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9th Circuit Court Could Overturn Barry Bonds 2011 Perjury Conviction, Make Him A Free Man - Would Baseball Suffer?
After years of legal wranglings -- and many more years of apparent steroid use to enhance his and the San Francisco Giants' numbers and records - Barry Bonds may soon be free of illegal convictions.
performance enhancing drugs in baseball, drugs in sports
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Watch the latest 9th Circuit Court of appeals opening session regarding the Bonds appeal to overturn his 2011 conviction.
The 11-judge federal 9th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals gave signs of overturning Bonds' 2011 'obstructing of justice' conviction. 9th Circuit Judge William Fletcher told assistant U.S.assistant attorney Merry Jean Chan that he found her reading of obstuction of justice 'alarming.' A majority of the 9th Circuit's 29 ful-time judges voted to consider Bonds' bid to overturn his felony conviction which stems from a jury finding that he gave evasive answers to a federal grand jury probling the BALCO steroids candal in December 2003.
Bonds 'Rambling, Evasive Answers'
The judges indicated that Bonds' 'rambling, evasive' answers to a question about whether his fomer personal trainer, Greg Anderson, had ever supplied or injected im with steroids were not necessarily evasive despite their rambling nature. Chan told the judges that Bonds'testimony was designed to obstruct the BALCO investigation. Last year a three-judge 9th Circuit panel rejected Bond's legal arguments that he was convicted of simply providing a rambling answer that did not amount to a crime. The judges found the testimony 'evasive'and 'misleading' . But, the 9th Circuit is one of the most liberal and lenient courts in the country, and that they would take back the case indicates that they could overturn the previous verdict, leaving Bonds technically innocent of any crimes;no doubt Bonds is trying to do as Roger Clemens, who successfully appealed a similar steroid case against
him.
If this were to happen, it would make for a dark day and further cloud over baseball, that a player like Bonds, who, technically admitted to using steroids by saying he thought it was 'flaxseed,' could apparently get away with using performance enhancing drugs for more than a decade. Bonds broke Henry Aaron's career homer record by hitting more more than 40 homers after the age of 30, after only hitting as many as 40 once prior to that . Significant body changes to Bonds mirrored those years, yet Bonds was not challenged really challenged about PED usage 2004 when he admitted to using 'the cream and the clear,' saying that he thought it was told it was flaxseed oil, in the BALCO investigation. Meanwhile, his personal trainer, Anderson, would spend two rounds of more than a year in jail rather than testify in the case. Bonds could have been convicted on a number of other counts, also involving 'rambling' answers including his purpurted 'disadvantage' being a 'celebrity child with a famous father' (Bobby Bonds, a star for the Giants in the late 60s and early 70s) but the jury deadlocked on other counts.
Bonds - More than a Simple 'Evasive' Answer?
On the surface, Barry Bond's attorney, Dennis Riordan is claiming that an evasive answer to a question doesn't necessarily have to be a crime. When you strip away everything else, that may sound true. Yet, with all the additional Bonds 'baggage' one has to wonder, if Bonds is not at least guilty of this single count - he never was charged for using 'the cream and the clear,' admittedly illegal drugs - one has to ask what does it take to convict ? Bonds went on to continue playing baseball another three years after the 2004 testimony. The Mitchell Report did seemed to help bring an end to the careers of many, including Bonds, Sammy Sosa, McGwire. Bonds remains a 'hero' in his hometown of San Francisco, where he was invited back this year as an hitting instructor for the Giants in spring training. Today, even though perhaps lax MLB drug testing has not caught anyone of late, it's likely that neither the Mitchell Investigation or last year's Biogenesis 'lead' have done much to curtail the use of PEDs in baseball. Balco's Victor Conte and others have guestimated that upwards of 50% of players are still using , which might be indicated in continuing heighted numbers, especially among pitchers with lowered ERAs.
HALL OF FAME CREDENTIALS? People debate whether purported PED players like Bonds should make the Baseball Hall of Fame. Without PEDs, there's some question whether Bonds REALLY had the numbers... Though Bonds was not prosecuted for his purported use of PEDs, it's interesting to note that Bonds never hit more than 36 homeruns in a year, nor did he hit over .300 but twice -
until he came to the San Francisco Giants in 1993, when he had his best year by far (.336 and 46 homers)- certainly not Hall of Fame numbers, contrary to peoples' belief - people who have probably not looked at the numbers (below). Once in San Francisco, Bonds seemed to get better with age, hitting 73 homers in 2001 and lead leaguing .370 the following year at 37, an age when most players have retired.
As seen in the chart above, Bonds 'only' had a .275 average in his 7 years at Pittsburg and 176 homers. If these numbers were extrapolated over the next 15 years, Bonds would have finished with 525 homeruns - far short of the lifetime homerun record (and that's assuming he'd be averaging 25 homeruns a year in his late 30s sans PEDs - and if he'd even be playing in his 40s. .
Meanwhile, baseball attendance continues to do well, especially in San Francisco , which has had over 200 straight 'sellouts,' a somewhat controversial figure in itself. Former Commissioner of Baseball leaves claiming baseball is 'cleaner than ever'with the best drug testing in all sports. Most younger fans , who've grown up under the PED cloud, don't know any other way enough to care - but older fans , who probably know better, seem to also be turning a blind eye - especially in San Francisco where their hero, Bonds, performed a full 15 years, effectively making PEDs acceptable. Rarely does one hear a boo from the stands as all seems fine and dandy in San Francisco - and many other baseball corners. Yet, deep down, true older fans, who have seen REAL baseball going back to the Mays and McCovey days in cold Candlestick Park, must look at themeselves in the mirror as current baseball fans are a part and parcel of, the degradation of the game -admit it or not. Baseball today is about money, numbers -and, yes, drugs. Talent is no longer a given - one must guess whether a player is on PEDs or not, or not care - and, if the latter, is the case, what's the point ?
COMING SOON! How San Francisco Giants May Have Skated to Their First World Series Victories in 50 Years
MORE PED TALK
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HOW DOES A GUY WHO NEVER HIT A HOMERUN OR ABOVE .266 IN COLLEGE HIT 9 AND OVER .300 IN THE MAJORS 
As seen in the chart above, Bonds 'only' had a .275 average in his 7 years at Pittsburg and 176 homers. If these numbers were extrapolated over the next 15 years, Bonds would have finished with 525 homeruns - far short of the lifetime homerun record (and that's assuming he'd be averaging 25 homeruns a year in his late 30s sans PEDs - and if he'd even be playing in his 40s. .
'THANK YOU LORD for Giving us Commissioner Bud Selig' 
