Who is to blame for the steroid era? Everyone in baseball

Finally, someone besides the players is taking some heat for the steroid era in baseball. During Tuesday’s Congressional hearing, San Francisco Giants owner Peter Magowan and general manager Brian Sabean were hammered for either allowing or not knowing what was obvious — that for years Barry Bonds was using steroids and his personal trainer, Brian Anderson, was bringing the illegal drugs into their clubhouse.
So far, the post-Mitchell Report era of baseball has been nothing short of a witch-hunt against the players, and it’s not fair.
ESPN analyst Steve Phillips said he didn’t think Magowan or Sabean should be punished for what they did or didn’t do during that time. That’s right, the man who was general manager of the New York Mets during the heart of the steroid era — the same New York Mets whose clubhouse assistant, Kirk Radomski, is one of the star witnesses in the Mitchell Report and self-admitted drug kingpin of MLB — doesn’t think the executives should be punished.
Shocking.
Although I don’t agree with his reasoning, I completely agree with Phillips’ conclusion. Punishing individuals for their role in the steroid scandal is wrong.
The Mitchell Report named almost 100 current and former players using only two sources. Can we honestly believe it did anything more than scrape the surface? Ken Caminiti once estimated more than half of all pro baseball players were juicing. At the time, players and journalists scoffed. The truth probably lies somewhere in between, which means hundreds who are just as guilty will never be tarred and feathered the way Roger Clemens and Bonds are now.
The truth is, everyone in baseball is guilty for the steroid era.
Players did it to make more money.
Owners ignored it to make more money.
General managers ignored it because winning games and selling tickets helped them keep their jobs.
Players who didn’t do it are guilty for looking the other way and claiming ignorance.
The media is guilty of not looking further into the dark corners of baseball.
And the fans don’t have much to complain about either. With rumors swirling for more than a decade, millions flocked to the ballpark to watch home runs sail out of the park at a record pace.
Apparently, ignorance truly is bliss.