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Barry Bonds steroids timeline

1998

Boyhood friends Barry Bonds and Greg Anderson reconnect when Anderson is working as a personal trainer in the Bay Area. Shortly after, Bonds hires Anderson to replace Raymond Farris, who at the time was supervising his workouts.

June 1, 2003

In an article published in "Muscle and Fitness" magazine, Bonds describes his training regimen, as prescribed by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO). In the article, Bonds states that in the winter of 2000 BALCO founder Victor Conte and BALCO began measuring the nutrient levels in the outfielder's blood, then prescribed specific supplemental regimens to correct imbalances. In June of 2004, while answering questions from The Baltimore Sun about his ties to BALCO, Bonds says, "I don't know BALCO, dude."

Sept. 3, 2003

Investigators, including IRS agents, raid BALCO Laboratories in Burlingame, Calif., and take financial and medical records.

Sept. 5, 2003

Investigators search the home of Anderson, Bonds' personal trainer. Investigators seize documents they say showed Bonds was using banned drugs.

Oct. 23, 2003

The grand jury investigation into BALCO begins.

Dec. 4, 2003

Bonds, who had touted Conte and his supplement ZMA in a magazine article, testifies before the federal grand jury. In testimony, Bonds says he received and used "cream" and "clear" substances from Anderson during the 2003 baseball season, but was told they were the nutritional supplement flaxseed oil and a rubbing balm for arthritis.

Dec. 4, 2003

In front of the federal grand jury, Bonds testifies he never paid Anderson for drugs or supplements but acknowledges paying him $15,000 for weight training. ... Bonds testifies he asked Anderson to have him tested for steroids because he "lacked trust" with MLB, which started testing players for steroids during the season. Bonds was told by Anderson he was negative. ... During his testimony, Bonds also says Anderson brought products into the Giants' clubhouse at Pac Bell Park "once a homestand," where he used them. ... Bonds testifies to the federal grand jury that he gave Anderson a $20,000 bonus and bought him a ring after the 2001 season, in which he hit 73 home runs. He also bought the trainer a ring to commemorate the Giants' 2002 World Series appearance. ... During his testimony, prosecutors asked Bonds about calendars -- seized in a raid on Anderson's home -- that contained his name and notes about performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds replies, "I've never had a calendar with him, never had anything." Bonds could also not explain a calendar with the name "Barry" on it, nor a note indicating an invoice of $450 for blood tests.

Dec. 11, 2003

Gary Sheffield testifies to the federal grand jury that he received a liquid called "the clear," a massage balm called "the cream" and pills called "red beans" from Anderson.

Feb. 12, 2004

In Washington, Attorney General John Ashcroft announces a 42-count indictment against four men in the BALCO case: Conte, BALCO vice president James J. Valente, Anderson and East Bay track coach Remi Korchemny. They are accused of distributing illegal drugs to athletes and money-laundering. Upon arraignment, all four plead not guilty.

Feb. 17, 2004

Anderson tells federal agents he gave steroids to several baseball players.

Feb. 18, 2004

Sheffield is found to have sent packages to BALCO.

Feb. 23, 2004

Bonds denies steroid use and says, "They can test me every day if they choose to."

Feb. 27, 2004

Two lawyers for Anderson say Bonds was offered steroids but never took them.

March 2, 2004

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Bonds, Jason Giambi, Sheffield, Marvin Benard, Benito Santiago, Randy Velarde and Bill Romanowski received steroids from BALCO.

April 8, 2004

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig meets with Bonds in private before the Giants-Padres game in San Diego.

April 25, 2004

Conte's lawyers acknowledge a government memorandum that says Conte provided steroids to a number of high-profile athletes, but deny that Conte actually admitted to providing steroids to the athletes and specifically that Conte named the athletes. The 27 athletes -- five baseball players, seven football players and 15 track athletes -- allegedly named include Bonds, Giambi, Sheffield, Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, Kelli White and Chryste Gaines.

May 4, 2004

Before a game at Shea Stadium, Bonds talks with reporters for 45 minutes, again denying that he used steroids. Some of his quotes: "It [the steroid scandal] doesn't faze me at all." "There isn't anybody investigating me, as far as I know." "My records aren't going anywhere. I'll be fine, trust me." "He'll [Greg Anderson] always be a friend of mine. Always. We grew up together." "Half the stuff I say, I don't believe."

June 25, 2004

Bonds angrily denies Tim Montgomery's leaked testimony that Conte gave Bonds the steroid Winstrol, and threatens to sue Montgomery. Conte's attorney also denies Montgomery's story.

Sept. 24, 2004

Bonds is randomly tested for steroids before a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Bonds tells MLB.com, "I'm glad this is finally happening. They'll get the results and it will clear my name. It'll show that there's nothing behind what I've been doing [on the field] all year."

Oct. 11, 2004

Sheffield tells Sports Illustrated he was introduced to BALCO by Bonds, with whom he was training before the 2002 baseball season in California. According to the magazine report, officials at the lab gave the New York Yankees slugger a testosterone-based steroid knows as "the cream" to be applied to a scar on his right knee. Sheffield says he didn't realize "the cream" was a steroid. Shortly after, Sheffield severed ties with Bonds.

Oct. 16, 2004

Reports surfaced that Bonds' weight trainer claimed in a conversation that was secretly recorded last year that Bonds was using an "undetectable" performance-enhancing drug during the 2003 baseball season. The voice on the tape, which has been determined by some and disputed by others as that of Anderson, also said he would be tipped off a week or two before Bonds would be subjected to steroid testing.

Oct. 30, 2004

In documents disclosed by the government, James Valente, VP of BALCO, told federal investigators a year earlier that Giants star Barry Bonds tried the company's new performance-enhancing drugs but didn't like how one of them made him feel.

Nov. 1, 2004

Conte lashed out at federal investigators, saying federal investigators lied by saying he and Valente confessed to giving drugs to Bonds and other athletes.

Nov. 2, 2004

Reports emerge that Anderson told federal investigators the year before that he had supplied steroids to several members of the San Francisco Giants, but he insisted Bonds was not one of them.

Dec. 2, 2004

According to documents obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, Jason Giambi told a federal grand jury that he had injected himself with human growth hormone during the 2003 baseball season and had started using steroids at least two years earlier. Giambi testified Anderson provided him with the drugs.

Dec. 3, 2004

The San Francisco Chronicle reports Bonds admitted receiving "cream" and "clear" substances from his personal trainer during the 2003 baseball season, but denied he knew they were steroids during his testimony Dec. 4, 2003, to a federal grand jury.

March 4, 2005

Without admitting any wrongdoing, Bonds says this about steroids in baseball: "You're talking about something that wasn't even illegal at the time. All this stuff about supplements, protein shakes, whatever. Man, it's not like this is the Olympics. We don't train four years for, like, a 10-second [event]. We go 162 games. You've got to come back day after day after day. ... There are far worse things like cocaine, heroin and those types of things."

March 20, 2005

The San Francisco Chronicle reports Kimberly Bell, a graphic artist from San Jose who says she dated Barry Bonds from 1994 to 2003, was subpoenaed by prosecutors in the BALCO case to testify before a San Francisco grand jury the previous week (March 17). Bell was questioned on Bonds' finances and whether he used steroids. According to the Chronicle, and two sources familiar with the testimony, Bell said Bonds gave her $80,000 to help purchase a house in Scottsdale, Ariz., and admitted to her in 1999 that an elbow injury, in which he had to undergo surgery for a bone spur and torn triceps tendon, was caused by his use of steroids.

March 23, 2005

It is reported in various news outlets that because of the grand jury testimony of Bonds' former mistress, investigators might look into whether Bonds lied to a grand jury in December 2003 and possibly committed financial crimes as well.

April 8, 2005

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Bonds, out with a knee injury, is working out under the supervision of weight trainer Anderson, who is awaiting trial on charges of distributing performance-enhancing drugs to elite athletes.

April 25, 2005

Selig asked players to agree to a 50-game
suspension for first-time steroid offenders, a 100-game ban for
second offenders and a lifetime ban for a third violation. He asked
that amphetamines be tested for, that there be more frequent
testing and that administration of drug testing be shifted to an
independent person from the management-union committee.

July 15, 2005

Conte and Anderson plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and money laundering. Valente pleads guilty to one count of distributing steroids.

Oct 18, 2005

Conte is sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to distributing steroids. Valente is given three years' probation and Anderson a three-month prison sentence on similar charges.

March 8, 2006

Sports Illustrated goes on sale with an excerpt from a new book, "Game of Shadows," by San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams. The book details use of steroids and other drugs by Barry Bonds in exhaustive detail. This book is written in narrative style and based on more than a thousand pages of documents and interviews with more than 200 people. The book describes how Bonds allegedly turned to steroids after the 1998 season because he was jealous of Mark McGwire. Bonds hit 37 home runs in '98, when fans and media were captivated by McGwire's 70 home runs and his duel for the record with Sammy Sosa, who hit 66. The authors allege that by 2001, when Bonds broke McGwire's single-season home-run record (70) by belting 73, Bonds was using two designer steroids referred to as "the cream" and "the clear," as well as insulin, human growth hormone, testosterone decanoate (a fast-acting steroid known as Mexican beans) and trenbolone, a steroid created to improve the muscle quality of cattle. The book gives the most extensive alleged details of Bonds' alleged use of human growth hormone (HGH), for which baseball still does not test.

March 8, 2006

Bonds' journey into the world of performance-enhancing supplements began in January 1997, when he tried androstenedione for the first time, a man who says he sold it to the slugger told ESPN The Magazine's Shaun Assael. Stan Antosh, a California biochemist whose Osmo Labs was the first to market andro in the United States, told Assael he gave it to Bonds as part of a wide-ranging supplement regimen that included a dozen vitamins, proteins and amino acids.

March 10, 2006

Former commissioner Fay Vincent and John Dowd, the lawyer who investigated Pete Rose, called on commissioner Bud Selig to hire an outside investigator to research allegations of steroid use by Bonds.

March 15, 2006

ESPN The Magazine publishes an excerpt from a new book "Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero" by Jeff Pearlman. According to the book, Bonds, after the 1998 season, told a small group over dinner at the home of Ken Griffey Jr. that he was going to start using "some hard-core stuff" to increase his hitting power. The book quotes Bonds as saying over dinner, "I had a helluva season last year, and nobody gave a crap. Nobody. As much as I've complained about McGwire and Canseco and all of the bull with steroids, I'm tired of fighting it. I turn 35 this year. I've got three or four good seasons left, and I wanna get paid. I'm just gonna start using some hard-core stuff, and hopefully it won't hurt my body. Then I'll get out of the game and be done with it." In a later interview, Griffey said he could not recall having such a conversation with Bonds.

March 16, 2006

MLB commissioner Bud Selig told ESPN's Jon Miller that he has not yet decided what he will do with the new information on Bonds' alleged steroid use, including whether he will investigate the allegations. "I will review all the relative material," Selig told Miller. "I will review everything. I'm considering all of my options. We'll do what's best for the sport." Selig was asked about reports that he was investigating Bonds, then said: "No decision has been made, despite what has been reported out there in the past few days. I've given it a lot of thought and attention. I'll announce my decision at the appropriate time."

March 17, 2006

Conte tells USA Today that he never gave Bonds steroids. "BALCO did not give him steroids," Conte said March 16 by phone from Taft (Calif.) Correctional Facility. "I never gave him steroids." Conte made similar statements in reports from ESPN.com and AP on Dec. 1, 2005.

March 20, 2006

Despite his denials to the contrary, Selig moves ahead with plans to investigate Bonds.

March 22, 2006

Reports surface that Bonds tried to keep his name out of the BALCO scandal, sending his lawyer into meetings with company representatives to ask for protection, according to a new book. "Game of Shadows" also details how Jason Giambi turned to performance-enhancing drugs because the Yankees' first baseman felt pressured to please his perfectionist father, and made contact with Bonds' trainer to inquire what he was doing "to keep Bonds playing at so high a level."

March 23, 2006

The book "Game of Shadows" is released.

March 23, 2006

Bonds' lawyer, Michael Rains, says he'll ask a judge to order that the "Game of Shadows" authors turn over any profits. He wants an injunction to stop sales of the book and seize all profits from it.

March 24, 2006

A San Francisco judge denies Rains' request.

March 26, 2006

Chicago Tribune reports that it's highly likely Selig will appoint someone the equivalent of a special prosecutor to investigate Bonds' ties to steroids.

March 29, 2006

ESPN.com reports Major League Baseball will in some way formally celebrate Bonds as the home run king should the San Francisco Giants slugger break Hank Aaron's all-time home run record.

March 30, 2006

Major League Baseball launches its probe into steroid use by Bonds and others. Selig said former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell -- and a director of the Boston Red Sox -- will lead the inquiry. The probe initially will be limited to events since September 2002, when the sport last banned performance-enhancing drugs. No timetable for the investigation is announced. Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, says baseball had the power to force players to cooperate. Bonds won't discuss the matter. "I said no, no, no," he said, shaking his head. "I'm going to jump off the Empire State Building -- flat on my face," he added, laughing. ... Conte insists again that he never gave performance-enhancing drugs to Bonds and said a new book that makes those claims is "full of outright lies." Conte made his comments hours after his release from prison, where he spent four months after pleading guilty to orchestrating an illegal steroids distribution scheme that allegedly included many high-profile athletes, including Bonds.

April 3, 2006

After the eighth inning of the season opener at San Diego, a toy syringe was thrown onto the field as Bonds headed to the dugout along the third-base line. He scooped it up with his glove, transferred it to his left hand and tossed it into a photo well.

April 13, 2006

AP reports that a federal grand jury is investigating whether Barry Bonds committed perjury when he testified in 2003 that he never used steroids. The panel has been hearing evidence for more than a month about whether Bonds lied to a different grand jury that was investigating the BALCO scandal. The existence of the grand jury was first reported by CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle. The personal surgeon for Bonds was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury, The Chronicle reported. Dr. Arthur Ting, the physician who treated Bonds for the knee injury that kept him out for most of the 2005 season, was subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury at the U.S. District courthouse in San Francisco later in the month, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.

April 14, 2006

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a federal grand jury has subpoenaed Ting to testify in its investigation of whether the Giants outfielder committed perjury in 2003 when he denied under oath that he had ever taken steroids.

April 18, 2006

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Giants trainer Stan Conte has been subpoenaed to testify before the federal grand jury investigating whether Bonds committed perjury in connection with the BALCO case. One of the sources, all of whom requested anonymity, said the government also has demanded Conte turn over the team's training records related to Bonds.

April 26, 2006

The San Jose Mercury News reported that Anderson had been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating whether the Giants slugger committed perjury. Prosecutors also had subpoenaed Valente, who was sentenced last fall to three years' probation on steroid-distribution charges.

June 22, 2006

E-mails seized by federal authorities identify Conte, the convicted BALCO founder, as a source in the San Francisco Chronicle's reporting on the steroids scandal, according to an online court filing that accidentally revealed confidential information.

Sept. 21, 2006

Judge Jeffrey White tells San Francisco Chronicle reporters Fainaru-Wada and Williams he will order them jailed for up to 18 months if they do not comply with his order to reveal their sources.

Jan. 11, 2007

New York Daily News reports that Bonds failed a drug test under MLB's amphetamine policy during the 2006 season. Under the policy, players are not publicly identified for a first positive test for amphetamines. According to several sources, when first informed by the MLBPA of the positive test, Bonds attributed the positive result to a substance from locker of teammate Mark Sweeney. Bonds would later deny that he took amphetamines from Sweeney's locker.

January 2007

U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan, who had been handling the investigation, resigns. He is replaced by Scott Schools.

Feb. 14, 2007

Troy Ellerman, a defense attorney who had worked for Conte and Valente, admits in court papers that he allowed San Francisco Chronicle reporters Williams and Fainaru-Wada to view transcripts of the grand jury testimony of Bonds, Jason Giambi, Sheffield and sprinter Tim Montgomery. Court documents say Ellerman agrees to plead guilty, thus sparing the reporters prison time. Ellerman had represented Conte.

Feb. 15, 2007

Ellerman pleads guilty to obstructing justice by leaking secret grand jury documents to two reporters. The federal prosecutor says the plea concludes the government's probe of the leaks and the subpoenas of San Francisco Chronicle reporters Fainaru-Wada and Williams are withdrawn.

Feb. 20, 2007

Bonds started spring training with a pointed challenge to prosecutors: "Let them investigate. Let them, they've been doing it this long," Bonds said after his first workout of the year.

April 30, 2007

Court records revealed former New York Mets clubhouse worker Kirk Radomski, who admitted selling performance-enhancing drugs to major league players, testified before the same grand jury investigating Bonds.

Aug. 7, 2007

Bonds surpasses Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, hitting his 756th against the Washington Nationals. (Bonds finished the season with 762.)

Sept. 17, 2007

Fashion designer Marc Ecko revealed himself as winning bidder in the online auction for Bonds' 756th home run ball, announced he was taking votes on whether to give the ball to the Hall of Fame, brand it with an asterisk or blast it into space.

Sept. 20, 2007

Giants owner Peter Magowan informed Bonds that the slugger would not be signed to the team for the 2008 season.

Sept. 26, 2007

Bonds played his last game as a San Francisco Giant. Earlier in the day, Ecko said he would brand Bonds'
record-breaking ball with an asterisk and send it to the Hall of Fame.

Oct. 5, 2007

Marion Jones pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs and announced her retirement.

Nov. 1, 2007

Bonds told MSNBC he would boycott Cooperstown if the Hall of Fame displayed his record-breaking home run ball with an asterisk. "There's no such thing as an asterisk in baseball,"
Bonds said.

Nov. 15, 2007

A federal grand jury in San Francisco indicts Bonds on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. He is accused of lying when he said he didn't knowingly take steroids given to him by Anderson. He's also is accused of lying that Anderson never injected him with steroids. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Dec. 7. Anderson, who had been imprisoned for refusing to testify against Bonds, was ordered released.

Sources: ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, ESPN Research, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, San Jose Mercury News, Sports Illustrated, New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, wire reports.

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