Bonds Indicted On Perjury Charges

The end of Barry Bonds' baseball career may now be in sight as he was indicted by a federal jury this afternoon on perjury and obstruction of justice charges in relation to the federal investigation as to whether he lied under oath about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.

What a shock. I doubt now anyone will offer him a contract for 2008, and it wouldn't surprise me if MLB suspends him for this.

Anyone who read the book "Game of Shadows"(and I did) could tell you this was coming eventually. It's just that it took four years for the indictments to be handed down. That does require some kind of decent explanation.

And like Al Capone, the government wasn't going to get their man on the most serious charges. They gave him immunity back in 2003 when he testified in San Francisco about any alleged steroid use, but have come to the conclusion that he lied under oath. He's not being prosecuted for steroid use, but for lying about it. (It has a similar parallel to the Martha Stewart case of a few years back.)

Bonds is a world of trouble now. Uncle Sam doesn't like being lied to. It will be interesting to see if the government really goes after him, or they reach some plea deal that keeps him out of prison. Bonds was indicted on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. All told, he's facing the possibility of 30 years in the slammer.

And his buddy and trainer Greg Anderson, who's been sitting in jail for a year because he refused to cooperate with the investigation, was released from prison today. As of now it is not known if he rolled over on Bonds (so that's why the indictments were announced), or the government felt they had enough on Balco Barry and no longer needed to keep Anderson in the can. We'll soon find out which.

So, now can we officially give Hank Aaron back his title of "All-Time Home Run King?"