The Cohen Chronicles: MLB Drops the Ball Again

Former baseball great Barry Bonds was convicted on Wednesday of obstruction of justice. This was one of four charges—along with three counts of perjury—in the U.S. government’s case against him. The charges stemmed from testimony Bonds provided to a federal grand jury in 2003, when he claimed to have never knowingly taken steroids. While largely unsatisfying for all involved, the conviction did provide Major League Baseball with a means for striking Bonds’ home run records from the books and returning the career home-run mark to its rightful owner. And, as is its custom, MLB completely dropped the ball on this.

Following the guilty verdict, MLB commissioner Bud Selig issued a 158-word statement noting that 2011 marks the eighth season of steroid testing at the major-league level and that MLB remains committed to eradicating performance-enhancing drugs. Hey Bud, that’s all well and good, but what about, you know, taking constructive action on an issue everyone outside of San Francisco wants to see dealt with? I’ve only been in the spin-doctor business for four years, but there should be an extra sentence that goes something like this:

“In light of today’s guilty verdict, Barry Bonds’ records of 73 home runs in a season and 762 in a career are hereby voided in the best interest of baseball.”

Those last five words—“the best interest of baseball”—have given the commissioner near-absolute authority since the days of Judge Landis. Selig doesn’t need a guilty verdict to strike Bonds’ records from the books—but it certainly makes it a lot easier. Bonds just popped up with two outs in the bottom of the 9th—and Selig couldn’t make the routine catch.

Let’s be clear: Bonds was not convicted of perjury (although eight, nine, and 11 members of the 12-person jury voted for conviction on the three different perjury counts), but he was found to have “willfully…falsifie[d] oral testimony” (18 U.S.C. 1505) when denying steroid use before the federal grand jury in 2003. That conviction should be all Selig needs to roll the career home run mark back to 755 and make Mark McGwire’s 70 round-trippers the single-season standard.

What’s that, you say? Mark McGwire? If Selig is going to strip Bonds of his record, why not do the same to Big Mac and make Roger Maris the single-season home run king once more? Here’s why: When McGwire broke Maris’ record back in the summer of ’98, MLB had no steroid-testing program in place. Testing was first established in the 2002 Basic Agreement and officially began in 2003 with “sampling” to determine what percentage of players were using steroids; testing with penalties commenced the following season. Bonds, of course, was in the midst of a four-year run as National League MVP (2001-04) during this time and helped lead the Giants to the World Series in 2002. McGwire, on the other hand, retired following the 2001 season.

But can the commissioner’s office really sanction a player based simply on off-field actions? It can, and it has. In June 2006, Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Jason Grimsley was suspended 50 games after he admitted to federal authorities that he had used steroids; Grimsley had previously been granted his release by Arizona, and his suspension will take effect if he is added to the 40-man roster of another major-league team. But Grimsley never failed a drug test that would have resulted in a 50-game suspension. So if MLB can take punitive actions against Grimsley based on his testimony to federal authorities, why can’t it do the same with Bonds?

There may be no smoking gun in the Bonds case, but there is a guilty verdict. Now it’s time for MLB to take a stand and make it clear it will not recognize records obtained through illicit means. Plain and simple, Bonds has been found guilty of violating the rules of the game, and there is no reason for Bud Selig to not strip Bonds of his records as a consequence. Hank Aaron hit all 755 of his home runs fair and square, and if Selig is serious about showing how far the game has come since steroid testing was first instituted, as he noted in his statement, he’ll make sure the career record returns to its rightful owner.

Cohen is a member of the class of 2010 and Sports Editor Emeritus.