Aside from the double standard in Selig?s statement, he is way off-base with this accusation. As much as I loathe A-Rod, he does not deserve to be vilified for his actions. There are plenty of people who deserve blame for the steroid culture that overran baseball in recent years. Individual players who took performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) are well down the list of people who deserve the most blame.
One man who deserves quite a bit of flack is Selig. He had to know that PED use was widespread in the MLB, yet for years he did nothing. As early as 1995, Padres General Manager Randy Smith told The LA Times that steroid use was prevalent in baseball. That same year, MLB star Tony Gwynn estimated that 30 percent of MLB players were using PEDs. Throughout the 90s, home run numbers were ballooning, radar gun readings were jumping and individual players were developing muscle at inhuman rates. Nonetheless, Selig likely saw the league?s income statements and decided that the league should reap the rewards of the PED era for as long as it remained profitable.