Win for steroid probe
A ruling by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday in San Francisco, giving federal prosecutors the right to use the names and urine samples of 100 major league players who tested positive for steroids three years ago for future investigations, could spell more bad news for Barry Bonds.
As much as the slugger has hoped to diminish the government's perjury investigation against him, this ruling could bolster the case if federal investigators can match Bonds's name to a positive test. Bonds, who recently agreed to a one-year, $16 million deal with the San Francisco Giants, testified before a 2004 grand jury that he didn't knowingly use illegal drugs.
It isn't known whether Bonds is among the 100 players whose names will be linked to the anonymous tests in 2003.
"If Barry is one of the players that did not test positive in '03 for steroids, I would hope that it would cause the government to rethink their continuing harassment they've engaged in for years," said Bonds's attorney, Michael Rains.
At the time of the 2003 tests, Major League Baseball was trying to determine the extent of steroid use in the sport. Both MLB and the Players Association agreed that if more than 5 percent of the tests came back positive, comprehensive drug testing and penalties would be instituted in 2004. That proved to be the case.
Baseball players and owners agreed in their 2002 labor contract that the results would be confidential, and each player was assigned a code number to be matched with his name.
During 2004 raids on three labs involved in the MLB testing program, investigators were able to seize test results.
Quest Diagnostics of Teterboro, N.J., one of the largest drug-testing firms in the nation, analyzed more than 1,400 urine samples from players in the 2003 season. Comprehensive Drug Testing, of Long Beach, Calif. , coordinated the collection of specimens and compiled the data.
Subpoenas were issued to both companies in late 2003, a day before the test results were to be destroyed, and in April 2004, Internal Revenue Service agents seized the test results and samples.
In addition to demanding the results for Bonds, the federal investigators also demanded to see records of Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, both of the Yankees. The union protested the seizure of the tests as a violation of the players' constitutional rights.
Chief operating officer Gene Orza of the Players Association said he was aware of yesterday's ruling but, "I haven't had a chance to read through it, nor have I had a chance to speak to my staff about it. I'll probably comment on it [today]."
The government's investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative of Burlingame, Calif., the company at the center of the steroid scandal, has led to guilty pleas by BALCO president Victor Conte, trainer Greg Anderson, BALCO vice president James Valente, chemist Patrick Arnold, and track coach Remi Korchemny.
Last week, government lawyers urged a federal appeals court to jail Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, the two San Francisco Chronicle reporters who refused to testify about who leaked secret grand jury testimony from a steroids investigation.
The reporters had written a series of stories for the Chronicle while also writing the book "Game of Shadows," which implicated Bonds and steroid use.
Lawyers indicated the reporters should be jailed up to 18 months for failure to reveal their sources because reporters do not have special privileges that allow them to keep evidence from a grand jury.
Both reporters were held in contempt of court last September and were sentenced to 18 months in prison while the newspaper was fined $1,000 a day.
The appeals court hearing is scheduled for Feb. 12.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report; Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. 
