For many of us, late October means one thing. No, not elections or polls or “October surprises,” I’m talking about the World Series! But alas, even the World Series has implications for governance and public service. Allow me to explain.
As a Washington native and devoted Nationals fan, I take heart in the Rays’ worst-to-first run, though I have to confess a certain admiration for the Phillies’ old-school lineup and approach. But what I find most interesting about this year’s match-up is that the two most powerful teams in all of baseball do not have a single starting player who hit higher than .300 this year. And only one player, Ryan Howard, hit over 40 home runs, while just three others on the two teams hit more than 30.
After more than a decade of eye-popping statistics, when journeyman infielders hit 20-30 dingers a year and stars routinely surpassed 50, this year’s numbers are stunning. The verdict is clear: the Steroid Era is over.
For years, baseball’s governing authorities – headed by a particularly feckless commissioner, Bud Selig – turned a blind eye to steroid abuse. Everyone in the stands knew that the players were “juiced,” yet they loved the gargantuan home runs. Fans sensed that the numbers were inflated, but no one complained so long as the games were fun and high-scoring. Unwilling to fix what didn’t seem to be broken, Selig and his buddies stood idly by as steroid junkies undermined the integrity of the entire baseball system.
Baseball seems to have finally got its act together, but not before an entire epoch was tarnished and a number of venerable records were broken by steroid-induced supermen.
In a number of ways, what happened in baseball mirrors the ongoing story with the economy. As one venerable bank after another collapses or is nationalized, many of us are realizing that the oversized market gains of the past decade were artificially pumped up by the Wall Street equivalent of steroids – complex financing schemes that relied heavily on borrowed cash to inflate profits, even as they magnified risk. Investors routinely ignored regulators or argued that regulations were inappropriate to these new schemes. In the wake of it all, as that system has come crashing down over the past months, even Alan Greenspan is crying out for more regulation.
The lesson from baseball and Wall Street is simple: If no one enforces the rules, then pretty soon no one will follow them. Eventually, the whole system will collapse. That is why we need a strong, respected government willing and able to create and enforce the rules sensibly, equitably, and consistently. And if we want our government to be able to enforce those rules well, then we need to make sure the most talented young professionals enter and stay in public service.
Chris Myers Asch, 33, runs the effect to create the U.S. Public Service Academy, a West Point equivalent for federal civilian employees.
Write him at: asch@uspublicserviceacademy.org.
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