A major trial that involves a man who abused himself and the system has begun — but enough about Ray Sansom.
Seven years since the government believed he perjured himself in a court of law, six years since his testimony was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle and over three years since he retired from baseball with the record for the most home runs ever hit in the history of the game, jury selection for the U.S. government's case against former San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds began Monday in federal court in San Francisco.
According to USA Today, the government has already spent between $10-$50 million and considerable time to try a man who some legal analysts say could walk away with no jail time even if convicted.
Bonds' grand-jury testimony where the government said he lied was part of the federal investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) that grew into the biggest sports-doping scandal in American history. Several other athletes, such as Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Bill Romanesko and others ended up testifying — though none of them was on trial.
Allegations of Bonds' use of steroids grew in the early part of the 21st century when he began looking considerably bigger in terms of his body shape, but more dramatically, how his already Hall of Fame career went into a second overdrive when traditionally players in their mid 30s begin winding down.
Instead Bonds ended up winning four consecutive Most Valuable Players awards from 2001-2004, between the ages of 37 and 40.
Of course, as anyone watching baseball can attest, he was hardly the only one hitting home runs at record rates, as Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa began doing so in the late ’90s, when the two began looking almost Popeye-like with their physiques. And it wasn't just hitters, as the Mitchell Report found when it came out in 2007.
So why is Bonds on trial? The real reason is because A) He was so good on the juice, people were going crazy trying to bust him in a zeal that they never felt toward McGwire, Sosa or the many other sluggers who since the BALCO trial we've learned were on "the juice." (Which include the biggest names in the game, like David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, etc.).
Reason B, however, is that Bonds was considered by virtually everyone in the sport to be a huge jerk nobody liked. That's why Roger Clemens also finds himself in big trouble, with the feds investigating him for perjuring himself in front of Congress back in 2008 after he refuted the Mitchell Report outing him as a user of performance-enhancing drugs.
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2011.