So Bonds admits to using steriods "Unknowingly"

[MikeJordan23 0]

 

 

Report: Bonds admitted to using substances thought to be steroids

 

 

December 3, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Barry Bonds testified to a grand jury that he used a clear substance and a cream given to him by a trainer who was indicted in a steroid-distribution ring, but said he didn't know they were steroids, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.

 

Bonds told the federal grand jury last year that Greg Anderson, his personal trainer, told him the substances he used in 2003 were the nutritional supplement flaxseed oil and a rubbing balm for arthritis, according to a transcript of his testimony reviewed by the Chronicle.

 

The substances Bonds described were similar to ones known as ``the clear'' and ``the cream,'' two steroids from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, the lab at the center of the steroid scandal.

 

 

 

Bonds' attorney, Michael Rains, said the leak of grand jury testimony was an attempt to smear his client. Grand jury transcripts are sealed and the Chronicle did not say who showed them the documents.

 

``My view has always been this case has been the U.S. vs. Bonds, and I think the government has moved in certain ways in a concerted effort to indict my client,'' Rains told the newspaper. ``And I think their failure to indict him has resulted in their attempts to smear him publicly.''

 

Calls to Rains' office from The Associated Press went unanswered Thursday night.

 

Tony Serra, Anderson's lawyer, said Anderson ``never knowingly provided illegal substances to anyone.''

 

The Chronicle story is the latest development this week in the more than yearlong BALCO probe. On Thursday, the paper reported Yankees slugger Jason Giambi told the grand jury he injected himself with human growth hormone in 2003 and also used steroids for at least three seasons.

 

Before the Bonds story was even published, U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said his office was concerned about the leaks to the Chronicle and asked the Justice Department to investigate.

 

Also, ABC News and ESPN the Magazine released excerpts of interviews with Conte, in which the BALCO founder admits to watching Olympic star Marion Jones inject herself in the leg with human growth hormone. Jones' attorneys denied she ever used performance-enhancing drugs. Conte's interview with ABC's ``20/20'' program will air Friday night.

 

Dozens of elite athletes testified before the grand jury last year, including baseball stars Bonds, Giambi and Gary Sheffield, and track stars Jones, Tim Montgomery and Kelli White.

 

The probe led to some athletes being banned from the Olympics and left a cloud of suspicion over others, such as Jones, who were allowed to compete despite the investigation.

 

But Bonds is the biggest star of all, the holder of baseball's single-season home run record of 73 in 2001 and the man who could break Hank Aaron's career homer mark of 755 as early as next year. Bonds ended last season with 703 homers and won his record seventh NL Most Valuable Player award.

 

It is uncertain what punishment, if any, Bonds could receive from baseball, which didn't have penalties for steroid use until last year.

 

While discipline is spelled out for positive tests and criminal convictions from 2003 on, admission of illegal steroid use is not addressed, possibly giving baseball commissioner Bud Selig an opening to punish Bonds.

 

Selig repeatedly has called for year-round random testing and harsher penalties, but management and the players' association have failed to reach an agreement. The contract runs through the 2006 season.

 

``I've been saying for many months: I instituted a very, very tough program in the minor leagues on steroids in 2001. We need to have that program at the major league level,'' Selig said Thursday in Washington, D.C. ``We're going to leave no stone unturned until we have that policy in place by spring training 2005.''

 

Prosecutors confronted Bonds with documents dating to his record-setting season of 2001 that allegedly detailed his use of many drugs, including human growth hormone, steroids and insulin. He said he believed he only used legal products to treat arthritis and fatigue.

 

Bonds danced around questions, saying he couldn't explain a calendar with the name ``Barry'' on it; he had never seen a bottle that says Depo-Testosterone; he had never heard of the drugs Clomid, modafinil and trenbolone; and he couldn't pronounce EPO.

 

Bonds testified that he didn't think any of the substances worked but kept using they out of loyalty to Anderson. He also said he never consulted with the Giants about what Anderson gave him.

 

``No way ... we don't trust the ball team,'' Bonds said. ``We don't trust baseball. ... Believe me, it's a business. I don't trust their doctors or nothing.''

 

Sheffield also testified to the grand jury that Bonds arranged for Anderson to give him ``the clear,'' ``the cream,'' and another steroid from Mexico, but also said he did not know they were steroids.

 

Bonds said he never paid Anderson for drugs or supplements but did give the trainer $15,000 in cash in 2003 for weight training and a $20,000 bonus after his 73-homer season.

 

Bonds said that Anderson had so little money that he ``lives in his car half the time.'' Asked by a juror why he didn't buy ``a mansion'' for his trainer, Bonds answered: ``One, I'm black, and I'm keeping my money. And there's not too many rich black people in this world. There's more wealthy Asian people and Caucasian and white. And I ain't giving my money up.''

 

 

Updated on Friday, Dec 3, 2004 2:38 am EST

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

....and people on this board will still be defending him. This is actually the only place where I've seen people defend him and say he didn't use them. Then again I don't watch ESPN much so...

[The Czech Republic 0]

All of your base are belong to us.

[Bored 0]

Link to the actual article:

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...12/03/BALCO.TMP

Federal prosecutors confronted Bonds during his testimony on Dec. 4, 2003, with documents indicating he had used steroids and human growth hormone during a three-year assault on baseball's home run record, but the Giants star denied the allegations.

 

During the three-hour proceeding, two prosecutors presented Bonds with documents that allegedly detailed his use of a long list of drugs: human growth hormone, Depo-Testosterone, undetectable steroids known as "the cream" and "the clear," insulin and Clomid, a drug for female infertility sometimes used to enhance the effect of testosterone.

 

The documents, many with Bonds' name on them, are dated from 2001 through 2003. They include a laboratory test result that could reflect steroid use and what appeared to be schedules of drug use with billing information, prosecutors told the grand jury.

I never asked Greg" about what the products contained, Bonds testified. "When he said it was flaxseed oil, I just said, 'Whatever.'

For much of Bonds' testimony, Nedrow and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Nadel methodically questioned him about documents and evidence seized in the probe. Bonds said he had few insights.

 

The prosecutors queried Bonds about calendars -- taken in a raid on Anderson's home -- that contained his name and notes about performance-enhancing drugs. He replied, "I've never had a calendar with him, never had anything."

 

Bonds said he couldn't explain a calendar page with the name "Barry" on it, nor a note indicating an invoice of $450 for blood tests.

 

Likewise, Bonds said he couldn't translate a document that had the notation "! G !" along with "one box off season" and "two box season, $1,500."

 

The prosecutors thought it referred to Bonds' payments for boxes of human growth hormone, but Bonds said, "I don't know what G is."

 

Asked about a reference to a $450 payment for a bottle of the injectable steroid Depo-Testosterone, Bonds replied, "I have never seen this bottle or any bottle pertaining that says Depo-Testosterone." He also denied ever injecting himself with any drug.

 

Other documents suggested Bonds was using Clomid, the fertility drug that enhances the effect of testosterone; modafinil, an anti-narcolepsy drug used as a stimulant; and the steroid trenbolone.

 

"I've never heard of it," Bonds replied to questions about each drug.

 

Asked about the endurance-boosting agent known as EPO, Bonds said, "I couldn't even pronounce it."

 

Queried about insulin, which also can have a steroid-like effect, Bonds said, "Insulin? I'm not a diabetic."

 

Bonds also was quizzed about a document that said, "Barry 12-2-02, T, 1 cc G - pee."

 

A prosecutor asked, "Does that correspond to you getting, you know, growth hormones or testosterone or giving a urine test or anything of those things that you can recall from Mr. Anderson."

 

"T could mean anything," Bonds replied. "G could mean anything. And pee could probably mean anything."

 

Bonds said he had no knowledge of paperwork indicating that starting in 2001, BALCO had been screening his blood not just for nutritional deficiencies but for steroids.

 

"Do you know why BALCO would have been testing for your testosterone level?" he was asked.

 

"I have no idea," Bonds replied.

 

"Do you know why your testosterone level would have been -- according to the report -- higher than the level, the normal range indicated for males 29 to 49 years old?"

 

"I don't understand this piece of paper," Bonds replied.

 

Elevated testosterone levels can indicate steroid use, according to medical experts.

[The Czech Republic 0]

So basically, Barry Bonds is incontrovertibly guilty of being a dumb oaf.

[Guest thetrendsetter]

Regardless, Steroids were not on the MLB banned substances list at the time of his use, whether or not he was on them or not... If he was, then what, strip him of his home runs the last 5 years? that sets a dangerous precedent. Does the awards he won get stripped as well, his stats? Does Giambi's stats get stripped? His MVP from 2000? Which brings us to the biggest point, Is the team at fault as well, should the New York Yankees be stripped of any games, divisional conference championships and World Series they won with anyone found to be using steroids? They can't really just strip someone of an award 4 years past the point, and it's a stretch to retroactively punish someone for something they did while It was legal.

 

I think this could be an interesting topic...

[The Czech Republic 0]

The best way to deal with this is to never let Barry pass Whitey (not Herzog) on the home run list.

[Guest thetrendsetter]

I don't think that's nessacarially(shitty spelling after being up 23 hours) right either though. Who's to say that many MLB players in the last 30 years haven't used steroids and such... It wasn't illegal to use when Giambi and others (maybe including Bonds) were using it, where does that fall in? I think this part of the arguement is less a moral issue, more of a legal one.

 

But regardless, to stricken his statistics is a little overboard though, and again brings up the fact of how far does that go? know what I mean? Should MLB Strip the Oakland A's of thier 1989 World Series Title because of Canseco's usage?

[MikeJordan23 0]

So that means the best player now is....

 

ALBERT PUJOLS!

 

*Salutes our Cardinal Captain*

[Crimson Platypus 0]

So basically Bonds is saying that while Anderson told Giambi (from Giambi's testimony) that "the Cream" and "the Clear" were undetectable steroids, he never told Barry? Yeah okay.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

I am so dissapointed right now... I want to believe that he never took the cream and the clear, but I don't know if I can truly believe that. No matter what now, whether he took it knowingly or unknowingly, this is the ULTIMATE black mark on baseball.

[C Dubya 04 0]

What do you mean you want to believe he never took the stuff??? He admitted to taking it. Whether he knew they were steroids or not, he took them.

 

As far as asterisks or removing records or whatever, baseball will more likely then not do nothing. Regardless this will immediately be discussed for as long as people discuss Bonds and his greatness, so it is an asterisk all by itself.

[The Czech Republic 0]

to stricken his statistics

There's no way this is correct verb usage, I'm sorry.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

What do you mean you want to believe he never took the stuff??? He admitted to taking it. Whether he knew they were steroids or not, he took them.

 

As far as asterisks or removing records or whatever, baseball will more likely then not do nothing. Regardless this will immediately be discussed for as long as people discuss Bonds and his greatness, so it is an asterisk all by itself.

I meant to say I hope he really took it unknowingly. Damn... I have a lot of typos these days...

[Mik 0]

I know some of you guys don't like Bonds, but you're all a LITTLE too happy for one of the biggest black marks in the history of baseball.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

I'm neither happy about it nor do I dislike Barry Bonds. In fact I have been in many bar discussions where I defended his general demeanor with the media (i.e. being a disagreeable asshole). I have, however, said all along that he MUST have been on steroids of some sort. The physical evidence is/was overwhelming. The man exploded (physically) IN HIS LATE 30's! That simply doesn't happen without help. Not with the travel schedule that a MLB player is on. There isn't enough time for him to work out and naturally gain the kind of muscle mass he did.

 

 

Anyone that believes Barry when he claims he didn't know he was taking steroids is deluding themself. Are we to believe that he thought an arthritis cream lead to him gaining all that muscle? How gullible does he think we are?

 

As far as the records, nothing needs to be done. We all know how he got them. That's enough for me.

[cabbageboy 0]

Why is anyone shocked over this? I assumed that at least Bonds took the cream stuff once Sheffield came out with his anti Bonds rant about how Bonds and Co. gave him the cream and he took it unknowingly realizing it was a steroid. For the most part I believed Sheffield since he was so open about it in the media. From there you obviously know Bonds was using the cream himself.

 

So in essence all they have on Bonds is the same stuff that Sheffield already admitted to using without any consequences. When someone comes out saying "I saw Bonds stick the needle in his ass" then this becomes truly huge.

[Bored 0]

So in essence all they have on Bonds is the same stuff that Sheffield already admitted to using without any consequences.

Yes that's what he has admitted to but they had other evidence on Bonds that was presented to him (in the quotes in my previous post) but he denied them. So it's really down to if you believe Bonds or not. Those who have always thought Bonds was on steroids won't believe him and those who always thought he didn't take steroids will believe him. Basically we're back to square one in this debate.

So basically Bonds is saying that while Anderson told Giambi (from Giambi's testimony) that "the Cream" and "the Clear" were undetectable steroids, he never told Barry?

That's the same question I had when I first read it. Why would Anderson tell Giambi but not his good friend Bonds? Unless Bonds is lying of course...

[The Czech Republic 0]

So, you like-a the juice, eh?

 

 

HE LIKES THE JUICE!! Yes, my friend!

[geniusMoment 0]

They also have sheets with Bonds' name on them, telling them when Bonds will go on and off the cycle for HGH, steriods and a few other illegal designer substances. These documents, according to one of the writers from the SF chronicle, were obtained in a raid on BALCO. These documents date back to before the 2001 season, in other words, Bonds legacy is tarnished. Say hello to Mr. Rose, it could not happen to a nicer guy. A cannot wait to hear Joe Morgan try to defend Bonds now.

 

And to Dr. Mik, I did not want that asshole Bonds to break the record anyway, so I am thrilled that he is forever going to be remembered as a cheat.

[The Czech Republic 0]

I cannot wait to hear Joe Morgan try to defend Bonds now.

This is Billy Beane's fault! He did it to sabotage his cross-town rivals! Now he's gonna add this chapter to that stupid Moneyball book he wrote!

[The Czech Republic 0]

Oh hi. Bud Selig says he wants to resolve the steroid issue in the next two months. Look for a solution by August 2006.

 

Ironically, he postponed actions to confirm the Montreal Expos relocation to make this announcement...

[CanadianChris 0]

Say hello to Mr. Rose, it could not happen to a nicer guy. A cannot wait to hear Joe Morgan try to defend Bonds now.

You're comparing apples to automobiles. The cases of Rose and Bonds aren't even remotely comparable.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Yeah. Bonds was worse.

[CanadianChris 0]

Yeah. Bonds was worse.

You keep on believing that, Czech.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Pete got his achievements by working hard. He didn't need to stick a needle up his ass to pass Ty Cobb.

[CanadianChris 0]

Who said anything about his achievements? Rose got banned for gambling.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Barry Bonds*

 

get used to it.

[Guest Shoes Head]

Anxious to hear what Dr. Tom has to say about all this, since he was among the Bonds defenders.

[Guest DubWiser]

The most important thing I've learned from all the coverage of this Steroid nonsense is that I want to fucking strangle Tim Kurkjian.