MSNBC: Robinson: KNOCKS ON SELIG ARE OFF-BASE

“But in this nation, the world’s greatest democracy, there is nothing they can do to prevent me from being punished for a crime they know I did not commit. Some who have called have said that I am a modern-day Job."… R. Budd Selig then returns to the podium and pulls out a .357 Magnum revolver.

Some words from the Oakland Tribune jumped off the page: “During Selig’s 15-plus years on the job…MLB has...accepting, if not embracing, rampant use of performance-enhancing steroids.” Now this is one man’s opinion, albeit remarkably uninformed and irresponsible. I say that because I worked for the Giants and closely with Barry Bonds—a player at the heart of BALCO during the early years in question—and I know of no one who accepted or embraced steroids among management, ownership and staff. There were, however, suspicions and an unwillingness to “turn over the rock.”

I believe baseball was victimized by its own culture—one not unlike the military in which loyalty trumps all. There is no room in baseball for a whistle-blower. What the sport desperately needed was a Deep Throat. Oh, by the way, who made Deep Throat? Two reporters Woodward and Bernstein. So when I read a columnist trashing Selig, calling him the “Steroids Commissioner,” I want to ask if that writer ever tried to investigate the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. I was in the game as a broadcaster and did nothing. Did this writer snoop, ask questions, or try to follow in the lead of a Woodward or Bernstein? Or is it just too comfortable to sit back and blast away after the fact?