Commissioner Bud Selig and players union chief Donald Fehr are intent on ridding the national pastime of modern, if impersonal, conveniences of e-mails and faxes.
Baseball’s two most powerful people recently communicated the old-fashioned way by writing each other personally addressed letters (even if they were typed on computers).
But aside from this romantic fling with snail mail – there was a full week between Selig’s letter and Fehr’s response – don’t expect baseball’s steroid policy to undergo significant, if any, changes until 2007.
In Selig’s letter, he urged an increase in suspension penalties to 50 games for a first offense, 100 games for a second offense and a lifetime ban for a third.
“I’m all for it,” Rockies owner Charlie Monfort said. “I hope the commissioner’s proposal happens.”
The problem with Selig’s steroid penalties, however, is they change with the political climate. Many players and union officials viewed Selig’s latest proposal as a cheap shot because he knows steroid policy changes won’t be made until the current collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2006 season.
The union made one historical exception in January when it agreed to amend the existing policy so first-time offenders would receive a 10-game suspension. The big-league policy nearly mirrors the minor-league drug policy Selig implemented without union interference last year.
Since then, criticism of baseball’s steroid policy has escalated because the public is outraged by suspicions Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds were chemically enhanced as they shattered long- revered home run records.
Apparently forgotten amid the furor, however, is those records were set yesterday while evidence shows baseball’s steroid policy of today and tomorrow is working. Just one month into baseball’s revised policy, five players have been busted. Compare that to the supposedly laudable NFL drug policy that nabs, on average, 3.6 active players a year.
Fehr responded with the message his players “are understandably reluctant to renegotiate.”
Not that the commissioner’s proposal was a disingenuous public- relations ploy. His call to have an independent administrator oversee baseball’s steroid policy was perhaps the welcomed element to his proposal. The most glaring flaw in the steroid policies for MLB and the NFL is the leagues, not an independent panel, judge the results.
This leaves open the possibility of politics and coverups.
That Selig wants to raise baseball above suspicion is admirable. His letter-writing tactic, however, was questionable. At the major- league level, the commissioner does not have authority to implement policy change without the players’ consent. If player approval is needed, and strengthening the steroid policy is the goal, why rankle the players by redirecting criticism upon them?
The guy who got away
With apologies to Chone Figgins, Jody Gerut and Josh Bard, the best Rockies player Colorado never knew was Craig Counsell.
Like Gerut, the Rockies’ brass didn’t know what it had in Counsell, primarily because his minor-league career was plagued by injuries. Both were traded away – Counsell by Bob Gebhard, Gerut by Dan O’Dowd – for washed-up veterans and have flourished elsewhere.
Counsell, who had just one hitless at-bat and a walk for the Rockies in 1997, has since played an integral role on two World Series title teams.
“I have to say that, yeah, I thought he’d be this good,” said Rockies bullpen catcher Mark Strittmatter, who was Counsell’s minor-league teammate for parts of six seasons. “Craig was probably the smartest player I ever played with. I mean, by far.”
At 34, Counsell has long defeated the scout’s utility label and become an everyday player for the vastly improved Arizona Diamondbacks, who will visit Coors Field for a four-game series that starts Thursday.
Footnotes
Some people marvel at Bonds. Others look up to Albert Pujols. Many idolize Derek Jeter.
“The guy for me that I always looked up to was Steve Finley,” Counsell said. “I saw how as he got older, he took his game to new levels. He’s the guy I have in the back of my mind as I get older.”
Entering Saturday, the 40-year-old Finley was the best .188 hitter in baseball. Despite that average, he was 11th in the American League with six homers and 14th with 19 RBIs in 101 at-bats with the Angels. For comparative kicks, Toronto’s Shea Hillenbrand was batting .370 with two homers and nine RBIs in 119 at-bats. …
On the way to Florida, I crossed paths at DIA with Colorado State football coach Sonny Lubick, who was returning from a coaches-athletic directors gathering in Phoenix. CSU boosters and budget hawks may be pleased to know Lubick not only schlepped his own bags, he parked way out in the economy lot. Not to start anything or anything, but has anyone ever run into Gary Barnett in the economy lot?
