Asterisks And Investigations

If Bud Selig hadn't read Game of Shadows, would we even have had today's Mitchell Report?
The 2006 book, by San Francisco Chronicle investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, detailed the alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs by home-run record holder Barry Bonds, and was seen as instrumental in prompting congressional hearings into baseball's attitude toward steroids, both among players and administrators.
If Baseball Commissioner Selig and players union boss Donald Fehr had been more proactive a decade ago in investigating and dealing with what was fundamentally a health issue rather than a performance issue, would we be listening to the list of implicated players read by the former Senator, like an announcer's roll-call of All-Stars on opening day?
Then again, if Al Gore had won the 2000 presidential election, maybe George W. Bush would have become baseball commissioner after all, and this particular cup would have passed from Selig's hands.
That's a lot of "ifs." What we know for certain today, though, is that, as former Sen. George Mitchell's report says, this wasn't just an "isolated problem involving just a few players or a few clubs."
Confirming exactly how widespread a problem the game now faces, Mitchell said that "each of the 30 clubs has had players who have been involved with such substances at some time in their career."
Mitchell went on: "Everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades--commissioners, club officials, the players' association and players--shares to some extent the responsibility for the steroids era. There was a collective failure to recognize the problem as it emerged and to deal with it early on."
Often times, the hardest thing and the right thing are the same thing. It may never be harder than to lead professional baseball in a time of such upheaval. That will be Bud Selig's legacy.
Allan H. "Bud" Selig, the former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, was elected the ninth commissioner of baseball in July 1998 on a unanimous vote by the 30 major league owners. He has said he will step down in 2009, when his contract expires. He'll be 75.
Regardless of what he "should" or "could" have done, what can he do now? What effective, practical measures can the commissioner put in place in what remains of his time in office?
Even the people who agree with this investigation say a better leader would've acted sooner. Selig still maintains he is glad he acted when he did.
"When I decided to do this [ask Sen Mitchell to investigate] one fateful day in Scottsdale, Ariz., no one was happy with my decision," Selig said from the podium. "I was happy with that decision, and I'm still happy with it today."
Active and retired players were named in the report. Among them, Roger Clemens, undoubtedly a future Hall of Fame candidate. But, at least from Selig's perspective, he won't be around to have to decide on either Clemens' or Bonds' passage to Cooperstown.
Selig said he would move "swiftly" in disciplining the players identified, although Mitchell warned against having the game bogged down in lengthy proceedings. The commissioner also said he would judge on a "case-by-case" basis, a comment the players' union likely didn't digest well. He also said he would "embrace" Mitchell's wide-ranging recommendations for further action.
Today's vocabulary was all about "lessons learned" and directing efforts toward "the future." Mitchell even asked the public to give the game "a fresh start."
Said Selig, "The important thing here is that we're moving forward today."
Suffice to say, Selig may leave his post with few friends among players, and at best a mixed image to those involved in--and who follow--baseball. But perhaps a "better late than never" approach to the steroid issue could still work in Selig's favor.
Don Hinchey, vice president of communications for the Bonham Group, a sports marketing firm, believes overall Selig has generally done his job well, not just in handling the performance-enhancing drugs predicament.
"As for [his] legacy, it should be judged on many different issues--labor peace, league expansion, revenue enhancement, inter-league play, the embrace of the new media, etc.," Hinchey said.
"In all of these areas, he inherited an imperfect system," Hinchey continued. "Overall, he's performed remarkably well in implementing and presiding over significant improvements. He has a similar opportunity in regard to drug testing and enforcement in Major League Baseball, provided he's able to win the support of the players and their union in establishing the level playing field he envisions. If he can do that, his legacy will not only be intact, it will be enhanced."