Let ’em all in
Selig’s spot in Hall should pave way for PED cheaters
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Bud Selig deserves his baseball immortality, delivered to him Sunday in the form of a Hall of Fame election. He made an enormous impact, one arguably larger than any of his predecessors in the Commissioner’s office, on the game he truly loves.
But if he’s getting his day in Cooperstown, then on what spectrum of intellectual consistency can we possibly keep out people like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez and George Steinbrenner?
How can anyone ever again cite “integrity, sportsmanship, character,” quoting from the Baseball Writers Association of America criteria, to lock people out of the Hall when a committee featuring eight Hall members overwhelmingly welcomed a man who was guilty of violating the collective bargaining agreement?
Seli g joined longtime Royals and Braves general manager John Schuerholz as the first inductees of the Today’s Game era, in the newest incarnation of the perpetually evolving “Veterans Committee” process. Schuerholz is as uncontroversial a recipient of his honor as you’ll find, and that’s why he received votes from all 16 members of the committee. He did brilliant work in 40 years, 26 of those as a general manager, on the baseball operations side.
For Selig, though, who received support from a resounding 15 members, controversy accompanied him well before he took over the Commissioner’s office in 1992, and it never left. His critics most often contend that he oversaw the game during the “Steroids Era,” when players capitalized on technological advancements to use a superior brand of illegal performance-enhancing drugs and forever change the record book.
Selig deserves forgiveness for this. The game operated in near-chaos, with the next labor dispute right around the corner. Selig had bigger fish to fry — and he eventually pushed forward an impressive drug-testing program that has forced illegal PED enthusiasts to work far harder at eluding detection.
For the same reason, though, Bonds, Clemens and their contemporaries deserve amnesty for what transpired in what was truly a Wild West period. No enforceable rules existed. It was every man for himself. Mistakes were made. The game pressed onward.
“My job as the commissioner was to solve that problem,” Selig said Sunday, referring to illegal PEDs, in a telephone news conference. “Certainly, it was different [between] the people who took it from the people who were trying to solve it. The writers are going to have to decide about the players.”
I’ve made my decision, in light of this development. In recent years, as I advocated for those like Bonds and Clemens who were never caught, I penalized players who were caught using illegal PEDs after 2004, when players and owners agreed on rules. Rafael Palmeiro went to the back of my line on my 10-man ballot. The same went for Sammy Sosa, who was caught corking his bat.
No longer — and not because of Selig’s role in the Steroids Era. Rather, it’s because Selig, as owner of the Brewers, colluded with his fellow lords of the manor to illegally suppress freeagent salaries following the 1985, and 1986 and 1987 campaigns. So ruled an independent arbitrator, all three times, costing the owners hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
“I was not the commissioner during that era,” Selig said. “That was well before my commissionership.”
When you take illegal PEDs, or cork a bat, you break the rules as you’re trying to win. When you collude to keep salaries down, thereby not fully pursuing talent? You’re breaking the rules as you’re not trying your hardest to win. Which transgression is truly worse?
So go on in, A-Rod. Hop aboard, Manny Ramirez. Steinbrenner, who received fewer than five votes? His two suspensions and involvement in collusion absolutely shouldn’t nullify his massive contributions to the industry.
The game would be nowhere as good without Selig’s resilience, vision or masterful people skills. His black marks are now eternally, rightfully overlooked.
Let’s not end his legacy now. Make him a groundbreaker for the macro view of a Hall candidate’s body of work.
“Baseball is a metaphor for life,” Selig said Sunday. Isn’t life, even in museum form, best when presented warts and all?