Fehr, union deserve blame for steroid era

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Does anyone else find it more than a bit disingenuous that Don Fehr wants to talk about fairness now? Now that the Mitchell Report has been aired? Now that baseball's once-hallowed record book has been forever stained by steroid use? Now that so much damage already has been done, with Fehr and the players union serving as willing accomplices? If it weren't so sad, so repulsive, so maddening, it might even be funny.Because Fehr and his union henchmen have only themselves to blame.They say the allegations made by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell in his 409-page report aren't fair -- because the players named weren't given an opportunity to challenge the accusations and, if possible, refute them.But whose fault is that? Mitchell wanted to talk to the players. Tried to talk to them. Gave them every opportunity to tell their story.He was rebuffed.Rather than cooperate with Mitchell, who was hand-picked by baseball commissioner Bud Selig to conduct this necessary investigation, the players chose to follow the say-nothing advice from an obstructionist union that, under Fehr's leadership, has been on the wrong of the steroids issue from the start.Now, because it refused to play ball with Mitchell, an accomplished and honorable man trying to seek the truth about the biggest lie in sports, the union finds itself on the wrong side of history.As far back as Fay Vincent, before Selig inherited this mess, the much-too-powerful union fought every attempt by baseball to adopt a steroids policy.Yes, the team owners were responsible, too. They could've taken a tougher stand, could've complained more, could've refused to take "no" for an answer -- even if it meant more labor strife and less money in their bank accounts.Baseball's post-strike power surge in the mid-to-late 1990s surely brought America back to the ballpark.Nor was Selig entirely innocent.Once he became suspicious that steroids had infected the game, he could've used the bully pulpit to drive home his message to baseball fans. He could've preached the dangers of illegal, performance-enhancing drugs and called the users what they were: cheaters.More importantly, he could've put pressure on the union to agree to testing. Who knows? Maybe Selig's voice would've prompted a greater outcry from the media. Maybe Congress would've gotten involved sooner.But he didn't.Still, the bulk of the blame falls on the players and their union, which shamelessly placed privacy over integrity. They created the Steroid Era, choosing to cheat the game by taking a shortcut to success. They allowed this disgraceful and despicable behavior to persist, even thrive.Now, in the court of public opinion, they're all guilty, even those players who never touched a needle. They're all guilty because they saw what was happening and did nothing to stop it.Now, an entire era is tainted -- every individual record, every team championship, every player's accomplishment -- because, even in the wake of the Mitchell Report, we'll never really know how many cheaters there were and how many numbers came out of a bottle.Now, an entire era, from 1988 to the present, deserves an asterisk.Because they cheated.Because they're still cheating.Steroids might be on the way out, but, for some, they've merely been replaced by Human Growth Hormone, which can't be detected with urine tests.Blood tests might be necessary to ensure the game is clean.So now we'll see how much Fehr really cares about fairness.(Ray McNulty is sports columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. Contact him at ray.mcnulty@scripps.com or on the Web at www.tcpalm.com.)