Report claims Bonds used steroids for years

NEW YORK — Barry Bonds used a vast array of performance-enhancing drugs, including steroids and human growth hormone, for at least five seasons beginning in 1998, according to a book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters.

An excerpt from "Game of Shadows," which details the San Francisco slugger's extensive doping program, appears in the March 13 issue of Sports Illustrated.

"I won't even look at it. For what? There's no need to," Bonds said Tuesday at Giants camp in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Giants said Bonds would not comment any further.

Bonds, who testified before a California federal grand jury looking into steroid use by top athletes, repeatedly has denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

"I've read what was reported," Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris, told The Associated Press. "Barry is looking forward to playing this year and the improved health of his knee, and being as productive as he's ever been."

Phone messages left by the AP seeking comment from Bonds' attorney and publicist were not immediately returned Tuesday.

Baseball did not ban performance-enhancing drugs until after the 2002 season.

Authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, who led the newspaper's coverage of the BALCO scandal, recount in remarkable detail the specifics of Bonds' drug regimen, which they write started in 1998 with injections of Winstrol, a powerful steroid also linked to Rafael Palmeiro.

According to the book, Bonds was using two undetectable designer steroids, informally known as the cream and the clear, plus insulin, human growth hormone and other performance enhancers by 2001, when he hit 73 home runs for the Giants to break Mark McGwire's single-season record of 70 set in 1998.

The seven-time NL MVP enters this season with 708 homers, seven shy of passing Babe Ruth and 48 from breaking Hank Aaron's career mark.

"Game of Shadows" is scheduled to be published March 27 by Gotham Books.

BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative run by Victor Conte, kept track of Bonds' drug use in detail, with folders and calendars that chronicled everything from schedules and quantities to his testosterone levels. Much of that information was obtained by federal agents when they raided the lab in September 2003.