by Jack Serapiglia

Created on: August 21, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Baseball is not alone when it comes to bad, hard, debilitating news this summer. The NFL has been suspending its players left and right because of their inappropriate actions, capped off by the league losing one of its star quarterbacks (the glamour position in all of sports) to a federal prison for dog fighting charges. The NBA is in the midst of its worst crisis since the drug problems of the 1970s, as it fears one (or more) of its officials has turned rogue, thus questioning the integrity of every call from here on out. Hockey has seen its ratings surpassed by hot dog eating contests, thus regulating it to non major sporting league for this country (and for the remainder of this article).

No, baseball is not alone when it comes to bad publicity. It is alone, though, on its actions to correct those mistakes, actions which have amounted to pretty much nothing.

Every other league acts, if not proactively, as least reactively to the problems their sport creates. Football was cursed with damaging off-the-field behavior. To correct it, the NFL created a personal conduct code and then began suspending players who violated it. The NBA was worried about becoming known as a "thug mentality" league, so Commissioner David Stern enforced a dress code to attempt to change the image of the league. And given his track record, you at least know Stern will do SOMETHING in regards to the gambling official problem.

But what has baseball done? With the sanctity of its records at stake, including the grand daddy of them all (the all time home run record), baseball instituted a drug testing policy that would not capture the greatest culprit / beneficiary of the steroid era, Barry Bonds. Despite the fact that it sickened Bud Selig, Hank Aaron and anyone with a shred of integrity, Bonds was allowed to continue to play until he surpassed the Hammer last week.

None of the other sports would have allowed such an atrocity to happen. David Stern would have gotten an agreement / collusion of the other owners NOT to sign Bonds this past winter. Or he would have pushed the feds for an indictment. The NFL would have suspended Bonds on some charge and then fought the union over it. The NHL would have cancelled its season again (to no one's chagrin). But what did baseball do? Nothing.

But why? Why is it that baseball is so incapable of making changes to help its support? What is it that the other sports have that baseball does not?

The answer is union control. The other two leagues have some sort

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