Bud Selig Defends MLB Steroid Testing; Stays Out of Bonds, Clemens Trials

Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said Tuesday he does not expect to be called as a witness in either Barry Bonds' or Roger Clemens' pending federal perjury trials.

Selig, appearing as a guest on Dan Patrick's radio/television talk show, said he was "saddened" by the indictments against Clemens and Bonds, but added that the two former players' cases aren't matters for baseball.

"Those are cases between those people and the government and really have nothing to do with baseball, per se," said Selig.

Clemens, who was indicted Monday in Washington, faces charges that he lied to Congress in testimony about his alleged use of steroids, while Bonds is accused of lying to a federal grand jury, also about performance-enhancing drug usage. Both are scheduled to be tried early next year.

Selig vigorously defended baseball's stringent performance-enhancing drug testing policy, saying the sport has not received enough credit for its efforts to clean up the game. He said Don Hooton, whose son, Taylor, committed suicide in 2003 after withdrawing from steroids, told him that baseball now spends more money on steroid education than any other entity including the federal government.

"So, where are all these people five and six and seven years ago that were pontificating?" said Selig. "The fact of the matter is the sport has never been cleaner than it is today."

Selig praised baseball for enacting a drug testing policy even with the initial objections of the Major League Baseball Players Association. He noted that baseball had never had such a policy even during the 1980s when cocaine use was thought to be rampant. Selig said cocaine usage in the 1980s was "probably more pervasive than steroids. And I don't hear anybody ever talk about that."

Selig said he stands "100 percent" behind the landmark investigation and report issued by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell into performance-enhancing drug usage.

"The sport is really different today," said Selig. "There's no question about it."

Selig added that he hopes to get the players' union to agree to blood testing for human growth hormone when the two sides begin negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement next year. He has already imposed such a testing program on minor league players who are not on 40-man major league rosters, earlier this year.

In another development, Selig said he has met twice this year with his Japanese counterpart, Ryozo Kato, about creating a World Series between the winners of the two respective sports.

Selig said a true international World Series is his "dream" and a part of his plan to further internationalize the game. He added that he does not expect for it to happen before he is scheduled to step down as commissioner following the 2012 season.

"Whether it will be done before that or not, I really don''t know," said Selig. "That's an interesting question. I don't think it can come that fast, but time will tell."