I am constantly hearing the debate from sports writers and reporters on whether or not baseball players from the last 20 years should be lumped together due to the steroid controversy. What they mean is that if there was no steroids testing during this time period and some players were known to use steroids than how can you know any player was clean. It is a valid point and argument. I want to steer away from that argument, though, and focus on who is really to blame for the rampant steroid problem that happened in Major League Baseball.
As I see it, there are only three places where blame can be put, the owners, the players and the commissioner. What I am going to attempt to do is to show you that the owners and the commissioner are the real culprits in this whole scandal and the players are just the cyringe they used to shoot the steroids.
In the late 80' and the early 90's baseball was struggling with their normal fan base. Players were beginning to sign enormous contracts paying them exorbitant amounts of money and the NFL was on the the verge of taking away MLB's place as "America's Pastime". After the strike of '94 baseball was no longer the most important sport in the mind's of the American public. The owners were not making the money they expected to make and the commissioner was fearful of losing his job. Steroids were already an issue in the league and after other sports leagues (mainly the NFL) implemented harsh penalties for steroid use, MLB turned its head the other direction. What the owners and the commissioner knew was that the draw of the long ball would bring back the lure of baseball, it would resurrect it from the grave. They had ever opportunity to institute a steroid policy but they failed to do so and because of that reason baseball is now in the state it is today.
People who read my argument will be shocked, the players are the ones who took the steroids, not the owners and not the commissioner (as far as we know but Bud Selig's head doesn't look much bigger). For those people I want to pose a question. If there was something you could take, a pill or a shot, that would not only improve the way you feel and look but would also make you better at your job, would you take it? Not only would it make you better at your job, it would also increase your salary and we aren't talking about the 3% raise you normally get at the end of every year, we are talking very large sums of money. You could go from making $50,000 per year to maybe $300,000 a year. Your company has no policy in place that makes taking it wrong and, in fact, some of your colleagues are taking it and are making that much money. Now, would you take it? There are no repercussions, if your company finds out there is nothing they can do and they might even encourage it. Your family would live more comfortably and other companies might even want to offer you a job for even more money and you might even win awards for being the best at what you do. If you don't take it, there is a small chance you might achieve those results in time but there is also a chance everyone else will pass you by and you will LOSE your job.
Everyone is so quick to fault the players but you have to put yourself in their shoes. Owners were willing to pay upwards of 15 to 20 million a year to the best players in the game. The commissioner wanted baseball to revive and flourish. They both knew of the steroids problem that was everywhere around them. Yet they did nothing to stop it, they allowed it to go on and although this is just a theory, it wouldn't surprise me if they encouraged it. As we all know, baseball is a business and the owners of these teams aren't in business to lose money. Before you go to a game this year and boo a player who supposedly took steroids because they were mentioned in the Mitchell Report, remember there are more people to blame then just the players.
AP News Release: Eyewitness reports indicate that Roger Clemens went berserk after being accused by a local reporter of using steroids. Screaming he “never touched the stuff” and didn’t know an “equipoise from a deca-durabolin from a nandrolone from a methandrostenolonum and that he wanted to be “clear” about that, a furious Clemens pounded the reporter’s microphone onto a flat, taffy-like substance and then threw the reporter’s SUV though a store window at a local Piggly Wiggly parking lot, where Clemens allegedly had picked up some fresh-brewed coffee. Responding to reports that a terrorist incident may have occurred, two F-15 Strike Eagles were scrambled to the area to observe and were subsequently knocked down by thrown baseballs from Clemens, who was apparently irritated that their noise was drowning out the Suzyn Waldman tapes he had specially installed for permanent playback in his pickup truck. Responding to frantic calls for help from local police, a National Guard tank unit was called in with supporting troops which apparently enraged Clemens even more and Clemens attacked the tank, twisting its turret into something resembling a pretzel. Although shaken, fortunately no tank members were hurt. However the tank crew subsequently requested they be stationed in Iraq so they could at least qualify for combat pay. One of the Strike Eagle pilots that survived his ejection said “It was horrible, I will never be able to play catch with my son again.” Clemens, through his attorney, later stated that “it was all a misunderstanding,” that “it was just the caffeine.”
Sorry Philly....I don't agree with your diagnosis of the problem.
Granted owners and MLB have gained from steroid usage but it is the PLAYERS who are injecting it.
PLAYERS are the ones who are throwing aside their values to gain an edge and then cash in.
YOUR assumption is that the OWNERS KNEW.
From everything I hear from baseball camps that Teams OPENLY exchanged WHO THEY BELIEVED where juicers but could not confirm.
The PLAYERS who have been exposed have received LOWER contract deals.....for fear of suspensions to the player and PUBLIC BACKLASH in signing them.
How many of those MINOR LEAGUERS have YOU seen called up to the BIGS since they have been outed.
PLEASE rattle off those names.
GIAMBI....PALMEIRO....BONDS....how many teams are scrambling to get ahold of them. The Yanks would LOVE to dump Giambi.
Think about this for a moment......You are a businessman, you place a valuable product on the field that produces mega profits.
Would you as a businessman risk those huge profits by promoting secretly a scenario that if exposed destroys your fanbase?
No intelligent businessman would do that.....so what you are basically insinuating is that 30 of this countries brightest and wealthiest businessmen would be in cohoots with each other.
Not only that....that's a small number, consider each teams support systems. CEO's...assistants....scouts....now we are talking hundreds....maybe THOUSANDS of employees in cohoots.
The PLAYERS went to great lengths to conceal.
Balco and Clubhouse attendants.....and who knows what else.
But not one OWNER....CEO....Team DOCTOR....assistant....or anyone associated with the front offices with being CONNECTED to steroids in any capacity.
Only on the field personal such as trainers...or clubhouse attendants. Only individuals in DIRECT CONTACT with the players.
Did VICTOR CONTE or anyone associated with BALCO incriminate MLB or Selig.......NO!
Has McNamee implicated MLB or Selig......NO!
DID CONGRESS IMPLICATE MLB or SELIG......NO!
DID THE MITCHELL REPORT IMPLICATE MLB or Selig......NO!
It's possible Selig and MLB did know but they HAD NO concrete proof. So what are they to do?
Everyone screams innocent until proven guilty......well WE DO have EVIDENCE of the PLAYERS USING. And not just the Mitchell report or congress.
JUST ask BARRY BONDS.....who admitted he took the CREAM and the CLEAR...although it was unwittingly.
Maybe ULTRA's RIGHT....it's a GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY and it's the PUBLIC's fault because we go to the games.....BECAUSE....we knew.....WE KNEW!
What a bunch of malarkey!
You would be hard pressed to get 2 owners on the same page for a scheme like this.
To insinuate that owners would risk their business reputations, wealth, and possible criminal proceedings which could lead to inprisonment is ludicrious. Your talking 30 businessmen! PLUS support systems.....
YOU'RE GOING TO NEED ALOT OF DUCT TAPE!
You guys have got to stop watching the SOPRANOS!
Last edited by socratesofswat1 on December 26th at 12:34 PM.
Good article. I just disagree.....The players that took the drugs, whether it was "banned" by baseball or not, are the ones to blame.
Here is my simple logic. It was, and is, illegal to buy those substances without a legitimate medical reason. Key word: ILLEGAL....I don't give a #### if basball hadn't specifically named these substances in a banned substance list or not. (as we all know, ignorance of the law does not exempt you from being responsible for the consequences)...
Think about it....."Um, officer, nobody specifically told me that killing that guy was illegal".....Look, it ain't my fault if "mamma didn't raise you right".....
There are 2 types of people in this world. Ones that will take the cookie out of the cookie jar after being told "no"...And those that understand, and have a conscience, and decide not to do something, simply because they know it is wrong....
Just because baseball didn't say "You can't cheat by taking steroids", does not absolve the players that did. They knew it was cheating, and ILLEGAL by US LAW... It actually, in my mind, elevates the players that didn't, even though they could have....you may not believe in personal resposibility. I do.....
Hardly a shocking blog PhillySportsDude, but you do raise an intriuging arguement. In my opinion, much of the blame rests on the Players Association and the Owners, as both sides looked the other way while the steroid issue was going on.
Really, we should handle the Steroid Era as something that happened, just as the Dead Ball Era happened, as well as the Cocaine Era happened. We must learn from it and move on.
The Player's ####. protected the players' rights, even though many were using this protection to do something wrong.
The owners rewarded the wrongs, and profits rose.
The fans are like the proverbial frog being cooked on the stove. The frog is placed in a pot of cool water, and then slowly, over time, the flame is turned up and up, and up, until now the temperature has reached the boiling point. The frog never knew what hit him.
We all loved Ken Camineti, while he played here in San Diego. We knew he had a dependency problem when he came here, but we thought it was booze and speed. And we thought/hoped the change in environment could help him clean up his act. He was our MVP and a real treat for the fans, both on and off the field. Who wouldn't want to be like Ken? We even grew beards like Camineti's.
Now there is the problem. I####rown man wants to kill himself with drugs, there is no way to stop him. But a lot of kids are trying to become as great as their sports idol.
How many of these kids have to become disabled, or die, before we put an end to the use of dangerous drugs in baseball?
It is time for the Player's ####. to stand up for the "clean" members of their union, and allow an effective testing policy. The owners will stop rewarding steroid enhanced players as soon as the fans stop buying tickets to see them play. The next time Roger Clemens comes to PetCo Park, I won't be in attendance. I didn't go when Barry Bonds was here trying to break the home run record.
And I don't think the stigma of the Steroid Era will end until there is a new Commissioner. I am
socratesofswat1.....seems you are in need of some serious therapy if you think bud or anyone else in baseball didn't know....just because they weren't named in any report doesn't mean they are not at fault! Sure they didn't inject any player with steriods but they did nothing to stop it! Only when canseco blew the whistle and then congress started investigating did anyone in baseball attempt to do anything about a problem that had been there all along and that was known about by all! And as for owners taking a chance on putting players on the field and risking the lose of their fan base......owners in all sports have shown that they will take a chance on a player no matter the cost if they think it will improve their chances of winning which in turns means they will make more money!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's all about the money!!!!!!!!!!!!
alwaysoutraged...so nice of you to stop by and put your foot in your mouth.
I stated it is the PLAYERS who put the stuff in their bodies FOR GREED or FAME who hold the most responsibility. CHA CHING! Yes it IS about MONEY....but for the players....which is the point YOU'RE MISSING.
And yes there are owners who will do anything for a buck....SEE AL DAVIS
But to indict 30 owners AND their organizations with NO EVIDENCE of ACTUAL ACTIVITY in steroids is irresponsible at best. I have stated that there is the possibility the owners knew about the extent of the problem...but they weren't actively involved. That's they're CRIME.... sitting back and not doing anything about it. BUT it was the players who were ACTIVELY involved.
You can conjure up all the scenerios you want...but the truth is there is not ONE SHRED of evidence to support your claims....only SPECULATION.
Is there any proof of ownership providing or ENCOURAGING steroid use regarding players? No. Show me one email....one memo....one phone conversation...one text message....one allegation of secret meetings. YOU CAN'T. Show me one secretary....one doctor....one trainer...one scout...one grunt that has come forward and claimed they have come across illegal activity involving OWNERSHIP and steroids and that OWNERSHIP ENCOURAGED this type of behavior.......YOU CAN'T.
If you can't produce any documentation and or rumors from within organizations about ownership inproprieties..... from the clubhouse attendants on up to upper management then you need to STOP ASSUMING.
Last edited by socratesofswat1 on January 4th at 2:54 PM.
I honestly could careless if all of the players use steriods. We as a fan want to see either see a bench clearing brawl or a game winning home run. If everyone uses steriods than the game would be even. One person on steriods doesn't make the whole team anyway. Baseball players are the most exploited players in any sport. They are recruited while in high school and so many of them spent many years in the minors, so they are given chances for greatness based off of their performance. I think it should be their decision whether or not they use steriods. Everyone else will either keeping naturely or do it also. We want all sporting events to be exciting and this steriod era is making the game definately exciting.
