An expose of bad businesses and their unethical practices

The steroids scandal  in Major League Baseball is truly bad business, and it is growing to embrace other drugs. MLB, comprised of thirty good-sized businesses, will not look good when the Mitchell report on drug use in baseball is released on Thursday, December 13. The report is expected to name names, many of them the biggest stars in big league baseball. A scandal of this size did not materialize overnight.

Rumors have been flying for years. Instead of digging into these rumors, the owners and the league ignored them, or tried to actively bury them. They feared, and rightfully so, that the results of an in-depth investigation would make baseball look bad. Of course, they were right. After ignoring the problem for so long, Major League Baseball will look doubly bad: their stars were using drugs and the leagues and owners failed to investigate and fix what was obvious to a lot of observers.

Looking the other way when scandal comes your way is never the correct ethical answer. Instead, the owners and the league lost the opportunity to come away looking like honest, forthright businessmen when they did their best keep the rumors quiet. They are now guilty of both letting the problems develop, and of covering them up. No matter how often this sort of situation arises, bad businessmen never seem to learn the ethical lesson.