Sports Radio Service


		If Bonds case is dropped will it help A-Rod? By Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin February 8, 2009

	SAN FRANCISCO--If U.S. District Judge Susan Illston excuses Barry Bonds on all 11 counts of perjury because the Cream was either not a "steroid" or because steroids were not illegal in 2003 in baseball what happens with the government's case? What does it do to Alex Rodriguez and the disclosure of his positive steroid test in 2003? Lots questions and lots of money has been spent to prosecute to Bonds and now more questions about A-Rod who has not testified in front of any grand jury. The line on this one pretty much is that A-Rod, Barry Bonds, and the whole list of presumed steroid users where do they wind up from here and how believable is A-Rod's record now? As a decision nears and so does the court date of Monday March 2nd for the perjury trial both Bonds lawyers and the Government are going over the case with Judge Illston. Amongst some of the discussions is the how the evidence was obtained by the government. One major piece of evidence and what could be the heart of the government's case is how the government obtained the recording of Bonds trainer Greg Anderson in a 2003 clubhouse conversation with Bonds ex-business manager Steve Hoskins who recorded Anderson talking about his injections on Bonds and "how gnarly" a certain injected area can turn into a "ball" and later needed to be drained when discussing Bonds. The recording leaves little doubt that Barry Bonds was injected by Anderson however how the recording was obtained is questionable and could be ruled by Illston as inadmissible. Obvious issues of a "wiretapping situation" has been brought up and the deal that the government made with Hoskins who avoided forgery charges when he was Bonds manager who autographed some of Bonds memorabilia and sold them later and yes even authentic Bonds signed memorabilia. Bonds before turning Hoskins over to the feds for forgery had authorized Hoskins to sign memorabilia for Babo as Bonds said he had "no time" to sign them himself. Bonds also accused Hoskins of selling his signed memorabilia without his authorization later after their business relationship deteriorated. In a deal with the government Hoskins agreed to testify against Bonds with knowledge of Bonds steroid use in exchange for the feds to drop the forgery charges. Judge Illston is considering throwing out the recorded evidence from Hoskins and it has really put egg on the faces of prosecutors because of the methods used to get the recording of Anderson and without his knowledge. This key piece of evidence clearly has Anderson talking about injecting Bonds and if admitted would be a strong piece of evidence for the government but obtaining a wiretap in California without letting the other party know in a setting like the Giants clubhouse is not admissible. A-Rod's legal team now will question why didn't MLB destroy the positive urine samples that were later obtained by the government in 2004 in the 2003 steroid test. The positive test that showed up on A-Rod's doorstep over the weekend was something that when asked had A-Rod saying about the positive test replying, "ask the union". MLB knew about the positive test for four years now and the feds are going to ask A-Rod about the positive tests. In an 2007 CBS News Eye to Eye interview with Katie Couric Rodriguez was asked point blank if he ever used steroids and he firmly said "no". Jose Canseco wrote in his book that A-Rod was using steroids and that when he first wrote about the subject people defended A-Rod saying he never used steroids. A-Rod was looked at as the next player to make a run at Babo's home run record. He had the age and the amount of home runs 553 to make a run at Bonds. However even if he gets within whiffing distance of 762 home runs fans wouldn't believe the pursued record would be legit because of his steroid use much like Bonds. Even if the courts drop the perjury charges against Bonds there will be a stain forever on Babo always much like other accused players A-Rod, Clemens, Pettitte, Tejada, McGwire, Sosa, Palmerio, Canseco, and many others who have either admitted or are under suspicion. Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin are covering the Barry Bonds perjury trial for Sportstalk radio