MLB: Bonds Upset With Steroids Claims

Viggö

All the attention may finally be getting to Barry Bonds. Speaking to reporters earlier this week, the San Francisco Giants' outfielder joked that he would “go to the Empire State Building and jump off, commit suicide and people can say, 'Barry Bonds is finally dead.' Except for in San Francisco,� he added. “I'll leave something for them.�

After playing in only 14 games last season due to three knee operations, Bonds knows that, at 41, his playing career may be coming to a close, and with the new season starting on April 2, a recently strained left elbow won't be helping those fears. But that's not the cause of his mock 'suicide'.

That has resulted from the latest in a seemingly endless line of drug abuse allegations that, unsurprisingly, Bonds says is taking all the fun out of his game. But these allegations are hard to ignore.

They come from two journalists at the San Francisco Chronicle, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, who first broke the BALCO drug scandal in 2003 which eventually saw owner Victor Conte and Greg Anderson, Bonds' personal trainer, jailed last year for steroid distribution and money laundering. It also led to the downfall of several high profile athletes, such as Tim Montgomery and Dwain Chambers.

Their new book Game of Shadows, based on interviews with more than 200 people and over 1000 documents including affidavits from BALCO investigators and grand jury testimony, is by far the most damning account of reported steroid use by Bonds yet published.

It details his alleged drug abuse between 1998 and 2002 and claims that in addition to using substances referred to as 'the Cream' and 'the Clear' (designer steroids created by BALCO), he took insulin, human growth hormone, testosterone decanoate (also known as Mexican beans) and trenbolone, a steroid created to improve the muscle quality of cattle.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has ordered a complete review of the allegations, but since the league only introduced suspensions for drug policy violation in 2005 - and these claims relate to several years beforehand - it is hard to see what action could be taken.

Bonds currently stands in third place on the list of all time home runs scored, just six behind Babe Ruth, and 48 runs shy of Hank Aaron's leading mark of 755. Whatever the eventual outcome of the review, he will be celebrated by fans and vilified by critics in equal measures.

But despite his latest injuries, his biggest obstacle this season may be trying to keep his mental focus. “My life is in shambles. It couldn't get any crazier. I'm just trying to stay sane.�