Baseball ace Bonds denies drug use
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Bonds walks away after a media briefing at Scottsdale Stadium
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SCOTSDALE, Arizona -- San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds, who owns the Major League Baseball record for home runs in a single season, has denied taking steroids.
Bonds spoke publicly for the first time since steroid conspiracy indictments were handed down to four men, including his personal trainer, in the BALCO laboratories scandal.
Two BALCO executives, track coach Remy Korchemny and trainer Greg Anderson, a long-time pal of Bonds, are charged with distributing performance-enhancing substances.
Drugs involved include the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) -- and Bonds spoke during a press conference at Scottsdale Stadium ahead of spring training.
"I feel bad for him. I feel very bad," Bonds said of Anderson. "We grew up together. He's a friend. It's unfortunate what he's having to go through."
Bonds' ties to the scandal come on the heels of his greatest seasons, a fact that has become troublesome, the newspaper Contra Costa Times newspaper reported.
"I think it has been really difficult for my family and people around me who know what's true," Bonds told reporters at the club's pre-season training headquarters.
"I don't really think we have to talk about it when all the testing comes out. When it comes out we will be able to see it and there won't be any questions after that."
The 39-year-old outfielder has been the National League's Most Valuable Player for the past three seasons.
In 2001 he smashed a single-season record 73 homers and in 2002 sparked the Giants within one game of a World Series crown.
Steroid testing will be implemented this season in Major League Baseball after a trial program found more than five percent of all players testing positive.
"They can test me every day if they choose to," Bonds said. "I think it's fine, and I don't see anything wrong with it at all."
