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Here is former used car salesman and current Major League Baseball commissioner, Bud Selig.

Yesterday, the ESPN blog, The View from Flyover Country had a post entitled “Selig Must Go” that pretty much got it right on.

Bud Selig and the MLB owners have not received enough attention in the ongoing steroids saga, and that is no accident. Both parties ignored the situation as long as possible, and when it became evident that things were going to blow Bud had both a plan and a chump to execute it. Mitchell was the perfect man to run the steroids investigation because he is the one who would give Bud what he wanted – attention concentrated on the players, and not the administrative side of MLB.

Mitchell was not suited to run this investigation for several reasons, one being his association with the Red Sox, another his long term relationship with Selig. Mitchell is a politician by trade, not an investigator or an expert on performance enhancing drugs. The report produced by the good senator is generally lacking, especially in connecting the MLB owners and Selig to the player’s use of PEDs. Anyone who thinks Selig wasn’t directly or indirectly involved in the tilt of the Mitchell report under-estimates Selig, or over-estimates Mitchell.

If one reads the Mitchell report and statements by players it becomes obvious that the owners and Selig had to know.

Those who are regulars here will know that I have been very critical of many players suspected of using steroids including, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmiero and Roger Clemens to name a handful. You will also know that I am a believer in the old saying: “A Fish Rots From The Head”.

Now, I have not been critical of Selig’s choice to have Mitchell head up the investigation. The reason I haven’t is because, I was just glad to see any investigation started. MLB is going to do whatever it can to protect itself and, Selig is a prime example. Other commissioners have been accused of being yes men for the owners. The appointment of Selig took that concept to a new level as he was an owner; as well as a used car salesman.

That being said, I agree with Flyover’s assessment of why Mitchell was chosen to do the dirty work.

I think that the MLB has put themselves in more hot water than they bargained for.

Today, Mitchell, Selig and player’s union leader Donald Fehr appeared before Congress. This is from Breitbart/AP.

But Bonds was brought up by Waxman, who asked Selig whether the Giants should have reported their concerns about Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson, and the slugger’s alleged steroid use to the commissioner’s office.

“Of course,” Selig responded.

Pressed by Waxman about whether Giants general manager Brian Sabean violated baseball rules by not doing so, Selig said: “It’s a matter that I have under review,” perhaps hinting that Sabean or other team officials could face discipline.

That’s pretty important there. Selig is saying that, if management knew that players were juicing, they should not have kept quiet. Then, he does the little executive two-step by not really committing to whether said management should be punished.

More Waxman…

“This incident shows why it’s important for baseball’s management to take the problem of steroids seriously. It’s possible that the BALCO scandal could have been averted if Brian Sabean and Peter Magowan acted in a responsible fashion,” Waxman said. “Instead, they seemed more intent on protecting Bonds.”

Did management know that sluggers were cheating when they were hitting home runs at a faster rate than Hollywood D.U.I. arrests? When power pitcher’s still had zip on their fastballs after a quarter century in the show, did the owners know that they were using HGH?

What do you think?

Better yet, what does Henry Waxman think? Henry is not happy. Henry is a procedural guy. So much so that, he is pushing the Attorney General to do a criminal probe of Miguel Tejada on the basis that the Mitchell Report indicates that Tejada perjured himself in his earlier testimony.
(By the way, you need to make note of that one, Roger Clemens.)

Is Bud Selig going to be able to say that no owners (including himself) or management had knowledge of steroid abuse in baseball?

To me, the elephant in the room is, the fact that Major League Baseball is the only industry that has an anti-trust exemption. Therefore, baseball can do whatever it wants. Major League Baseball has no one to answer to; except congress. The bottom line is; If a guy like Henry Waxman has a suspicion that the former used car salesman and others like him, had knowledge of all of the cheating that was outlined in the Mitchell report, he can easily send them back to their respective car lots.