Bonds' doctor refutes some testimony against home run king

SAN FRANCISCO — In a trial that was delayed Monday, federal prosecutors are trying to create the image that home run king Barry Bonds was not only injected with steroids, but definitely knew what was happening.

Barry Bonds during his career with the San Francisco Giants.

Bonds has steadfastly denied that he knowingly used performance enhancing drugs (PED). Witnesses last week delivered eyewitness accounts that support the government’s case.

Some testimony was refuted by Bonds’ personal orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Arthur Ting.

Kathy Hoskins, Bonds’ former aide, testified she witnessed Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson, injecting the former San Francisco Giants star in his bellybutton. According to testimony, she said, “Greg shot him in the bellybutton. Barry just lifted his shirt. He said, ‘This is Katie, she’s my girl.’”

She testified Bonds told her: “That’s a little something — something before I go on the road. You can’t detect it. You can’t catch it.”

According to testimony, PED injections are made through the bellybutton.

In 2003, Bonds denied knowingly using performance enhancing drugs before a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO). Though he was granted immunity for truthful testimony, prosecutors claimed he lied.

At that time, Bonds testified that no one except a doctor had ever injected him with anything.

Ting, who was called as a government witness, nevertheless refuted testimony given by an earlier witness. Former Bonds friend and business associate Steve Hoskins had testified that he had as many as 50 conversations with Ting about steroids.

Ting, Bonds’ orthopedic surgeon, testified to having just one conversation with Hoskins, who is the brother of Kathy Hoskins. Ting’s testimony contradicted some points that Steve Hoskins testified to earlier in the trial.

The doctor also testified that he never talked to Bonds about steroids, contradicting Steve Hoskins’ claims that a 1999 surgery on the baseball star was required due to steroid use.

Both Kathy and Steve Hoskins were friends with Bonds during their youth. After a lengthy absence, they became reacquainted in the early 1990s.

Bonds’ attorneys have suggested that both Hoskins’ appearances in court were due to a falling out that brought an end to their respective relationships.

It was the same approach Bonds’ attorneys used last week when former mistress Kimberly Bell testified. Included in Bell’s testimony was noticing characteristics of steroids users — loss of hair, acne, growth in the head and a general decline in sexual performance.

Other witnesses that appeared included the Giambi brothers, Jason and Jeremy, along with ex-Bonds teammate Marvin Benard and former major leaguer Randy Velarde. Each told how they received PEDs provided by trainer Greg Anderson, who was Bonds’ personal trainer.

Benard testified that Anderson provided him with “the cream” and “the clear,” which are the same drugs allegedly used on Bonds.

Former Giants’ head athletic trainer Stan Conte (1993-2005), who is now in that same position with the Los Angeles Dodgers, testified to his observations of the changes in Bonds’ body. He started noticing those changes in 2000, which is approximately the time when Bonds’ is said to have started using PEDs.

Included in Conte’s account was that he objected to the presence of Bonds’ personal trainers, Anderson and Harvey Shields, who had access to the team’s clubhouse and other inside areas.

The government’s case against Bonds was expected to conclude on Monday, but the trial was delayed due to an apparent illness suffered by a jury member.

Bonds’ grand jury testimony is expected to be read to the jury when the case resumes, according to court reports.