'Game of Shadows' implicates Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Barry 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 Yankee 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."
And Gary Sheffield, Giambi's Yankee teammate who admitted he took steroids but did so unknowingly, had developed a relationship with Bonds' trainer and continued to use him as a source for other performance-enhancers -- such as injectable testosterone and a human growth hormone -- the authors wrote.
Bonds used a vast array of performance-enhancing drugs -- steroids, human growth hormone, insulin -- for at least five seasons beginning in 1998, according to the book, written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters. Excerpts from the book, scheduled for release today, were released earlier this month.
Tried to shield himself
The book quotes Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative defense lawyer Troy Ellerman as saying Bonds tried to shield himself from the unfolding BALCO scandal. Ellerman said attorneys from the supplement company met "three or four times" with Michael Rains, an attorney for Bonds.
"There wasn't any payment involved, there weren't any threats, there wasn't any quid pro quo, but he made it very clear that Barry would appreciate it if we kept him out of it. And we had several discussions about how Mike Rains knew what the score was -- and that is that he knew Barry was using," Ellerman said in the book.
"Shadows" also claims that BALCO founder Victor Conte encouraged clients to keep quiet and claim they were taking flaxseed oil if asked by authorities about their use of a designer steroid known as "the clear," among the designer steroids distributed by BALCO that were said to be undetectable.
Bonds reportedly told a grand jury investigating BALCO in 2003 that he never knowingly used steroids, claiming his trainer had given him what he thought was flaxseed oil and arthritis balm.
Others implicated
The book claims BALCO's performance-enhancing drugs were used by several other athletes, including track athletes Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, NFL players including Bill Romanowski and Sheffield.
The authors say Bonds' trainer, Greg Anderson, put Sheffield on injectable testosterone and a human growth hormone in 2002, and also sold him the "cream" and the "clear." Sheffield has admitted that he used a cream two years ago but said he did not know that it contained illegal steroids.
According to the book, Sheffield -- who started training with Bonds following the 2001 season -- wanted to keep getting designer steroids from Anderson, even after the two sluggers had a falling out.
Wednesday in Tampa, Sheffield denied using the drugs mentioned in the book.
"What can I do? I'm not going to defend myself my whole life," he said. "It doesn't matter to me. I don't have anything to say. No need to. It is what it is."
Giambi got involved
Giambi, the 2000 American League MVP when he played with Oakland, developed a relationship with Anderson during a baseball exhibition trip to Japan in 2002, by which time he had signed with the Yankees, according to the book.
The book said Giambi wanted to learn "what was Anderson doing to keep Bonds playing at so high a level. Could Anderson help Giambi, too?"
It said Giambi wanted to succeed at baseball in part because of a perfectionist father who loved the sport.
"I have nothing to say. I haven't seen it," Giambi said at New York Yankees camp in Tampa, Fla.
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