MLB Head Selig No Bud of A-Rod and Players

It took Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig longer to respond to Alex Rodriguez's admission that he had taken steroids than it did for A-Rod to come forward after the allegations surfaced—and Selig didn't even have to rush back from canoodling in the Bahamas (we hope). Selig released a statement today saying, "What Alex did was wrong and he will have to live with the damage he has done to his name and reputation." In an interview with USA Today, Selig also hinted at his possible desire to suspend A-Rod (despite having no grounds to do so) as well as reinstating Hank Aaron as the home run record holder because of the steroid scandal (only to have an MLB rep quickly take that idea off the table). While many have pointed the figure to baseball's lax role as a factor in the course of the scandal, Selig chose to focus on the fact that A-Rod had not taken steroids since the MLB's anti-doping policy went into effect in 2004 and pointed the finger at the Players' Union saying that the formation of said policy "received no cooperation from the Players Assn. and virtually none from the players."

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By Billy Parker in News on February 12, 2009 6:10 PM

Comments [rss]

brj1212

I wonder if there is another sport out there as corrupt as baseball. Even in the early 1900's people were cheating in baseball. Players on the White Sox got banned from the game for throwing the world series.

This sport is in a world of hurt right now while Football and Basketball are as popular as ever.

Here is a great article showing the past and present of baseball and steroids

http://www.gotoguy.com/2009/02/09/baseballs-golden-showers/

Good Luck!

NannyState

Baseball is finished. Soccer, anyone?

Mr Mel

Interesting, a lot of American kids play or played soccer, but they won't buy tickets for a game. The game's base, in the States, are the foreign born and they really can't afford to support it. Beckham wants to go back to Europe where he's appreciated,meanwhile baseball is setting attendance records.

Steven

All sports are a business. Basketball, Football. Baseball you name it.

Mr Mel

Bud Selig has become the whipping boy for all that's wrong with baseball. Let's give him credit for what he's done right. Baseball will never be what we thought it was. It is a business as well as a sport. The players used to be the property of the owners and now the slaves are free and get what the traffic will bear much like car salesmen or Wall Street Brokers or college professors looking for a raise. Let's be fair about this.

The Edge

They might have been slaves, but at least they actually put heart into the game.

Now they just have chemicals running through their heart.

MurphGuide

Bud Selig is to steroids in baseball as Capt. Renault is to gambling in "Casablanca":

Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!

(a croupier hands Renault a pile of money)

Croupier: Your winnings, sir.

Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.

Captain Renault: [aloud] Everybody out at once!

Toby von Meistersinger

Although hearing him speak he sounds like Sgt. Shultz from Hogan's Heroes:

[repeated line]

Schultz: I see NOTHING! I know NOTHING!

blablanyc

The story is not about A-Rod or any other baseball players. Its about Bud Selig. He never wanted to police the players usage of steroids. He was afraid the game would be less exciting and fewer fans would take interest. Thus, hurting MLB's revenue.

Selig made more than all but 3 players in 2007

Commissioner got raise of about $3 million to nearly $17.5 million that year

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28980471/

PTG in nyc

I really dislike ARod, but I'm starting to have as much sympathy for him as Michael Phelps (who I've always liked, especially now that he rips bingers).

Selig has never once expressed outrage over the pervasive abuse of performance enhancing drugs that was allowed to proliferate under his own watch, but in trying to score points with the media and everyone else, all of a sudden he's shocked and appalled. What a greedy asshole.

Seriously, Barry Bonds is commonly disliked because he seems like a terrible person, but not in the way ARod is disliked. So he's obviously juicing, but because he kept chasing the home run record, Selig never cared becuase of the $$$ MLB was making off of the publicity.

What a hypocrite and a sorry excuse for a leader.

How come he never lashed out a Mark McGuire who all but admitted to Congress that he juiced? How come he's never made any public comments against performance enhancement until today? Oh right, because he thinks enough people are listening to him for once.

Toby von Meistersinger

Bud either knew or turned a blind eye so he could profit. Baseball died back in the 1990s and Bud Selig's prints are on the needle.