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Selig should shut down Clemens, Bonds — now

Commish's policy needs to be: Rocket must fess up, slugger can't be signed

Donald Fehr, Bud SeligGetty Images
Instead of testifying in Washington, MLB commissioner Bud Selig, shown with union leader Donald Fehr on Wednesday, could set policy on Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, writes Tim Dahlberg of the Associated Press.

Bud Selig could do something about that, but he’s been busy lately. On this day he was in front of a House committee in Washington where one congressman told him he didn’t think he deserved to be the commissioner of baseball. If that wasn’t bad enough, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency called baseball’s drug testing program a joke because it is run in-house.

In Selig’s defense, there never would have been a Mitchell Report without him. He ordered it, found someone credible to do it, and accepted its results.

But these are times in baseball where the commissioner has to do more. The steroid and human growth hormone scandal has penetrated the very core of the game so that not only are fans pointing fingers and whispering, but players are, too.

Can anyone’s statistics be trusted again?

Here’s a suggestion for Selig: Pretend spring training actually starts tomorrow and do something to make fans feel good about their game once again.

Start by telling Clemens he’s no longer welcome in any major league camp until he either comes clean or the mountain of evidence against him somehow crumbles. His presence with the Astros is not only a daily reminder of all that’s wrong with baseball, but of how stupidly arrogant Clemens must be to even be there.

Next, send out a memo to all 30 clubs telling them they can’t try to sign Bonds until after he is acquitted in a trial. Sure, the union will scream, but you’re the commissioner of baseball. Wield the big stick.

Follow that with the suspensions you’ve been threatening since the Mitchell Report came out. If you can’t come up with a list, I’ll give you 20 names just for starters of who shouldn’t be on the opening-day roster.

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Finally, listen to people who have been in the doping business a lot longer than you. Farm drug testing out to an independent agency and make players get tested monthly, instead of twice a season.

None if it is terribly difficult; all of it is badly needed.

Restore some credibility to the game, and maybe we won’t have to start next season the way we started this one.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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