1998 began a dark time for MLB; it was the year Bud Selig was hired as the Commisioner of Baseball. Fortunately for everyone, he just announced his retirement. You knew things were going to bad when you hear how he got the position. He was on a board of five members who were determined to oust Fay Vincent as Commissioner of Baseball - and the board did so. Selig emerged as the next Commissioner of Baseball during the middle of the steroid era, a critical time for baseball. Instead of doing what was right and putting a stop to all of the steroid use, he sat back with his hands in his pockets and shook his head in disappointment.
Selig has taken multiple actions against players who were found to use performance-enhancing drugs. The way that he went about handling most of these issues, however, was not discrete. He waited at least a decade before cracking down on PEDs. He knew about it during the '90s, but did not institute a drug test until 2003. Selig could have easily avoided the steroid era, but he chose not to, proving he was not willing to do what was best for the game of baseball.
Selig is notorious for handing out suspensions to players who never failed any drug tests. Most notably, his recent suspension of Alex Rodriguez for 211 games has made headlines nationally. Handing down a suspension of this amount of time, with no hard evidence linked against Rodriguez and the fact he has never been suspended before for using PEDs, is foolish and irresponsible. It seems he has to make an example out of players for using these drugs.
Another controversial topic with Selig is not lifting Pete Rose's lifetime ban on baseball. Pete Rose, considered to be one of if not the greatest hitter of all time, received the ban after he was ousted for gambling on his team as a coach. Selig's refusal to lift Rose's ban, while not banning Barry Bonds for his use of steroids, is outrageous.
Besides steroids and other PEDs, Selig is most notable for his opposition of instant replay in baseball. He is very against bringing it into the game because it will “ruin the game of baseball” in his eyes. Instant replay is around in every other sport, and there are many instances in which it would have been very helpful in deciding a call. One notable instance is umpire Jim Joyce's blown call of Armando Gallaraga's perfect game in 2010, which Selig could have overturned himself but decided not to.
Selig, who scammed his way into commissioner power in the first place, was clearly not the right man for baseball. He could have single-handedly saved baseball. Instead, he sat back and did nothing, proving his tenure as commissioner a complete failure.