The players are not the only ones to blame for the steroid culture in baseball.
One of the things the Mitchell Report should have looked into (and of course, didn't because it was just an excuse for Bud Selig to graft cash to one of the good ol' boys) is at what point did All-Star players who've always played the game clean realize that steroids were a necessary part of a winning team.
I generally try to stay away from politics on this blog, because I know our readers come in all stripes. But Pete A. is right to juxtapose the steroid investigation with the Iraq War. And I'll add the Abramoff Scandal, affordable health care, and renewable energy to the list of things I'd rather see Congress addressing.
If we're going to talk about excluding players from the Hall of Fame- and we should- and barring users and enablers from baseball (not just from playing, but from coaching, broadcasting, and appearing)- and we should- we have to remember that everyone from the owners through the front office and into the club house knew what was going on.
"Yeah, I made a couple of calls . . . to see if it was something we could do," Randolph told The Post after yesterday's 4-2 Grapefruit League loss to the Tigers. "I surely didn't [know anything about McNamee's links with steroids]. I'd just known him as a guy who threw good BP and a guy who could catch in the bullpen."