I remember Fay Vincent saying that anyone using anabolic steroids or performance enhancing drugs would be banned from baseball. It was the spring of '92, and he was adamant that, as Commissioner of Baseball, he could unilaterally make such a decision because of baseball's "best interests of the game" clause, and didn't need the players or the owners permission. This scared the every loving hell out of the empty suits, and Vincent retired in early September after failing to receive a vote of confidence from the owners.

His uttering those words meant that it was now law, and I won't go into all of the reasons why the owners rejected him, but part of it was because they wanted such power in their hands. They knew that drugs were a big part of the game and heroic feats meant heroic attendance records and big TV ratings. They also knew that they needed a Commisioner who was happy to leave such matters to the Players Association and the Owners Committee's, and if everyone involved looked the other way things would be just fine.

But he said those words. Anyone using drugs would be banned from the game. So now we hear that it wasn't against baseball's policy back then, and that is simply untrue. The Commissioner didn't, and still doesn't need anyone else to chime in on the matter when it comes to certain issues. The use of performance enhancing drugs was addressed and found to be just cause for banishment. Case closed.

Bud Selig can, any time he wants, toss out the cheats. That he hasn't done so means the fannies and the ratings still come first. He's the boss, the owners and the players are going along with such nonsense, but never believe that there is not a way to remedy the current flap. The bad press baseball is getting should be reason enough to toss out the cheats, but he's probably praying that Congress steps in again and forces his hand.