In a radio interview, Commissioner Bud Selig admitted that baseball has drawn more attention and criticism for its steroid revelations than football. “We are held to a higher and different standard,” said Selig on his appearance on the Dan Patrick Show. The Commissioner also engaged in discussion of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, who have been reported to have conducted in widespread steroid use and players have later on admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs.

“We have to be very careful that we don’t overreact to a situation,” Selig said. “For instance, the comment in football that came out about the great Steelers teams of the ’70s. Should they take those Super Bowls away from the Rooneys? I don’t think so.

“Steroids were and are a societal problem, not a baseball problem, and I’m proud of what we have done and we’ve come much farther than anybody thought. … It’s a whole different world than it was 10 years ago. It’s one thing not to confront your problems when you know them, and another thing to confront them and do everything.”

Aside from steroid controversies, Selig also addressed different topics in the interview such as the inclusion of Manny Ramirez in the All-Star ballot, Yankee Stadium, Alex Rodriguez, and the state of the game in the midst of the current economic situation.

“I feel good about where we are,” Selig said. “Our attendance is down somewhere between four and five percent, which is remarkable given the economy, and we have had horrendous weather in the Midwest and East. In fact, I’ve never had so many clubs calling me to complain about the weather — as if there is something, by the way, I can do about it, but they do call about everything, so why not call about this, too?”

Ramirez, who was given a 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy was fourth among the outfielders when the All-Star voting was issued last May. The inclusion of the Dodgers slugger on the ballot has raised different opinions from baseball fans.

“The ballots are printed in March and there’s not really much you can do about it,” Selig said. “In this particular case — and obviously, we are talking about Manny Ramirez — I think the fans are voting and I think they’ll make a determination long before July 3 [when voting ends].”

Other baseball issues that Selig discussed in the radio interview include testing for performance-enhancing drugs, progress on the investigation of Rodriguez, uniform advertisements, and a lot more. Also, Selig faced the issue that Phillies outfielder Raul Ibanez and his opposition to public speculation about a player using steroids. “Ibanez is having a wonderful year. Raul Ibanez has had drug tests now for seven or eight years, a lot of them. And do I think [speculation] is fair? No, I do not think it’s fair,” said Selig.

Also, the Yankee Stadium has been yielding home runs at a near-record pace. “What’s happened there needs to be analyzed. I read the other day that once the old stadium is torn down. there may be quite a change. My knowledge of physics is about as much as my knowledge of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, so I can’t pass [an opinion] on that, but I said, ‘Let it play out for a while and then we’ll make a judgment.’”

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