Baseball Makes Good Start On Barry Bonds Investigation.

Good news, everybody!

Major League Baseball has decided to investigate past steroid use. The announcement comes tomorrow so the story on the web (here) doesn't have much in the way of details. The investigation will include Barry Bonds and other players. Former Senator George Mitchell is rumored to be the head of the investigation.

Baseball has taken a good first step by deciding to do an investigation. As with everything, however, the devil is in the details and there are troubling things about the proposed investigation.

First, the idea that the investigation should be widely focused rather than be about Barry Bonds is risky. The broader the investigation the longer it'll take. Justice delayed is justice denied. In this case, every day that the investigation continues is another day that Bonds remains playing and moves closer to passing Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.

If the charges in Game of Shadows are true, at this point in Bonds's career about all he can hope for is to get as many at bats before he is brought to justice for having successfully cheated his way into the record books. A broadbased investigation plays into Bonds's hands. Those commentators who advocated an investigation of baseball itself rather than just Bonds were inadvertantly promoting Bonds's agenda.

A better investigation would focus on Bonds, and if other players get caught up in the net, fine. It's fair to go after Bonds alone because, out of the superstars who are suspected of cheating, Bonds is the one still in the game. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are out. And of the players still in the game who might have used steroids, Bonds is the one who is closing in on Ruth and Aaron. Who really cares if lesser players cheated before? Their cheating didn't take them to the pinnacle of success in the game. And with the new testing regime they probably aren't cheating now.

But if Game of Shadows is accurate, to allow Bonds to pass Ruth and Aaron would be to allow a cheater to stand at the top of the game of baseball as the greatest homerun hitter of all time. That would be good for nobody. Thus, a quick investigation focused on Bonds is in MLB's interest.

Second, this quote by former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent is especially troubling.

"I think the investigation is the right step," Vincent said. "I don't think the issue is punishment, I think it's: 'Shouldn't the players be called to task for cheating, even if there is no punishment?' I think baseball has to recapture the moral high ground."

There has to be punishment, if the charges in Game of Shadows prove true. Simply revealing that Bonds cheated his way into the record books is not enough. What's good enough for Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose is good enough for Barry Bonds.

-tdr

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