America's Pastime is Making Money

At Major League Baseball, economics triumphs over morality and legality. Or, more precisely over personal accountability. As a reward for boosting revenues by 400% and setting league attendance records, Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was recently awarded a contract extension through 2012. Mr. Selig is almost guaranteed to make at least what he made last year -- $14.5 million.

That's right, about $15 million a year is going to the man who failed to provide quick and decisive leadership when professional baseball needed it most -- at the earliest stages of the steroids and performance-enhancing drug controversy. Today, Major League Baseball has tough substance abuse policies. The sport banned steroids in 2002 and established testing and penalties in 2004. But nothing was done during the home run boom of the nineties when the realities of player substance abuse moved beyond mere suspicion.

The Mitchell Report, which was conducted at the request of Commissioner Selig, concluded that the MLB Commissioners, club officials, the Players Association, and the players all share responsibility for uncontrolled, illegal use of steroids in professional baseball.

Selig has now vowed to rid baseball of performance enhancing substance abuse and holds himself personally responsible for what was not done earlier. We should all be so lucky as to accept responsibility without corresponding consequences -- which is the implication of Selig's contract extension.

Barry Bonds' home run record deserves an asterisk. So does the revenue line item in MLB's accounting statements.