Steroid zealots and weasels.

Arbitrator Becomes a Baseball Power
By STEVE EDER
Published: July 26, 2013 in The New York Times

Major League Baseball’s investigators have been ... trying to prove that they (players) violated the league’s antidoping rules...  But the success of baseball’s efforts ...  Horowitz is baseball’s new arbitrator ...  Commissioner Bud Selig is expected to issue a number of suspensions ... lawyers for the accused can examine baseball’s evidence ...

It was a year ago that Horowitz was tapped to succeed Shyam Das as baseball’s arbitrator. Das was fired by baseball in the wake of his February 2012 decision to overturn a 50-game suspension of Braun that was based on a positive drug test.
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The writer mentioned  Major League Baseball only once but used the word baseball several times to refer to the corporate entity.  That would never happen with the National Football League (NFL) or the National Basketball Association (NBA), which is one reason why I refer to the baseball entity as the Major Baseball League (MBL).  The other reason is that the old American League and the old National League merged in 1999.

The other salient point quoted above is that the MBL fired the previous arbitrator because it did not like his decision.

Examples of steroid zealots and weasels:

Zealots: Milwaukee fans upset about Brewer Ryan Braun copping a plea and agreeing to be suspended for the remainder of this season for unspecified offenses but not caring or wondering about former Packer Brett Favre playing until the age of 40.  Any chance Favre used steroids?  Any chance he didn't?

Weasels: Ryan Braun for not indicating his offense.  There's precedent, primarily Jason Giambi, who last off season was interviewed for the job as Colorado manager.  Giambi's current manager in Cleveland, Terry Francona, has stated that Giambi would make a good manager.  Small time weaseling works.

Big time weaseling does not work.  See Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and the latest and greatest poster boy, Alex Rodriguez.  Alex-Rod will never cop and will always appeal, at least a suspension.

I've written many times about the silliness and hypocrisy displayed by the baseball steroid zealot fans, whipped up by the media zealots, but only about baseball, not football.  Thus the use the word baseball as a synonym for the MBL.  Baseball steroid zealots are only concerned about home runs, even though those are the events most impacted by the non-uniform playing areas, unique to the ancient game of baseball.   Baseball steroid zealots refuse to even consider making home run distances uniform in all directions in all parks.  That's a pretty odd combination of views.

My guess is that the current investigation will blow up in the face of MBL commissioner Allen Huber "Bud" Selig who characteristically is mismanaging in the extreme.  Selig is denigrating his product with his intended outcome very doubtful.  Paying witnesses undermines their credibility.  Selig might even make Alex-Rod a sympathetic figure.