Barry Bonds always has denied using steroids, and he and his attorneys basically challenged a federal grand jury to find evidence to charge him.
Well, they did that last night, despite more than five years of denials, as seen here:
June 2002
“No, I don’t have to [use steroids]. I mean, I’m a good enough ballplayer as it is.” – Barry Bonds
Nov. 2003
“I can’t comment on BALCO due to the request of my attorney.” – Bonds
May 2004
“I don’t know any other baseball players that have gone through what I’ve gone through.” – Bonds
Feb. 2005
“All you guys lied. All of y’all in a story or whatever have lied. Should you have an asterisk behind your name? All of you lied. All of you have said something wrong. All of you have dirt. All of you. When your closet’s clean, then come clean somebody else’s. But clean yours first, OK?” – Bonds
March 2005
“You’re talking about something that wasn’t even illegal at the time. All this stuff about supplements, protein shakes, whatever. Man, it’s not like this is the Olympics. … We’re entertainers. If I can’t go out there and somebody pays $60 for a ticket, and I’m not in the lineup, who’s getting cheated? Not me. So we all make mistakes. We all do things. We need to turn the page. We need to forget about the past and let us play the game. We’re entertainers. Let us entertain.” – Bonds
March 2005
“You guys wanted to hurt me bad enough, you finally got me. I’m mentally drained. I’m tired of my kids crying.” – Bonds
Sept. 2005
“I’ve been tarnished in baseball for years and years, brother. There’s nothing you guys can write or people can say that will ever fix that.” – Bonds
Feb. 2006
“I’m clean, I’ve always been clean.” – Bonds
March 2006
“I haven’t shot anyone yet. So that’s pretty good. I haven’t killed anybody yet or gone psycho.” – Bonds
March 2006
“My life is in shambles. It is crazy. It couldn’t get any crazier. I’m just trying to stay sane.” – Bonds
May 2006
“This took a lot off me. It’s good. A lot of relief. Well, until something else comes up.” – Bonds
July 2006
“Anything outside [the game] I really don’t worry about. I can’t deal with it. I don’t really know how to deal with it. One day I will. One day I’ll be able to. When I have time. I just have to stay strong, that’s all. Stay focused. And just keep on producing.” – Bonds
July 2006
“We do not anticipate an indictment. In fact, we have some information to indicate there will be no indictment.” – Laura Enos, Bonds’ personal attorney
July 2006
“First off, I would like to say that what happened today is not a moment of joy for me, but one of temporary relief. This has been an issue that has surrounded me for the past three years and I hope that this is the end … An investigation happened and hopefully it is over. I do want to make it clear that there are no hard feelings for the legal process, but I feel there comes a point where everyone needs to move on.” – Bonds
July 2006
“We have all heard the overworked adage that you can indict a ham sandwich. And that’s true. It’s not hard to get an indictment. So what I say to the public is: If it were that easy, why don’t they have an indictment. Why don’t we? And the answer is: They don’t even have enough to indict a ham sandwich, let alone Barry Bonds.” – Michael Rains, Bonds’ lead attorney
Feb. 2007
“Let them investigate. Let ’em. They’ve been doing it this long.” – Bonds
April 2007
“There is absolutely no doubt that the U.S. attorney is still running a grand jury and still taking evidence that involves Bonds. There is still an active effort to indict Barry.” – Rains
July 2007
“I’m not discussing it. I haven’t been discussing it forever and I will not discuss it. You guys are going to write your stories, what you’re going to write. Just do that. Leave me out of it.” – Bonds
Aug. 2007
“Fans are excited. Regardless of what you guys do or say, it’s not going to change it. They love baseball.” – Bonds
Aug. 2007
“I don’t know what to think right now. I’m thankful for my teammates, my family, the fans in San Francisco – they’re my family. Right now, I’m just stunned. … I was like, whew, I got it. Then I saw Hank Aaron … and that made my whole career. He’s always the home run king to us.” – Bonds
Nov. 2007
“You can’t, you cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history, you can’t do it. There’s no such thing as an asterisk in baseball.” – bonds
Nov. 2007
“Look all they want. I have nothing to hide.” – Bonds