Feds warned Uncle Bud 10 years back

According to the NY Daily News Feds warned Major League owners about steroid use by players 10 years ago. Here's part of the article:

Special Agent Greg Stejskal, who oversees the Bureau's Ann Arbor, Mich., office, said he told baseball security chief Kevin Hallinan that Jose Canseco and many other players were using illegal anabolic steroids. Stejskal's warning was based on evidence gathered during a far-reaching steroid investigation he conducted in the '90s, but the agent says the lords of the game did not act on the information.

"I alerted Major League Baseball back in the time when we had the case, that Canseco was a heavy user and that they should be aware of it. . . . I spoke to the people in their security office. Hallinan was one of the people I spoke to," Stejskal told The News.

Hallinan "seemed interested," Stejskal said, but the agent says there was little baseball security could do about the problem. Major League Baseball and the union did not agree to a steroid testing program or disciplinary sanctions until 2002. A proposal during negotiations preceding the 1994 players' strike went nowhere. The FBI investigation focused on dealers rather than users.

Baseball officials denied yesterday that they were informed of steroid use, and angrily denounced Stejskal's charges.

"It did not happen," Hallinan said. "Not with this guy, not with anybody else."

Well, well, well, here comes the truth and it's uglier than many suspected. The Major League Owners and Uncle Bud new about the steroid problems for years and simply ignored the issue. Another quote from Agent Stejskal is telling:

"There's little question the use of steroids was very widespread in baseball," Stejskal said. "And Major League Baseball in effect, they didn't sanction it, but they certainly looked the other way."

Why was MLB not willing to take a look at the steroid problem? The answer is as basic as they come -- dollar signs. According to Team Marketing Report(TMR) MLB prices have risen 45% since 1998 and 86% since 1994. Here's how the owners have taken our cash since '94.

Year

Avg Tkt

% change

FCI

2004

$19.82

3.90%

$155.52

2003

$19.01

3.42%

$151.19

2002

$18.30

3.80%

$145.21

2001

$17.64

4.91%

$140.63

2000

$16.81

12.10%

$132.44

1999

$15.00

9.90%

$121.76

1998

$13.66

10.20%

$115.06

1997

$12.39

9.40%

$107.26

1996

$11.32

5.50%

$103.07

1995

$10.73

1.20%

$ 97.55

1994

$10.60

8.90%

$ 96.41

Following the devastating strike of 1994, which stole the World Series from the fans. Baseball owners were desperate to find something that would capture fans. Along comes steroids and "Chicks dig the longball". Puting their heads in the sand and ignoring the problem of steroids was the easy thing for baseball owners to do. Balls were sailing out of the park and the fans were paying record prices to see games.

Don't lie to us Commissioner Selig. You have allowed these juiced up players to make a mockery of the baseball record books.