Fans jeer Bonds over perjury probe

By Bernie Woodall

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) Baseball superstar Barry Bonds was
jeered on Friday night in his first game after news broke that
a federal grand jury is considering perjury charges against
him.

The fact that a grand jury is looking into whether Bonds
gave false testimony during his 2003 testimony in the BALCO
steroids case only gives Dodgers fans more to jeer about, said
Chrystal Flores, 23, a former usher at Dodger Stadium near
downtown Los Angeles.

“Liar. Liar,” fans in the stands nearest Bonds yelled in
unison while he played leftfield for the Giants.

“Guilty. Guilty,” was another cheer not heard last year,
but longtime Dodgers fans said that chanting invective at
Bonds, 41, has been a Dodger Stadium pastime since he joined
the Giants in 1993. Those cheers joined old standbys of
“Steroids. Steroids,” and “Barry Sucks.”

“I like to sit here every time so I can heckle the
leftfielder,” said Steve Molinet, 29, of Sanger, California.
“It’s more intense and more fun when the leftfielder happens to
be Barry.”

No one tossed a syringe at Bonds, as one fan in San Diego
did two weeks ago.

“I have a cigar in my pocket and I’m thinking of throwing
it at Bonds and telling him, ‘That’s the strongest thing Babe
Ruth used before games. Not steroids,” said Molinet.

Bonds with 708 is only six home runs behind Ruth in
baseball’s standings for career home runs and both trail Henry
Aaron, who hit 755.

Major League Baseball is investigating if Bonds was using
performance-enhancing steroids while he hit some of those home
runs. A new book, “Game of Shadows,” alleges that Bonds
actively used steroids for at least five seasons, including
2001 when he hit 73 home runs, the baseball single-season
record.

Bonds has never had a positive test for steroid use and has
denied ever knowingly using steroids.

HEAVY SECURITY

Bonds received immunity for his closed-door testimony to a
grand jury that’s investigation led to convictions of steroid
distribution charges for the head of a San Francisco area firm,
BALCO, and Bonds’ personal trainer.

The two men, BALCO head Victor Conte and trainer Greg
Anderson, served prison time and have since been released.

Bonds declined to comment on the news of the grand jury
before the game.

Out in the leftfield stands on Friday night, five men
including Yasha Emami, 27, of Anaheim, California, wore
baseball jersey type T-shirts saying “Cheaters” on the front in
the same script as the Giants’ uniforms and “Juiced” atop the
numeral 25, which Bonds wears.

“A cop came down and said I had to take the shirt off,”
Emami said. “It’s not profanity.”

Security guards and police were conspicuous. Kevin
Hallinan, who oversees security for Major League Baseball, said
security is very intense around Bonds this year. He declined to
say how many security officers and police were on hand on
Friday night.

Most of the players are keeping mum about Bonds, said Jeff
Kent, the Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman who often feuded
with Bonds during his six years on the Giants, ending in 2002.
Kent hit his 332nd career home run on Friday night, tying him
with Barry Bonds’ father, Bobby Bonds at 81st on baseball’s
all-time list.

“I don’t know if you’ll get any answers asking (players)
about Bonds,” Kent said before the game. “Players don’t talk
about Barry much. It’s not for me to say how this affects
Barry. We’re not on the same team anymore.

“Things are happening for Barry right now and nobody else
needs to be included,” said Kent, 38.