It was certain to be the thrill of a lifetime for 10-year-old Louis Busseri. The Grade 4 student was going to meet his hero, Blue Jays first baseman Chris Colabello on the field during batting practice prior to Monday’s game against the White Sox. Then came news of the failed PED test. Shattered.

The invitation to meet his major-league hero on the field had surprisingly been issued in person, by telephone, the final day of February, after Louis gave a speech on Colabello to his class at St. Mary Catholic Elementary School in Oakville. The meeting was for whenever Louis came with his family to their first game. Colabello smiled when informed in Baltimore that the excited youngster would see him at the Sox game.

Oh, the speech topic that Louis’s teacher had given the class was “someone inspirational.” Louis chose Colabello, an athlete who persevered against all odds and hung with it to fulfill his dream and finally make it to the major leagues. Colabello was perfect for the topic. Now 32, Chris had been unappreciated for his entire career. It’s surely why he takes the time to appreciate others, like Louis.

Louis was the only one to choose Colabello. Baseball is one of his passions. He and his twin brother Anthony play for a travel team from the Field House, in Burlington. And what better role model for a Canadian trying to make an impression in the American pastime than this undrafted, unsigned Massachussetts native who toiled in independent league obscurity for seven years before the Twins took a chance on him at age 28. Good story, great guy. But now this fall from grace. Shattered.

The initial contact came on the final day of February, some 13 days before Colabello was informed by the players’ union that he had failed a test for PEDs at the opening of training camp. That day, the subject of Louis’s speech stood outside of the Jays’ clubhouse at Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin, Fla., with a huge smile across his face as the youngster spilled out his admiration on an antiquated Blackberry screen. At the end of the video, Colabello quietly asked if he could get Louis on the phone and thank him.

Louis’s Grade 4 teacher is my son Matthew, so I just happened to have a cell phone number. Class was about to start when teacher called student to the front of the room for a three-minute, completely spontaneous conversation that ended with Colabello’s invitation. His mom, Heather, said it was described by her son as the highlight of his 10 years. It should be understood by readers that it is rare for a major-league player to make the effort and show a human side when no cameras are around.

All great, then on Friday came the call from Major League Baseball. Colabello was being suspended for 80 games, virtually half a season. His appeal process had been denied. The evidence was there in every sample taken. There are no villains here, just victims and the biggest victims are Louis and youngsters like him that are so devastated when someone they admire turns out to be tragically flawed.

So will Colabello be able to salvage anything from the remainder of his career when he is allowed to officially return in late July? Will he ever play for the Jays again? Look for precedents and comparisons. Coincidentally, another player that suffered the ignominy of being suspended for a PED infraction, Melky Cabrera, is now with the White Sox and in town. His first team post-suspension was the 2013 Jays. Through a White Sox interpreter Cabrera refused comment for the column, but Jays manager John Gibbons worked with Cabrera both in Kansas City before his suspension and with the Jays after.

“I can remember on the road, fans would tear him up pretty good,” Gibbons said of the first months of Cabrera’s comeback year. “As the season went on it was less, but you’d still hear it every now and then. That’s kind of the sports world and the world we live in. Everybody’s going to take their shots. You’ve got to have some backbone.

“When I was with him in Kansas City before all that went down, he was a fun-loving guy. He was one of my favourites. He showed up every day. He wanted to play, then of course that thing went down. But when he came back here, he was the same guy. He took his licks like you’re going to, but, really, his personality never changed. It can’t be easy, but he’s bounced back and he’s doing well.”

The natural fan reflex is to look towards the superstars as major suspects for PEDs, when there may, in fact, be a stronger incentive for fringe players that have a dream of just making it and sticking.

As for Louis Busseri, his mom tweeted her son’s continuing strong faith in his hero: “I am really sorry. I don’t believe you would do this. U have worked so hard & I know you don’t cheat.”