Can This Reputation Be Saved?

Major League Baseball's
Juicy Scandal
You can't buff a turd.

by Katie Delahaye Paine
(special pinch-hitting by Bob Cannon and Ed Peaco)

When my house burned down a few years ago, there was very little left but a pile of ashes. Still, we pulled out what things we could find and tried to clean them up. Among the surviving treasures was a silver bowl, which with a lot of elbow grease I was eventually able to restore to its former luster. Sure it now has a few more dents, but I use it all the time.

This leads us to Major League Baseball, and its pathetic communications relative to its players' use of steroids. Some players were using steroids, MLB denied it, and -- while the fans really, really wanted to believe the denials -- in the end we learned that MLB was lying. Here's an example of damaged goods that you can polish all you want, but you can't change reality. Or, as they say in the Navy and elsewhere, "You can't buff a turd."

For all of you communicators out there who want to be able to manage your image in a crisis, here are six lessons to be learned from this.

Lesson #1:
It starts at the top.
As a spokesman, baseball commissioner Bud Selig does not inspire confidence. He rarely answers a question directly; he talks around and around an issue and avoids answering. He claimed that he didn't know anything about a steroid problem in baseball until 1998, even though MLB and the owners had a meeting about this issue as far back as 1993. Adding to the inconsistency is MLB's full-page USA Today ad denying steroid use, which appears to have been bought after Selig already knew that at least one player (Palmeiro) had failed a drug test.

Rafael Palmeiro has shown himself to be an even bigger fraud. Palmeiro is the Baltimore Orioles player who told a congressional committee earlier this year that he had never done steroids, then he failed a drug test and was suspended. But then there was the excuse that somehow the drug accidentally got into his blood, and then there was the report that the drug for which he tested positive was an injectable steroid, not found in dietary supplements, and now there's a perjury investigation. By lying and obfuscating along the way, Palmeiro is only dragging out the scandal that much longer.

Don't these people realize that there are real costs involved when people lose faith and credibility in your organization? Fans go elsewhere, children are encouraged to try other sports, the media is much more likely to dig into your stories, and elected officials are really hesitant to publicly support your proposals.

Lesson #2:
Don't play the blame game.
Steroids might be helping the players, but they haven't made them tough enough to face the truth. Palmeiro blames some mysterious food supplement that somehow contained an injectable steroid. Bud Selig is trying to blame the whole thing on the unions; the unions are trying to blame management and the media just loves all the juicy quotes.

Lesson #3:
Actions speak louder than words, but hitting someone with a wet noodle doesn't make much of a statement.
Commissioner Selig keeps trying to convince us that his anti-doping policies are strict, but a 10-day suspension isn't much of a deterrent to anyone. Most of the commentary questions if MLB is really serious about enforcing the steroid rules: It's funny how Kenny Rogers gets 20 games for shoving a cameraman (okay, 13 with the arbitrator's help), but juicers only serve 10. Lost in the discussion is the fact that these drugs are illegal, pure and simple. Where's the criminal aspect of the case? Why aren't the juicers getting busted with actual evidence in hand?

Lesson #4:
Beware what you are benchmarked against.
Only someone who has been living on Mars for the last few years would not know of the Olympics' strict drug policies. When MLB compared its current practices to its own former feeble enforcement, it certainly looked like an improvement. But they're sorely lacking compared to the better benchmark of the Olympics.

Lesson #5:
Get out of your bubble.
We suggest that Selig and Palmeiro go back and reread the fairy tale about the emperor's new clothes. If you only surround yourself with fans and fawners, and don't get feedback from the rest of the marketplace, you are doomed. Fans and foes held a shout out when Palmeiro came to bat in his first outing since the scandal broke, boos alternating with cheers every time he made it to the plate. But outside of Baltimore, those cheers weren't heard. From the gist of the chatter and commentary, Palmeiro's behavior did in fact alienate fans and tarnish MLB's image. The entire scandal has raised additional doubts about the scores and records of the past and whether MLB can even survive without steroids. Hardly the messages MLB wants to see in print. Sooner or later if MLB doesn't clean up its act, fans will go away altogether.

Lesson #6:
If you don't exhibit concern, compassion and contrition, the crisis will never end.
None of the players or owners or administrators have expressed compassion or contrition -- except after they get caught. Because of the blatant lies and excuses, the message to others is, "It's okay to lie; if you can come up with a marginally plausible explanation, you'll get off with a slap on the wrist." Rumor has it that a couple of stars even bigger than Palmeiro are about to be outed for steroids (think Houston and Boston) so this scandal is only in the third inning. Lies and flimsy excuses only lead to more stories and more investigations, so MLB and steroids could earn the title of the longest running crisis in sports history.

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