned by MLB at the time, yet suspicions of his usage were rightfully raised.

Did any writer follow Wilstein's lead? Did anyone dig further into the story?

No. There was no chance any baseball writer would risk shooting himself in the foot during the biggest story in baseball since Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gerhig's long-standing consecutive games played record. Instead, Wilstein was the one ostracized; not McGwire.

Herein lies the biggest problem with sports "reporting": No sports writer is bold enough to risk his contacts and ties to players, teams, or a league by releasing a damning story. These reporters will cover a story once it breaks—usually after some sort of law enforcement involvement or a league action creates the story first—but they do not break these stories themselves. Steroids in baseball proved this truth.

Sports reporters can and have been banned from locker rooms or refused interviews by players and coaches because of negative stories. It is not a new phenomenon; it has existed for decades.

The Baseball Writers' Association of America were not going to be the ones to destroy the game they loved. They were not going to attack the game for allowing steroids in, nor were they about to derail the love train the MLB had rolling after the McGwire-Sosa HR dual brought the game back from the depths of the strike that cancelled the 1994 World Series.

Instead, the BBWAA stuck their collective heads in the sand.  They completely ignored the situation for the good of the game and for the good of their own careers. To them, it did not exist.  And since it wasn't going on in their minds (and stories), fans were left in the dark as well.

Now that the league has had its credibility once again ruined by yet another decades-long scandal in the form of steroids does the BBWAA act. They rise up and attack these same players they once held near-and-dear. This is not because they feel burned by the players' actions—they knew all along steroids were in the game—but due to their need to protect their own "hallowed" reputations.

Don't fall for it. The Baseball Writers' Association of America acted in cahoots with the rest of MLB, and profited just as much as the league did from the steroid era as anyone.  They are far from innocent.

For more, visit: www.thefixisin.net