Nothing to Fehr Anymore
Written by B-Dub, Wednesday June 24 2009
I was quite happy that Donald Fehr announced his resignation as MLB Players Union chief the other day. This is not an insignificant event. Unfortunately it is not effective immediately.
While Bud Selig may get most of the blame for everything that has gone wrong in baseball in the last two decades, I would argue that Donald Fehr was actually more influential. Selig may have turned a blind eye to the entire steroids scandal, but it was Fehr who fought to keep baseball from testing for steroids.
Fehr became the top lawyer for union chief Marvin Miller in August 1977. Then Fehr took over as executive director on December 8, 1983 and led the players through a two-day strike in 1985. Under Fehr the union successfully charged MLB with conspiring against free agents following the 1985, 1986 and 1987 seasons in violation of the labor contract and settled the cases for $280 Million. Fehr also presided over a 32-day lockout in 1990 and a 7 month strike in 1994-1995, that wiped out the World Series for the first time in 90 years.
In spite of all of this turmoil, the players loved him. Why? Maybe it had something to do with the money. You see, MLB's average salary when Fehr took over 26 years ago was $289,000, but by last year the average salary was $2.9 Million. The highlight of this reprehensible act of Gluttony and Greed is the $252 Million contract signed by the biggest steroid cheater of them all, Alex "A-Roid" Rodriguez. Is it any wonder why the New York Yankees felt that they could get away with charging over $2,500 per ticket for a seat in their new "House that Roids Built"? It's a vicious circle that always comes around and bites the fans in the end.
Fehr fought drug testing in baseball until Congress forced MLB to institute some sort of policy. Then when he did agree to a testing program, it was a complete sham. Even today, a player who tests positive for a failed drug test the first time only gets suspended for 50 days. And as we all found out with the Manny Ramirez suspension, 50 days isn't even really a whole 50 days, since Manny is already back playing in the minors.
Fehr and Selig worked together to allow and even encourage the "Steroid Era" of baseball. They needed something to win the fans back after that strike that canceled the World Series. They got it with "juiced" players assaulting the record books. The stain that it left on the game now taints every single player in baseball. Every player who has a career year is now looked at as a possible cheater. Raul Ibanez is having a career year and some "guy in his mother's basement" writes that he must be on steroids. Never mind that Ibanez hit at least 20 HRs the last four years in the pitcher's paradise that is Seattle's Safeco Field and now he's hitting in the bandbox that is Citizens Bank Park. Because so many have cheated before, all the players are painted with the same broad brush as a possible steroid cheater.
The only reason that we now know that A-Rod and Sammy Sosa are steroid cheaters is that the union, under Fehr's leadership, screwed up. OK, anybody with eyes knew Sosa was a steroid abuser, but there was no proof. Until now. As part of the new testing policy, forced on MLB by Congress, the players were all tested in 2003. The tests were to be confidential and no positive tests would lead to suspensions. It was simply supposed to be a test of the problem. There were unsubstantiated reports that Fehr's top Lieutenant, Gene Orza, even tipped off players like A-Rod as to the exact date of their tests. A-Rod still failed the test, so that tells you how dumb he is. But that wasn't even the worst thing the union did in this instance.
The samples from this "Survey testing" were supposed to be destroyed immediately after the results were determined. For some reason, they were not. Before the union got around to destroying the samples, the government subpoenaed the results as part of the BALCO investigation. Once the samples were subpoenaed they could not be destroyed. That is why there have been "leaks" of names from that "survey" in 2003. Fehr and Orza should have been fired for that mistake alone, but they weren't. Why? Did you already forget about the money.
Under Donald Fehr the game of baseball sold it's soul for the almighty dollar. Fehr didn't care about the integrity of the game. Hell, he didn't even care about the long term health of the players. He proved that by vigorously fighting against any and all drug testing for performance enhancing drugs. All that mattered was making more money.
And the players themselves are idiots. New York Mets reliever and union representative J.J. Putz said, "He's done so much for the game, even more so for the players." Uh JJ, exactly what has this scumbag done except make you, and the league as a whole, more money? Oh wait. Now I'm the one who forgot that it's all about the money.
Good riddance Donald Fehr.
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5 comments
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Jon, the only thing I will mock is your lack of intelligence. Fehr has no soul and helped to ruin the game of baseball. Just because he made the players (and himself) money doesn't make what he did right. He's still a dirtbag.
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So Fehr succeeded in doing his job, therefore he's an evil menace? Try a little more mock outrage. I think just a little more and it'd make the whole thing believable.
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Good work, B-Dub, on calling out the union for their part in the nonsense of the past few decades. It would now be encouraging to see players who are not juicing to advocate for tougher testing and penalties to disassociate themselves from the juicers. Otherwise, people are going to assume that all ballplayers are juicing to some degree. I don't object to the players trying to get as much money as they can, though. Why can't they if the owners do the same?
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Nolan, it's funny because it's true.
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The "House That Roids Built"- ROTFLMAO