The former head trainer for the San Francisco Giants told the jury in Barry Bonds’ perjury trial today that the home-run champion became significantly more muscular during the 1999 season.
Stan Conte, a physical therapist, worked for the Giants from 1993 to 2006, when he left to be head trainer for the L.A. Dodgers.
He was brought to the stand in the court of U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco by prosecutors, who are trying to prove that Bonds lied when he told a grand jury in 2003 that he never knowingly took steroids.
Asked whether he detected changes in Bonds’ appearance in 1999, Conte answered, “He got more muscular. His muscles got bigger, in my opinion.”
The trainer also said Bonds gained an estimated 10 or 15 pounds that season and developed acne on his shoulders and back.
Prosecutors claim that all those symptoms are linked to steroid use.
Later today, three present and former Major League Baseball players, including former Oakland A’s first baseman Jason Giambi, are scheduled to testify.
Prosecutors have said in court papers that the players will testify that Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson, gave them performance-enhancing drugs and explained what the drugs were and how to use them.
Bonds has admitted receiving substances from Anderson that were known as “the clear” and “the cream” that were later identified as designer steroids, but has claimed he did not know they were steroids.
Bonds, who set home-run records while playing for the Giants, faces a total of four counts of making false statements and one count of obstructing justice in his December 2003 grand jury testimony.
Julia Cheever, Bay City News
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