Baseball's investigation into steroids a total joke, By: Chris Austin
May 8, 2006
The Major League Baseball Players Union is at it again. That's right — the poor "we're just looking out for our players' rights" union.
On Friday, Michael Weiner — the No. 3 official for the union — sent e-mails to MLB players' agents asking them to let the union know if George Mitchell, the former Senate Majority Leader who was hired by commissioner Bud Selig, or any of his investigators call or request any information relating to the ongoing steroids investigation.
The union stance is that the investigation is a "substantial disruption" to the bargaining relationship between the union and MLB.
Look — I'm a union guy for the most part, but this is just crazy what are they worried about.
Mitchell and his group don't have the power to subpoena someone to get them a glass of water, much less any information on medical records or telephone calls to doctors, personal trainers, or anyone or anything else from past or present major league players.
And do you think the players' agents haven't already told their clients that?
If not, then the players need to get better agents.
This investigation is just a dog-and-pony show to make people think they are trying to find out about who was on steroids for the integrity of the game.
If they do find out anything — like they don't already know — it will be by pure luck.
Players aren't going to talk unless it means a big payday for them in a Jose Canseco kind of way and immunity to prosecution.
Major League Baseball has known for a long time that its players were on steroids, and it turned a blind eye to it because all of the home runs were attracting fans in record numbers.
Money is the bottom line for them and the team owners. It has been for a long time, and it will continue that way unless something changes.
That "something" should be Congress taking away baseball's antitrust protection, and not just threaten to do it.
MLB and the players union do not want that to happen, because the antitrust clause is their gold mine to getting around a lot of business practices, because "baseball is just a game and not a business."
Maybe 70 or 80 years ago it was, but I think the cow is out of the barn on that one.
Does Congress have better things to do? Of course they do. But it will take something like that to get baseball to really look at itself and truly try to fix some of its problems.
I love baseball, and I don't want it to become more of a punch line or joke than it has become.
