Book takes Selig to task

Much interesting stuff in the story, but this one stood out.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015...source=facebook

And when it comes to the issue of steroids in baseball, the book is only further proof of what many baseball fans have long thought—Selig was just one of many only too happy to look the other way as home runs rescued baseball from the disastrous cancelled 1994 season.

 

Even worse, in Pessah’s telling, are Selig’s attempts to rewrite history, often at the expense of players.

 

In 2005, he claimed that in the ’90s he tried to find out information about steroids, but claimed not a single person told him. But Pessah points out that former Padres GM Randy Smith spoke out about them in 1995. Pessah also claims that many of the owners were sceptical of the investigation Selig commissioned by Senator George MItchell, but “no one [was] willign to say out loud what some think Mitchell’s investigation is really about: cleaing up Bud Selig’s legacy.” Which of course, it doesn’t.

 

Selig claims in 2009 in an interview with Newsday that, “Starting in 1995, I tried to institute a steroid policy,” but Pessah notes that Selig had previously claimed “he never heard a word about steroids until Andro was discovered in Mark McGwire’s locker room in 1999.”

 

And when it comes to the most recent steroid scandal, the 162-game suspension for Alex Rodriguez, Pessah sides with those who interpret the episode as Selig trying to fix his legacy.

 

“Selig,” Pessah writes regarding the crackdown on A-Rod, “likes to frame everything in historical context. What history will show is the ninth commissioner of baseball bungled the final act of his 22-year career.”