Biogenesis is not a baseball scandal

BiogenesisCNNDespite what the main page of CNN might say today, the Biogenesis scandal is not some sort of organizational failing. For a little background, Major League Baseball is preparing to suspend potentially dozens of players for their involvement with Miami firm Biogenesis who supplied people with banned substances. Many people are labelling this as a black eye for MLB, but it’s really quite the opposite.

If you are an organization that features hundreds of individuals, you are bound to have a few bad seeds. That’s just the way life works. Someone is going to skirt the rules and try to get away with cheating. Major League Baseball has rules that they are trying to enforce, and they have discovered violators and intend to punish those violators. That’s not a scandal for anyone other than the individual players. This is more like justice than anything,

Organizational scandal involves cover-ups. It comes when organizations are trying to prevent news from leaking, or trying to put a spin on something that is less than truthful. Penn State protected Jerry Sandusky. The NFL was being less than honest when it comes to the concussion threat. It’s fair to label these scandals, but by MLB obeying their own rules, they should be lauded.

Of course, the story hasn’t played itself out entirely yet. MLB might be operating without enough evidence, all to curry some PR favor. They might not be justified in their punishment of their players. If that’s the case, then THAT is the scandal for MLB. If they are addressing what they believe to be an honest problem, then kudos to them.

 

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