Bonds doped extensively, book says

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Barry Bonds' alleged steroid use is the story of spring training again, no matter how hard he and the San Francisco Giants try to avoid it and keep the focus on his chase of the home run record.\nBonds used a vast array of performance-enhancing drugs -- including steroids and human growth hormone -- for at least five seasons beginning in 1998, according to a book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters.\nAn excerpt from "Game of Shadows," which details the slugger's extensive doping program, appears in the March 13 issue of Sports Illustrated.\n"I won't even look at it. For what? There's no need to," Bonds said Tuesday after a workout at Scottsdale Stadium. The Giants said Bonds would not comment further.\nThe 41-year-old Bonds, who testified before a California federal grand jury investigating steroid use by top athletes, repeatedly has denied using performance-enhancing drugs.\n"I've read what was reported," Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris, told The Associated Press. "Barry is looking forward to playing this year and the improved health of his knee, and being as productive as he's ever been."\nPhone messages left by the AP seeking comment from Bonds' attorney and publicist were not immediately returned Tuesday.\nBaseball did not ban performance-enhancing drugs until after the 2002 season, though there has long been suspicion that some star players such as Bonds were taking steroids to gain an edge. \nAuthors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, who led the newspaper's coverage of the BALCO scandal, recount in remarkable detail the specifics of Bonds' drug regimen, which they write started in 1998 with injections of Winstrol, a powerful steroid also linked to Rafael Palmeiro.\nAccording to the book, Bonds was using two undetectable designer steroids, informally known as the cream and the clear, plus insulin, human growth hormone and other performance enhancers by 2001, when he hit 73 home runs for the Giants to break Mark McGwire's single-season record of 70 set in 1998.\nBALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative founded by Victor Conte, kept track of Bonds' drug use in detail, with folders and calendars that chronicled everything from schedules and quantities to his testosterone levels. Much of that information was obtained by federal agents when they raided the lab in September 2003.\nAccording to reports in The Chronicle, Bonds testified to the grand jury in late 2003 that he used a clear substance and a cream given to him by his personal trainer, Greg Anderson, who pleaded guilty in the BALCO case last July to steroid distribution and money laundering. Bonds said he didn't know that what he was using was a steroid, the newspaper reported.\nIn October, Anderson was sentenced to three months in prison and three months in home confinement. Conte was among three other men who also pleaded guilty to their role in supplying steroids to elite athletes.\nAccording to the book, Bonds used several substances in various forms by injecting himself with a syringe, taking injections from Anderson, gulping pills, putting liquid drops under his tongue or rubbing cream on his skin.\nBonds became so experienced and well-versed with the regimen that he occasionally overruled Anderson and took control of his own doping schedule, the book says.\nThe Chronicle reporters, who based the book on a two-year investigation, included an extensive summary on their sources, including court documents, affidavits filed by BALCO investigators, documents written by federal agents, grand jury testimony, audio recordings and interviews with more than 200 people.\n-- Associated Press Baseball Writers Mike Fitzpatrick and Ben Walker and AP Sports Writers Gregg Bell and David Ginsburg contributed to this story.