Barry Larkin, still glowing over his election to the Hall of Fame, was asked about next year’s sure-to-be-controversial vote: the first appearances of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa on the Cooperstown ballot.

“All I know is playing and competing against some of these guys, they’re the best — period,” he said.

From Online.wsj.com:

The Steroids Era will be the focal point of next year’s Hall ballot, when 550-plus members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America try to assess three of the most accomplished players in the sport’s history.

For all the home runs and wins, it’s a trio tainted with accusations that their statistics were boosted by performance-enhancing drugs during a period when there were no agreed-upon penalties in baseball for the use of steroids and human growth hormone.

“It’s going to be agonizing,” BBWAA general secretary Jack O’Connell said after Tuesday’s news conference, repeating the phrase for emphasis.

“I’m not going to vote for any of the people that are linked to steroids. I could change down the road, but that’s the real strong feeling I have now,” said Hal Bodley of MLB.com, the former lead baseball writer for USA Today.

Tags: Barry Bonds, Barry Larkin, baseball, Hall of Fame, human growth hormone, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, steroids, steroids era, use of steroids

Posted in buy steroids, Steroid Cycles, steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Sports

According to a sentencing memo filed in court, federal prosecutors want baseball legend Barry Bonds to serve 15 months in prison for his obstruction of justice conviction.

Defense lawyers argued in their filing that the judge should accept recommendation of the probation office that the ex-baseball player be sentenced to two years probation, fined $4,000, and ordered to perform 250 hours of community service.

From Edition.cnn.com:

Bonds, 47, is set to be sentenced on December 16 in a San Francisco federal courtroom, less than two miles from the ballpark where he broke Hank Aaron‘s major league home run in August 2007.

Jurors who found Bonds guilty in April said he was “evasive” in his testimony to the federal grand jury investigating illegal steroids use by pro athletes.

“Because Bonds’s efforts were a corrupt, intentional effort to interfere with that mission, a sentence of 15 months imprisonment is appropriate,” the prosecution said in its memo to U.S. District Judge Susan Illston.

Tags: Barry Bonds, baseball, Hank Aaron, steroids

Posted in buy steroids, Steroid Cycles, steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball, Steroids in Sports

Days after a judge upheld conviction of the slugger on an obstruction of justice count, federal prosecutors have dropped all the remaining charges against Barry Bonds.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston was informed by via filed papers from the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco that it was dismissing the three charges of making false statements still pending against Major League Baseball‘s all-time home runs leader.

From Espn.go.com:

The deadline for prosecutors to start the process for a retrial on those charges was about 30 days away. Now, Bonds won’t face a new trial on accusations that he lied to a grand jury back in 2003 when he testified that he never knowingly received steroids or human growth hormone from trainer Greg Anderson, and that no one other than his doctors ever injected him with anything.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella declined comment.

Allen Ruby, the lawyer of Bonds, refused to discuss whether Bonds intended to appeal the obstruction conviction.

Tags: Barry Bonds, human growth hormone, Major League Baseball, steroids

Posted in buy steroids, Steroid Cycles, steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball, Steroids in Sports

The perjury trial of former baseball star Roger Clemens ended in a mistrial the judge blamed on prosecutors and said a “first-year law student” would have known to avoid.

The question of a new trial up in the air was left by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton.

From Sports.yahoo.com:

“Mr. Clemens has to get a fair trial,” Walton said. “In my view, he can’t get it now.”

Defense attorney Rusty Hardin, who had asked for the mistrial declaration, patted an unsmiling Clemens on the back as the judge announced his decision. As he left the courthouse, Clemens did not comment but accepted hugs from a couple of court workers, shook hands with the security guards and autographed baseballs for fans waiting outside.

The quick end on only the second day of testimony was the second mistrial involving a superstar player accused in baseball’s steroids scandal. Home run king Barry Bonds was convicted three months ago of obstruction of justice, but a mistrial was called on three more serious false-statements charges after jurors couldn’t agree on a verdict.

Walton called a halt to the trial under way after prosecutors showed jurors evidence that he had ruled out videotaped revelations that a teammate had said he did told his wife Clemens confessed to using a drug.

Tags: Barry Bonds, baseball, Roger Clemens, steroids

Posted in buy steroids, Steroid Cycles, steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball, Steroids in Sports

Federal prosecutors still care deeply about steroids, and lying about their use to Congress as the aborted Roger Clemens trial shows.

The shredded reputation of Clemens remains in limbo after last week’s mistrial in the perjury case against one of baseball’s all-time greats.

From Miamiherald.com:

Charged with lying to Congress about performance enhancing drugs, Clemens joined otherwise surefire Hall of Famers Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire as the personification of the sport’s steroid era.

Bonds’ own steroid saga is likewise on hold. Back in April, a jury convicted him of one count of obstruction of justice but deadlocked on three other charges.

So, while it’s clear federal authorities still take matters of steroid use and false statements seriously, do the rest of us?

Steroidmania, which peaked with the demolition of Major League Baseball’s home run records, has ebbed as sluggers have retired and longball totals have dropped.

The fervency is tangibly on the wane in Florida, where a testing program at the high school level was allowed to lapse after one year. There is no current plan to revive it.

“I think there’s certainly some performance-enhancing drug fatigue,” said Charles Yesalis, a professor at Penn State and longtime outspoken critic of PED abuse.

Tags: Barry Bonds, baseball, Mark McGwire, Performance enhancing drugs, Roger Clemens, steroid, steroid era, steroid use, steroids

Posted in buy steroids, Steroid Cycles, steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball, Steroids in Sports

Reds Minor League catcher Jose Raga was recently placed under suspension after he tested positive for a banned steroid.

A catcher with Cincinnati’s Venezuelan Summer League affiliate tested positive for Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance, in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

From Web.minorleaguebaseball.com:

Raga, a 17-year-old from San Felipe, Venezuela, had appeared in six games for the Rookie-level Reds, going 3-for-13 with two RBIs. This was the 5-foot-11 backstop’s first season in the Minors.

Stanozolol is a synthetic anabolic steroid derived from testosterone that is used by body builders as well as with animals to promote muscle growth, increased bone density and red blood cell production. In baseball, it has previously been linked to Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro and Roger Clemens, among others.

Raga is the 30th player to be suspended in 2011 under the Minor League program, his ban coming two days after Braves pitcher Matt Suschak was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for amphetamines.

Raga has received a 50-game suspension, according to the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball.

Tags: anabolic steroid, Barry Bonds, bone density, Jose Raga, Minor League, muscle growth, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, stanozolol, steroid, testosterone

Posted in buy steroids, Steroid Cycles, steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball, Steroids in Sports

In the perjury trial of Barry Bonds, the former baseball player and the home run King, prosecutors finished their closing argument by painting him as a slippery superstar.

Prosecutors remarked that the ex-baseball player lied to hide his use of performance enhancing drugs.

From Reuters.com:

Nedrow said witnesses’ testimony, documents, a secret recording, drug bottles and syringes show Bonds lied to protect his reputation, recklessly thwarting a grand jury investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO).

The government agreed not to hold him accountable for his 2003 grand jury testimony — unless he lied.

“Why would the defendant testify falsely after getting immunity?” Nedrow asked. “The reason was a secret and it was a powerful secret and it was that he had been using anabolic steroids and human growth hormones. He had concern that it would taint his accomplishments.”

Bonds’ attorneys planned to deliver their closing argument on Thursday with jury deliberations set to begin as early as Friday in the highest profile U.S. case involving sports and performance-enhancing drugs.

“All he had to do was tell the truth,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nedrow said before a packed courtroom. “He chose not to tell the truth and that’s why he’s here.”

Tags: BALCO, Barry Bonds, baseball, Performance enhancing drugs

Posted in buy steroids, Steroid Cycles, steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball, Steroids in Sports

Testifying at home run king Barry Bonds‘ perjury trial, baseball star Jason Giambi said that he used illegal anabolic steroids that were obtained from the personal trainer of Bonds.

Giambi, who was the American League Most Valuable Player in 2000, described how he initiated the use of steroids after meeting trainer Greg Anderson at an all-star baseball game in Japan.

From Reuters.com:

“I was picking Greg’s brain as to what kind of training Barry was doing, was he lifting weights, what was he doing in the gym,” Giambi said. “Barry was a great athlete. I just wanted to continue my career so I wanted to get information from him.”

He said that Anderson subsequently sent him packages containing steroids he called “the clear and the cream,” explaining that the cream was testosterone, and the clear was epitestosterone. The package included a syringe with injectable steroids, which Giambi said he used.

Giambi said Anderson told him Major League Baseball tests were designed to detect the ratio of these two hormones and by raising the levels of both, he could increase their testosterone level without testing positive for illegal steroids.

Bonds has pleaded not guilty to charges he lied to a grand jury about whether he knowingly used the same substances. His case is the latest in a years-long U.S. investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports.

Giambi said he used the drugs for a few months before abandoning them.

Tags: anabolic steroids, Barry Bonds, baseball, epitestosterone, injectable steroids, Jason Giambi, Major League Baseball, steroids, testosterone, use of steroids

Posted in buy steroids, Steroid Cycles, steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball, Steroids in Sports

Defense attorneys said on Thursday in closing arguments at the trial of Barry Bonds that the perjury case against the home run king is built on testimony from his enemies.

Bonds was painted by the prosecutors earlier as a slippery superstar who lied to hide his use of performance enhancing drugs while he closed in on the all-time home run record of baseball.

From Reuters.com:

Bonds faces up to a decade in prison on each charge in the case, one of the last strands of a national probe into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports.

He is expected to receive a much lighter sentence if convicted, but the jury which now begins deliberations also will be passing judgment on his professional reputation.

Defense attorneys said tainted witnesses ranged from Bonds’ former girlfriend, who discussed changes in the baseball star’s anatomy, to a childhood friend turned business associate who taped conversations about Bonds, attorneys said.

“This prosecution in its zeal to go after Barry Bonds will forgive anybody anything including perjury and mortgage fraud if that person is willing to say something bad about Barry Bonds,” Bonds attorney Cristina Arguedas said.

Tags: Barry Bonds, baseball, Performance enhancing drugs

Posted in buy steroids, Steroid Cycles, steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball, Steroids in Sports

The jurors at the Barry Bonds perjury trial received a science lesson with Larry Bowers — a government witness and an antidoping expert — acting as their professor.

They learned about the different categories of steroids, of which anabolic steroids are one.

From NYTimes.com:

While the jurors may not have known it, that information, however intimate it became, is key to the case. It laid the foundation for future testimony regarding the physical changes some witnesses have said they noticed in Bonds as a result of his steroid use.

Bonds is charged with four counts of lying to a grand jury in 2003 when he said he never knowingly used steroids, and one count of obstruction of justice.

Jeffrey Nedrow, an assistant United States attorney, asked Bowers, the chief science director of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, how steroid use could affect a man’s testicles.

“It’s been well documented that you could have testicular atrophy,” Bowers said, before putting it simply. “They will shrink.”

The jurors also heard as to how those steroids are administered.

Tags: anabolic steroids, Barry Bonds, categories of steroids, steroid use, steroids

Posted in buy steroids, Steroid Cycles, steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball, Steroids in Sports