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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

FROM THE SF CHRONICLE

Barry Bonds told a federal grand jury that he used a clear substance and a cream supplied by BALCO, the Burlingame laboratory now enmeshed in a sports doping scandal, but he said he never thought they were steroids, The Chronicle has learned.

Federal prosecutors charge that the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, known as BALCO, distributed undetectable steroids to elite athletes in the form of a clear substance that was taken orally and a cream that was rubbed onto the body.

Bonds testified that he had received and used clear and cream substances from his personal strength trainer, Greg Anderson, during the 2003 baseball season but was told they were the nutritional supplement flaxseed oil and a rubbing balm for arthritis, according to a transcript of his testimony reviewed by The Chronicle.

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.

In a September 2003 raid on Anderson's Burlingame home, federal investigators seized documents they said showed Bonds was using banned drugs, according to court records. Anderson was indicted in February on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to distribute steroids in the BALCO case.

But Bonds said he had no knowledge of the doping calendars and other records that indicated he had used banned drugs. He said he had never paid Anderson for steroids and had never knowingly used them.

And he said he was confident that his trainer hadn't slipped him banned drugs without his knowledge, saying Anderson "wouldn't jeopardize our friendship" by doing that.

Bonds testified he had never discussed steroids with his trainer -- not even after federal agents kicked in Anderson's door to serve their search warrant. That was out of respect for Anderson's privacy, Bonds said.

To the prosecutors, the substances Bonds said he was using sounded like "the cream" and "the clear," two steroids designed to be undetectable in laboratory testing that Victor Conte, founder of BALCO, is accused of marketing to elite athletes, sometimes with Anderson as middleman.

Bonds said that as far as he knew, Anderson had given him only legal products to treat the arthritis and fatigue that afflicted him, especially when playing a day game after a night game. The trainer brought the products into the Giants' clubhouse at Pac Bell Park "once a homestand," Bonds said, and that's where he used them.

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

One week after Bonds testified, New York Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi and his brother Jeremy, both former Oakland A's, described in detail how they had injected themselves with performance-enhancing drugs. The Giambis testified they were drawn to Anderson because of Bonds' success.

Other players who admitted their use of performance-enhancing drugs were former Giants Armando Rios, Benito Santiago and Bobby Estalella. The players said they had come to know Anderson because he was Bonds' trainer.

A sixth witness, Yankees outfielder Gary Sheffield, testified that while he trained with Bonds in the Bay Area before the 2002 baseball season, Bonds had arranged for him to receive "the cream," "the clear" and "red beans," which the prosecutors identified as steroid pills manufactured in Mexico.

Sheffield said he had never been told that the substances were steroids. Bonds also was using "the cream" and "the clear," Sheffield said.

"Nothing was between me and Greg," Sheffield testified. "Barry pretty much controlled everything. ... It was basically Barry (saying), 'Trust me. Do what I do.'

"... I know I've seen Greg give Barry the same thing I was taking. I didn't see him taking those red beans, but I seen him taking this (clear) and this cream here."

Since the BALCO scandal erupted, Bonds has insisted he never used banned drugs. But in statements they later denied making, both Conte and BALCO Vice President James Valente, also indicted, told investigators that Anderson was supplying steroids to Bonds, court records show.

In addition, The Chronicle has reported that in a secretly recorded conversation, Anderson said Bonds had used an "undetectable" performance- enhancing drug during the 2003 season.

The ballplayer and the trainer began working out at a gym near BALCO, Bonds said. He said Anderson had also begun providing him with "vitamin and protein shakes."

In 2000 or 2001, Bonds said, Anderson persuaded him to undergo blood and urine testing at BALCO as part of a program touted by Conte to market his legal nutritional supplement, ZMA. Bonds said he already was interested in nutrition issues, testifying that he employed both a cook and a "nutritionist at Stanford."

Eventually, he said, Anderson began providing him with an array of supplements: "multivitamin to vitamin E to omega 3s to, you know, ZMA - the ZMA that BALCO had - to liver pills to oxygen ...

"But I had no doubt what he was giving me, because we were friends."

Bonds said he had met Conte, BALCO's president, two or three times but never paid for the nutritional supplements.

Instead, he said, he "did an ad" for BALCO in a muscle magazine, a reference to a photo shoot and feature in Muscle & Fitness that quoted Bonds effusively endorsing Conte's ZMA nutritional supplement product.

Bonds said he had begun using the cream and the clear substance at a time when he was aching with arthritis and was distraught over the terminal illness of his father, former Giants All-Star Bobby Bonds, who died Aug. 23, 2003.

But Bonds said he got little help from Anderson's products.

"And I was like, to me, it didn't even work," he told the grand jury. "You know me, I'm 39 years old. I'm dealing with pain. All I want is the pain relief, you know? And you know, to recover, you know, night games to day games. That's it.

"And I didn't think the stuff worked. I was like, 'Dude, whatever,' but he's my friend."

Eventually, Bonds said he had stopped using the products, telling the grand jury, "If it's a steroid, it's not working." Bonds insisted he had never paid Anderson for drugs or supplements, but he acknowledged paying him $15,000 in 2003 for weight training.

"I paid him in cash," Bonds said. "I make $17 million."

In answers that sometimes rambled, Bonds sought to vouch for his trainer as a good and honest person who would never traffic in illegal drugs.

"Greg is a good guy, you know, this kid is a great kid. He has a child," Bonds said. At another point, he told the grand jury:

"Greg has nothing, man. ... Guy lives in his car half the time. He lives with his girlfriend, rents a room so he can be with his kid, you know?

Bonds told the grand jurors that he had given Anderson a $20,000 bonus and bought him a ring after the 73-home run season. He also bought the trainer a ring to commemorate the Giants' 2002 World Series appearance. When a juror asked why the wealthy ballplayer hadn't bought "a mansion" for his trainer to live in, 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."

Prosecutor Jeff Nedrow pressed Bonds about the clear liquid Anderson provided.

"Did he ever tell you it was a molecularly or chemically altered steroid? Did Greg ever tell you anything like that?"

"No, because my other trainer, who is 50 years old, Harvey, was taking the same stuff," Bonds replied. "And he said it's flaxseed oil."

Tim Montgomery, a world-class sprinter, had earlier told the grand jury that Conte used flaxseed oil containers when sending "the clear" to athletes at overseas track meets.

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.

Bonds said he hadn't told the Giants staff what he was doing with Anderson because he didn't trust them.

"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."

Asked whether he had ever discussed the BALCO probe with Anderson, Bonds said, "The only thing I asked Greg, 'What's it like getting your door blown down. Dude, I never seen anything like that except on TV.' That's about as far as we went on it."