SAN FRANCISCO - Commissioner Bud Selig knew what direction questions would go when he came to the area that's been at the center of baseball's steroid scandal.

It took only a short time for the topic Wednesday to shift from San Francisco being awarded the 2007 All-Star game to the controversy surrounding BALCO, Jose Canseco's upcoming book and baseball's new steroid policy.

"I'm shocked it took 10 minutes for somebody to ask that question," Selig said when asked about the book by Canseco that reportedly accuses Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez of steroid use.

The new book by Oakland's former MVP and the BALCO investigation that has cast a cloud over Giambi, Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield and other players has made the Bay Area the center point of the steroid controversy.

Selig wouldn't directly comment on Canseco's book, but said baseball executive vice president Sandy Alderson, a former president and general manager of the A's, would address the book after it's released next week.

Selig did say he is confident that baseball's new steroid policy will be in place when spring training opens next week and dismissed criticism that it does not go far enough to rid the game of performance-enhancing drugs.

"As a sport, we have done everything that we could at this point," he said. "There are immediate penalties, random testing, a player gets publicly named if heaven forbid he does test positively.

"I'm very sensitive about this whole subject, but I think the sport has addressed it. It isn't as if we have ignored it."

Baseball didn't have a steroid policy until 2002, when allegations by former MVPs Canseco and Ken Caminiti pressured players and management to negotiate one into the new labor agreement.

That policy, which consisted of only survey testing the first year and no suspensions until a second positive test after that, was ridiculed as ineffective.

With some of its biggest stars under suspicion and lawmakers demanding action, baseball adopted a tougher steroid-testing program last month that will suspend first-time offenders for 10 days and randomly test players year-round.

The two sides are finalizing the language of that agreement, and Selig expects it to be in place when spring training opens next week.

"We've done what we needed to do," Selig said. "We were told we didn't have a testing policy and then we did that. People said it was weak and toothless. Then, all of a sudden people said maybe it is working, but now we've done a lot more. I know there are some people who have been critical. They're wrong. This is a good policy, a tough policy."

While whispers of steroid use in baseball date back more than a decade, when bulked-up players began hitting homers in record numbers, Selig said he hadn't heard the rumors until about 1998, when McGwire broke Roger Maris' single-season home run mark.

"I never even heard about it," Selig said. "I ran a team and nobody was closer to their players and I never heard any comment from them. It wasn't until 1998 or '99 that I heard the discussion."

Even though some of the sport's most cherished records are now held by players accused of steroid use, Selig said there were no current plans to put a special notation on those marks in the record book.

Selig also said baseball would have announcements upcoming about its plans to market Bonds' pursuit of Hank Aaron's home run record. After the San Francisco Chronicle reported in December that Bonds testified to a grand jury that he used substances prosecutors believe are steroids, the commissioner's office said it was holding off on plans.

"What Barry has done is remarkable," Selig said. "Certainly, one can say this: Barry has done what nobody else has done, including all the players in this generation. He deserves the credit he is getting."

The All-Star game comes at an important time for the Giants as 2007 will be the first year after Bonds' contract expires, giving season-ticket holders an incentive to keep their seats for at least one more year.

It also will mark the first time in more than 40 years that the All-Star game won't alternate between the American and National leagues. Detroit hosts this summer's game, then Pittsburgh has the 2006 event - meaning the NL will host two straight games.

"Every year, it gets more difficult to pick. But 2007 was easy," Selig said. "This great city deserves this game. It's the thing to do."