If Buckner had been on steroids, he woulda thrown Wilson out and beat the crap out of him besides. And retroactively thrown Mitchell out at the plate by grabbing Stanley's wild pitch. And hit nine home runs in Game 7, even though it wouldn't have been necessary.

Maybe if he took Aspirin he could have gotten his glove all the way down to the dirt.

Excerpt from this terrific-as-usual piece from the best sportswriter alive:

A few days ago, I got a letter from a father of a baseball player. I will not go into too many specifics, because he asked me not to, but generally speaking his son was a pitcher who had good success in high school and college. He was a borderline prospect … he threw in the high 80s, maybe touching the low 90s now and again. The feeling was that if he could just add a little something to his fastball, just two or three mph, he could make it to the big leagues and make a lot of money and, more than anything, fulfill what had been his dream all his life.

Nobody told him to use steroids. Instead, he was told he had to get stronger. Was that a code? Probably. He worked harder and harder — not that hard work was every [sic] his problem. But the fastball stayed right where it had been. And, of course, it was reiterated to him that he HAD to get stronger.

He didn’t use steroids. He knew others were using. He knew that it would have been easy enough to do. He knew that he probably would not get caught. He did not use. And, in a short time, he was released. And he was out of the game.

You can quote me on this every day until the end of time: Were I in that young man's place, working my ass off to (a) chase my life's dream since I was five years old and (b) get financially set for life, I absolutely would have used steroids.

And I really wish some star ballplayer that was talented enough to never have to make that decision would publicly say so, too.

My son is at the age (HS freshman) where everybody is telling him he has to get stronger. Not to make the big leagues, but just to make the varsity. It's not code. It's the truth.

Steroid Buckner would have caught Aaron's 715th.

Not to make the big leagues, but just to make the varsity. It's not code. It's the truth.

I don't think it's a specific code, but I do think, at least in years past (one hopes attitudes have progressed by now), when minor league coaches/evaluators told prospects to 'get stronger', the implication was, 'I don't care how you get stronger; just get stronger, or else.'

A few weeks ago I e-mailed my best friend from high school, who pitched a couple of seasons in the minors in the Rangers and Tigers system about 20 years ago. I asked him a few questions about steroids.

He said some of his teammates suggested he try juicing, but as a pitcher, he had been raised with the idea that strength was not as important as flexibility, and he didn't think it would help him, so he never gave it serious thought. He said roids were very prevalent in the Rangers system but not so much in Detroit's (though that was short-season A ball with the Tigers).

He also said, which I thought was pretty interesting, that a player's background played a role in how he viewed their use. He said the kids who came from poorer backgrounds were genuinely hungrier than kids of privileged backgrounds (like him), and therefore he could understand them making the choice to use and keep playing or go home to be poor in Latin America or the inner city.

Finally, and I'll quote him directly here:

Finally, when I was playing greenie use was considered a non issue...not everyone did it, but nobody really felt it as unethical ( ala the spitball)....steroids were definitely considered crossing the line