SAN FRANCISCO – A handful of professional athletes, including baseball superstar Barry Bonds, received steroids and human growth hormone from a nutritional supplements lab implicated in an illegal distribution ring, according to a newspaper report.
New York Yankees stars Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, as well as three other major leaguers and one NFL player, were given steroids, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday, citing information given to federal investigators.
Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, gave the players the drugs from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, according to information given to the government and shared with the newspaper.
The report did not say how federal investigators received the information or how the newspaper learned of it.
Bonds, Giambi and Sheffield testified last fall before the grand jury that indicted four men in the alleged steroid-distribution ring. They have all denied steroid use.
“We continue to adamantly deny that Barry was provided, furnished or supplied any of those substances at any time by Greg Anderson,” Bonds’ attorney Michael Rains told the newspaper.
Bonds, baseball’s single-season home run record-holder, refused to comment Tuesday at the Giants’ spring training camp in Scottsdale, Ariz., softly telling a reporter: “Get out of my locker.” The Giants also said they would have no comment on the report.
At the Yankees’ spring training camp in Tampa, Fla., Giambi and Sheffield wouldn’t directly address the report.
“Speculation doesn’t bother me. It’s as simple as that,” Sheffield said. “I deal with it. You know I don’t like dealing with issues. You know I don’t like dealing with controversy. Nobody likes to do that.”
Prosecutors released documents last month saying Anderson told federal agents he gave steroids to several professional baseball players. None of those players was identified in those documents.
Anderson’s attorney, Tony Serra, said last Friday that Bonds “never took anything illegal” and that the slugger was offered – but rejected – a substance at the heart of the government’s case against the four indicted men.
That substance, according to government documents, was the recently unmasked steroid THG.
Anderson has been charged with participating in a steroid-distribution ring that provided performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes. Also charged have been BALCO founder Victor Conte and the lab’s vice president, James Valente, as well as track coach Remi Korchemny.
All four have pleaded innocent and are free on bond.
The Chronicle reported that two of Bonds’ former teammates – outfielder Marvin Benard of the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City catcher Benito Santiago – and former Oakland infielder Randy Velarde also received performance-enhancing drugs, as did Oakland Raiders linebacker Bill Romanowski.
The Chronicle quoted an anonymous source as saying that Anderson provided Bonds with steroids and human growth hormone as far back as 2001, when the slugger hit 73 homers to break the single-season record. Bonds has 658 career homers – 97 shy of Hank Aaron’s career mark.
Major League Baseball did not ban steroids until this season.
Human growth hormone works like a steroid, building muscle mass and helping athletes recover from training. Standard drug tests are unable to detect it, but scientists are working to develop a reliable test before this summer’s Athens Olympics.
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