Mr. October...gagged

Exactly what the man who would be commissioner was afeared of.

In his published comments, Jackson — who hit 563 home runs in his career — made several references to Barry Bonds, whose personal trainer, Greg Anderson, was indicted Feb. 12 on charges of illegally distributing anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.

"Somebody definitely is guilty of taking steroids," Jackson said in The Journal-Constitution. "You can't be breaking records hitting 200 home runs in three or four seasons. The greatest hitters in the history of the game didn't do that."

Jackson also alluded to Bonds in comments about Hank Aaron, the career home run leader. "Henry Aaron never hit 50 home runs in a season, so you're going to tell me that you're a greater hitter than Henry Aaron?" Jackson said in the article. "Bonds hit 73 and he would have hit 100 if they would have pitched to him. I mean, come on, now. There is no way you can outperform Aaron and Ruth and Mays at that level."

Jackson said players used to compete on fairly even terms physically. "It was the same for everybody," he said. "Now, all of a sudden, you're hitting 50 home runs when you're 40."

Bonds, who will be 40 in July, hit 45 home runs last season. He was 37 when he hit 73. With 658 home runs, he is two away from tying Mays for third place on the career list.

Jackson was told that as a club official of the New York Yankees, Selig's gag order applied to him.

The calls to put an asterisk next to Bonds' single season mark is growing. Jackson likely speaks for a lot of Hall of Famers who aren't buying some of the superhuman feats we've seen recently.