Son of wrestler to defend Barry Bonds in courtroom

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO

Allen Ruby is used to flamboyant wrestling matches pitting one larger-than-life character against another — and not just in the courtroom.

Barry Bonds’ lead lawyer has a background unfamiliar to most attorneys, one that prepared him for rough exchanges and life in the glare of the spotlight.

“My dad was a wrestler, and then a wrestling booking agent and a wrestling booking promoter,” he said. “Way before Vince McMahon. And it was a family business, so I wrestled and announced and did various things in and around the business basically until I went to law school.”

Son of Bert Ruby, Allen Ruby knows a thing or two about showmanship. That comes in handy as he tries to clear his seven-time NL MVP client of charges he lied to a federal grand jury when he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.

Raising and lowering his resonant, baritone voice, inflecting it with irony and sarcasm at times, Ruby commands the courtroom.