Brooks Robinson decries steroid enhanced records.

[Ned]

You got it. Perhaps the commissioner should be appointed by the president and confirmed by Congress so that he cannot be fired by the "bosses."

[Imran Siddiqui]

We are having people advocate that the President pick the CEO of a PRIVATE business?! What in the Hell is wrong with you? The Commissioner of Baseball is not a judge or government ambassador... Jesus Christ!

[Ned]

Imran, the original commissioner prevented legislation because he was in charge for the purposes of keeping the game honest. He imposed the rule that anyone in baseball who gambled on the game would be banned for life. As a result, only the fools like Rose gambled.

I think the real change in the power of the commissioner came when Steinbrenner and others ousted Bowie Kuhn for nixing the breakup of the A's in the best interests of baseball. Kuhn was trying to keep some competitive balance, but that may have been beyond his implicit authority.

But this steroid scandal goes to the heart of matter. It is all about keeping the game honest. The commish should have the authority to impose effective rules. If he fails, Congress should act in some form.

[Imran Siddiqui]

And your acting is to have Congress appoint the CEO of a PRIVATE business? Really, all the Commissioner is is the CEO of a company where the owners are the Board of Directors.

Extending your comments, the energy companies have been shown to be not honest with Enron and the like... so why not have Congress and the President pick their CEOs? How about Accounting firms as well after the Arthur Anderson scandals? The CEOs of those firms appointed by Congress and the President as well! They can be new administrative agencies of the federal government.

I wonder if you ever think before you post.

I think the real change in the power of the commissioner came when Steinbrenner and others ousted Bowie Kuhn for nixing the breakup of the A's in the best interests of baseball.

Those decisions were made in 1976... Kuhn didn't leave the position of Commissioner until 1984.

[JohnT]

And your acting is to have Congress appoint the CEO of a PRIVATE business? Really, all the Commissioner is is the CEO of a company where the owners are the Board of Directors.

Note that it is the only private business to be legislatively exempt from the Sherman Anti-trust act. If baseball doesn't want Congress to install commissioners, perhaps they ought to give up the exemption, mmmm?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Are you saying that as a result of an exception to a federal law, the federal government OWNS that business? If that is your case, then I guess the government ownes churches and other charities exempt from federal tax laws.

Besides all that giving up the anti-trust law is going to do is allow team owners to move teams willy-nilly. That seems to be really the only difference between the NFL and the MLB with respect to anti-trust laws... that and having to pay $1 to the USFL.

[JohnT]

I'm saying it sets up a gray area where Congress obviously feels that it has some special reason to regulate baseballs business to a public level that they wouldn't, say, Starbucks.

[DanS]

Baseball should have its antitrust exemption revoked on principal alone. It doesn't matter that it will have limited impact.

[DanS]

Oh, and it's pretty bizarre that somebody who saw presumably lots of players take greenies without a fuss would bam about steroids impacting records.

I think the game should be cleaned up. The congress is doing its part by giving baseball an excuse to get its act together. The commissioner is doing his part by ramming this thing down the union's throat, all the while blaming potential action by the congress.

American sports places too much emphasis on stats and records IMHO, if you are amonst the best at a given time and won championships then thats enough.

Although stats are creeping into British sports we rarely use them to decide who the 'best' is, thats where judgement comes in.

I thought it would have been obvious to you that Americans love stats. Business. Economics. Opinion polls. Demographics. Always have.

Baseball has always been mostly about stats. Records matter a great deal in this game, although it is a little hard to compare among generations.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by JohnT
I'm saying it sets up a gray area where Congress obviously feels that it has some special reason to regulate baseballs business to a public level that they wouldn't, say, Starbucks.

Regulation is one thing... if Ned said they should impose a steroid policy, I wouldn't agree, but wouldn't have felt so strongly against. However, taking over management is another thing altogether.

[Ned]

Yeah, but what we have seen is that a commish who serves at the pleasure of the owners cannot keep baseball honest. Whether this is because the owners have no interest in honesty as they profit by the cheating, or because the union has no interest in honesty because it benefits the players, the result is the same.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Ned
Yeah, but what we have seen is that a commish who serves at the pleasure of the owners cannot keep baseball honest. Whether this is because the owners have no interest in honesty as they profit by the cheating, or because the union has no interest in honesty because it benefits the players, the result is the same.

And what we see with the accounting industry is that they can't be kept honest. Whether that is because CEOs themselves have no interest in honesty as they profit by fudging numbers or whether individual accountants have no interest in honesty because it may help them get promotions, the result is the same.

Hey ho! Let's get the federal government appointing CEOs in the accounting industry!

Oh, and btw, its only cheating if its against the rules of the game. Steroids were not against the rules in the 90s.

[Ned]

The difference between baseball (or any sport) and business is that one can sue a business for cheating (usually lying). One does not need "regulation."

Obviously, baseball needs "regulation." Neither the owners nor the players have any incentive to be honest about steroids. The people who are hurt are the fans who love the game and, yes, obsess about records.

[Ned]

The Twins Rincon is the first player hit with a suspension:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/baseball/mlb/05/02/rincon.steroids.ap/index.html

Good. Especially because it is a Twin player who is gone, and not a Sox player. But, what this suggests is that at least some of the Twins have been cheating for the last few years.

[Imran Siddiqui]

The Twins Rincon is the first player hit with a suspension:

How do you ALWAYS get the facts wrong? He's actually the FIFTH player to serve a 10 game suspension, Ned.

The difference between baseball (or any sport) and business is that one can sue a business for cheating (usually lying). One does not need "regulation."

Um... you can only sue a business for engaging fraud which caused you harm. If baseball was engaging in fraud, then you can sue them too.

The people who are hurt are the fans who love the game and, yes, obsess about records.

No they aren't. They will gloss over the amphetamine obsessed 1950s and 60s, probably because they aren't willing to show the same disdain for their childhood 'heros' like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, or Hank Aaron as they show for Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire.

The only 'hurt' it puts on the fans are for those who are willfully blind about baseball's past.

This is a game that has FULLY embraced pitchers who cheated by using spitballs and sandpaper to make balls dart in different ways... they even put Rollie Fingers in the Hall of Fame even though his entire career was built by obvious cheating (spitballs were banned in the 1910s or 1920s, IIRC).