Editorial: Baseball can’t hedge on Bonds

Friday, March 10, 2006 | 7:22 a.m.

While most everyone involved with Major League Baseball - fans, writers, players, front-office types - are vociferous about Barry Bonds and a new book documenting his use of steroids, baseball commissioner Bud Selig is using vague answers to deflect questions.

Selig faces a predicament, for sure. Bonds, a long-ball hitter for the San Francisco Giants who is within sight of passing Babe Ruth's lifetime home-run record, is one of several baseball players whose reputations have been sullied by allegations of steroid use.

Should Bonds be thrown out of baseball or suspended? Should investigations begin into other players? Should the records of steroid-taking players be wiped off the books? Should the commissioner accept blame for not ordering players to be tested for steroids until 2002?

The best immediate outcome would be for the 41-year-old Bonds to retire, given that the controversy surrounding him further erodes the game. But that's not likely to happen.

So it is incumbent upon Selig, who has had plenty of time to think about steroid use among players, to make a strong statement. He should at least say he is taking the book, written by San Francisco Chronicle reporters, seriously and that he will not delay in determining its accuracy and deciding upon Bonds' future in baseball.