For Selig, bowing out would be owning up

In front of God, ESPN and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Tuesday, baseball commissioner Bud Selig boldly proclaimed, "I accept responsibility for everything that has happened in our sport."

Apparently he meant it to sound self-congratulatory, because two days later, Selig, who presided over baseball during the most shameful period in the sport's history, accepted a three-year contract extension that will keep him in charge of the game through 2012.

It brings up the question: For what, exactly, does Selig think he's accepting responsibility?

The split-finger fastball?

Boston breaking, then re-breaking, the Curse of the Bambino?

Jamie Moyer's changeup?

Dice-K's gyroball?

If Selig really accepts responsibility for everything that has happened in baseball under his watch, he should leave.

"Every fan who bought a ticket to see a game for the past 20 years has been witness to a fraud," Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., said Tuesday.

She accurately portrayed the game as "filled with lawbreakers and co-conspirators who ignore the problem or actively fuel the problem."

Bud Selig: the commissioner as co-conspirator.

Sure, Selig should get some credit for finally coming to grips with the problem of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, for finally coming to an agreement with the players' union for a drug-testing policy, and for commissioning George Mitchell to investigate the extent of drug use in the game.

But all of those "accomplishments" feel as if they were too little, too late.

And baseball still would be buried in deceit if another Congressional committee hadn't thrown Selig and union boss Donald Fehr a high hard one in March 2005, forcing them, belatedly, to take action.

Selig's game was in the throes of an epidemic, but before 2005 all he seemed to care about was the bottom line.

Baseball was making billions. Who cared if players were injecting themselves with all kinds of drugs that made them hit the ball farther, throw it harder and recover from injury quicker?

Under Selig, the syringe became the Louisville Slugger of the clubhouse.

Steroids and human grown hormone brought shock and awe to the game. Nobody hit home runs that were more thrilling than Barry Bonds. Balls jumped off his bat as if they were jet-propelled, or at least propelled by HGH.

Baseball was earning about $1.6 billion when Selig took over as acting commissioner in September 1992. It is projected to make $6.5 billion this season.

No wonder the owners' vote to extend Selig's contract was unanimous.

But the extension makes a mockery of everything that has happened over the past month.

Selig, like most baseball fans, fell in love with the long ball. He was in awe of the rocket shots launched by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, and for that matter, Brady Anderson and Luis Gonzalez.

He was blinded by that love and the billions of dollars home runs helped him deliver to his bosses, the owners.

"Certainly a lack of leadership and oversight in Major League Baseball enabled the abuses to continue," Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida said after last month's release of the Mitchell Report had implicated 90 past and present players. "After 15 years of slow action, a new commissioner is needed to guide the league out of the era of drug abuse."

Selig is complicit in everything that has happened in the drug era. He's right. He is responsible.

Not only did he tamper with the integrity of the game, but he and the union also showed a patent disregard for the health of the players.

Forget for a moment that many cheated and broke the law: The players also put themselves at risk for myriad dangerous side effects that accompany steroid abuse and HGH.

Recent history has shown us, from Ben Johnson to Marion Jones, many athletes will do whatever it takes, no matter the long-term harm, to compete at an elite level.

In the highly competitive world of professional sports, athletes sometimes have to be protected from themselves.

But Selig showed no compassion for the players' lack of good judgment.

And for that he gets an extension?

His contract was supposed to expire after the 2009 season. The timing would have been right to bring in a new face, someone who wasn't scarred by this scandal. Someone who would listen to all of the recommendations of the Mitchell Report and keep the pressure on the players and their union to properly police the game.

Instead the owners voted for the status quo.

Supposedly Bud Selig has taken full responsibility.

For what, exactly?

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com