Baseball News: Baseball writers called Barry Bonds a cheater and a liar who might never hit another professional home run nor enter the Hall of Fame if he is convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice.
A San Francisco grand jury indicted Major League Baseball's all-time home run leader on Thursday, accusing him of lying under oath about using steroids, further rattling a sport that has yet to come to terms with use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds (43) has denied using steroids and his lawyer promised a vigorous defence, but columnists have cited Bonds's late career power surge and increasing bulk as circumstantial evidence against him.
"This day never had to come for Barry Bonds. He could have avoided yesterday's indictment by parcelling out just enough truth to satisfy a grand jury," columnist George Vecsey wrote in yesterday's New York Times.
"Americans love a good confession. But the truth is not in Barry Bonds," Vecsey wrote.
The New York Postheadline read "LIAR" and the Daily Newscalled Bonds the "Lyin' King". After years of watching players bulk up while hitting more and more home runs, Major League Baseball began testing for steroid use in 2003.
Bonds passed Henry Aaron's career home run record of 755 this year and ended the season with 762, then became a free agent when his contract with the San Francisco Giants expired.
Despite slowing down and becoming a below-average fielder, Bonds was still an offensive force who said he wanted to play in 2008, giving him the potential for another multimillion-dollar contract.
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports wrote on their website:"If he is found guilty, he can forget about the Hall of Fame which instructs voters to consider character, integrity and sportsmanship, subjective standards that surely would be influenced by jail time."
Bonds has been the subject of a grand jury investigation since at least 2003 and under the suspicion of the sporting press even longer.
"Of course, I think Bonds cheated," wrote Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com. "I've thought it ever since I saw Bonds become a human Transformer, his body going from 180 pounds or so as a college player, to 185 or so pounds as a Pittsburgh Pirate, to 240 . . . 250 pounds as a San Francisco Giant."
