Stars Say Bonds’ Trainer Helped Their Game

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A series of active and retired professional baseball players testified that Barry Bonds' former personal trainer gave them "performance-enhancing substances." While none of the men could verify that Greg Anderson had referred to the substances as anabolic steroids, all said Anderson had told them the substances would be "undetectable" on a drug test.

Marvin Benard, 41, a teammate of Bonds on the San Francisco Giants, said Anderson had given him two substances colloquially referred to as the "cream" and the "clear." Anderson allegedly supplied the same substances to Bonds.

Benard said he met Anderson during Giants spring training in 1999 after just returning from Mexico with an anabolic steroid called Deca. Anderson revealed he had something better. "I believe I had brought back steroids that you'd call dirty," Benard said. "I brought it up with him, and he said it wasn't the best thing you want to use. He just said that there was better, cleaner stuff I could use instead of that, and he could help me out with it. He took the vial I had and gave me a bunch of smaller vials that were supposed to be much safer, cleaner." Benard said Anderson gave him the new Deca five times, and also injected him with it once.

The retired outfielder also said Anderson supplied him with the cream and the clear. "At a certain time he somehow found out that MLB was going to start testing for steroids, and at some point he said he had something that was, you know, undetectable." The cream, Benard said, "was a white substance that looked like hand lotion. He told me to put in on my arm. I thought it was weird." Finding that both substances made him feel "as stiff as a two-by-four," Benard gave them back to Anderson.

Federal prosecutors have contended that when used in conjunction, the clear and the cream prevent anabolic steroid use from being revealed on a drug test by raising the levels of testosterone and epi-testosterone in the body. Benard said Anderson also told him the clear was a replacement for Deca.

Yesterday, brothers Jason and Jeremy Giambi testified that Anderson had given them the cream and the clear with the understanding that they were undetectable.

Jeremy, 37, said he heard about Anderson from Jason, and that the trainer described the products as an alternative to steroids. In a 2002 phone call, Anderson allegedly told Jeremy that "he had access to some PEDs [Performance Enhancing Drugs] and thought it would be a good idea to use these PEDs." The retired first baseman said Anderson sent him a box containing human growth hormone, testosterone and vials of the cream and the clear.

Colorado Rockies first baseman Jason Giambi, 40, said Anderson gave him a blood test in 2002. When the test revealed Deca in his system, Jason says Anderson "told me that would trip the MLB test, and I should look into taking something else." Anderson allegedly sent him syringes, injectable testosterone and a calendar outlining when to take it. Jason says Anderson asked him if he needed human growth hormone. "He told me he could send it to me, but I told him I had it already," Jason said.

He added that Anderson sent him the clear and the cream and that some of the packages were sent under the false name "Johnny Bench."

"I took it as it was very secretive and to be quiet about it," Jason said.

Jason testified that he stopped communicating with Anderson in 2003, by which time he had paid Anderson around $10,000.

Benard and the two Giambis had testified about steroids before the federal grand jury in 2007 along with Bonds, who is on trial for allegedly making false statements during his testimony.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston told the Bonds jury that the testimony they heard from the ballplayers had been offered partially to prove the manner in which Anderson distributed performance-enhancing drugs. "This testimony is not being introduced to prove that because other athletes used performance-enhancing drugs, Mr. Bonds probably did too," she said.

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