Tom Verducci knew the unspoken truth about steroid use in baseball was a major story -- and he wanted to be the one to tell it.

"I thought it was the worst kept secret in baseball, and after the story came out, some of the clean players came up to me and thanked me," Verducci, a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, said. "There were probably some chilly responses, but the players knew the story was true, and I think they also knew it was only a matter of time before the truth came out."

Verducci kicked off the Foster Conference of Distinguished Writers last night, speaking to a crowd of about 450 gathered in the HUB Auditorium.

He fielded questions from students about his 2002 article "Totally Juiced," which is cited as the force that prompted random drug testing in baseball and the flood of legislation regarding performance-enhancing drugs.

Verducci said he believes the recent book accusing Barry Bonds of steroid use, Game of Shadows, is accurate.

"The fact that Bonds has yet to challenge a single fact in the book -- I don't think there is any doubt that Barry Bonds has used steroids, and I think that he should come out and make that announcement," he said.

Verducci, a National Baseball Hall of Fame voter, said he would not support a player who he knows has used steroids.

"If I know in my heart that you used steroids, I'm not going to vote for you. I cannot in good conscious say, 'Yeah, I know you used steroids -- prolifically, by the way, not just experimentally -- but I'm still going to vote for you,' " he said.

Verducci read an excerpt from his article "I was a Toronto Blue Jay," which describes his five days spent as an outfielder for the team.

"I always thought that if you're gonna cover major league baseball, you have to do it up close -- and standing six, seven feet away from a ... fastball is pretty damn close," he said.

Verducci, who graduated from Penn State in 1982, said he remembers his time in Happy Valley fondly.

"I always wanted to be a sports writer, even before coming to Penn State. But here is where it really crystallized," he said. "Here is where I became less of a dreamer and more of a journalist."

After writing about baseball for 25 years, Verducci found that the quest for new information is critical.

"I like to picture a bull's-eye, and right in the center is who that person really is," he said. "A lot of what is written is on the outskirts -- I'm always trying to get closer to the target."

Verducci added that he considers himself very fortunate to be able to combine his passion for both baseball and writing.

"I like that when I go to baseball games, I don't know what's going to happen," he said. "It's not scripted, and I still get a charge out of that."

Verducci described himself as "terrible" at guessing which team would win the World Series, but chose the Chicago White Sox as this year's victor.

"Believe it or not, this year I'm picking the White Sox over the Cardinals," he said. "They're even better than they were last year, and I say that knowing that the best team doesn't always win."

Lauren Antonelli (senior-journalism) said that Verducci's lecture was helpful, especially since she is an aspiring journalist.

"He gave great, crisp advice for people who want to be journalists," Antonelli said.

"His stories aren't just sports stories -- they're people stories. Any person can report on baseball, but he's reporting on the people involved with the sport, which is really amazing," she added.

Steve Lopez, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, will conclude the Conference of Distinguished Writers.

His speech will be at 10:10 tomorrow morning in the Foster Auditorium of Pattee Library.