Today, Bud Selig declared an official investigation into the steroid era of baseball. According to the commissioner, this inquiry has been highly influenced by the recent book “Game of Shadows,” which chronicles Barry Bonds alleged steroid use.

It wasn’t Ken Caminitti’s confession to using performance enhancing substances and subsequent death that tickled Bud‘s bud. It wasn’t Rafael Palmeiro’s fervent testimony in front of Congress, only to be followed by a positive test for steroids that bugged Bud.  It wasn’t the safety of the players. It wasn‘t the extra inch-and-a-half of cranium that Barry Bond has sprouted in the past seven years. And it sure wasn’t respect for the purity of the game that stimulated the commissioner’s witch-hunt.

What really was it?

755 things to be exact.

As Bonds closes in on arguably the greatest record in all of sport, a cloud trails behind him so dim that it will send the record books of baseball into a new asterisk-riddled dark age. When the season begins, Bonds will need only seven homeruns to surpass Babe Ruth for second on the all-time list. With only 48 more dingers, Bonds will surpass Hank Aaron’s all-time record of 755. But at least the record books will be catching up to the game itself, which died over a decade ago in the 1994 players strike.

Granted, baseball was reinvigorated with the 1998 home run race. That entire year echoes of “it’s good for the game” rang through every TV and radio from sea to shining sea each time McGwire or Sosa took another pitcher yard. McGwire’s Incredible-Hulk-esque physique was brought into quesiton, but when he attributed the bulk to legal over-the-counter dietary supplements Selig turned the other cheek. After all, it was good for the game. Right?

Now, 15 or so years into the steroid era, Selig expects us to believe that he wants to backtrack and find out what really was going on?

Peruse your community and think back to baseball as it was when you were a kid. Pick-up games in every neighborhood lot and fights over who got to pitch happened all the time. Remember barreling around the make-shift bags for the chance to dive into home with no remorse. Where is that today? When was the last time you saw all the neighborhood kids line up to systematically choose teams with an ensuing argument over who got the fat kid? Football, basketball and poker have taken over the sports-cortex of youth brains nationwide. Don’t believe me? Ask my 12 year old cousin, who took my families money in poker during the last holiday season, and see what he says. Baseball’s future is as grim as the Babe Ruth signed baseball Smalls stole from his step-dad in “The Sandlot.”

The steroid cycle has spiraled out of control and has done so because Selig let it. If anything, an investigation into Selig’s knowledge of steroid use in club houses over the past 15 years seems just as pertinent as an investigation into the byproduct of his actions (or lack thereof). While 1998 was a supposed rebirth year for baseball, in effect all it did was create a lingering pressure on players like Barry Bonds to perform beyond their abilities.

Selig has proven that the only way he will respond to any type of steroid accusation in the league he commands is if he is pressured by forces outside of baseball to do so. But the question still remains, what will he do if the whispers of rampant steroid use over the past 15 years are proven to be true? Or better yet, what can he do? Perhaps “Game of Shadows” has influenced Selig to want to save the one (so-far) unscathed milestone left in the record books from the steroid era. Regardless, the damage has been done. As Paul Tagliabue ends his tenure as commissioner of the NFL, we are witnessing the end of a great era for football. Baseball may make a comeback someday, but it will not be with Bud Selig at the reigns.

What should be done to Bonds? Let Craig know at craig.joseph@atomicsportsmedia.com