SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds took the night off Wednesday. The controversy surrounding the San Francisco Giants slugger, who is two shy of baseball's all-time home run record, did not.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, speaking to HBO's Bob Costas in a show that aired Tuesday, said the refusals of Bonds and Mark McGwire to address steroids accusations are tantamount to admissions they used performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds' response? He lashed out at Costas, the respected sports commentator who provided platforms for Schilling and chemist Patrick Arnold, who shot down Bonds' grand jury testimony in which Bonds claimed he thought the substance he used while hitting a record 73 homers in 2001 was flaxseed oil, not a powerful synthetic steroid.
"You mean that little midget man who absolutely knows jack ... about baseball, who never played the game before?" Bonds, speaking to a handful of reporters before Wednesday night's 2-1 win over Atlanta, said of Costas. "You can tell Bob Costas what I called him."
Arnold, who created THG, the drug known as "the clear," told Costas he found it "pretty hard to believe" Bonds didn't know what he was taking. Bonds is facing a possible federal indictment on perjury and/or tax evasion.
"I've never seen the man in my entire life," Bonds said of Arnold. "I've never heard of the man\o7 ... never\f7."
Bonds was the primary focus of "Game of Shadows," the 2006 book that details Bonds' alleged doping regimen, which, according to the two San Francisco Chronicle reporters who wrote it, took place from about 1998 to 2003.
"If someone wrote that stuff about me and I didn't sue their [butt] off, am I not admitting that there's some legitimacy to it?" Schilling told Costas.
Bonds actually did sue the authors in March 2006, claiming they should not profit from the book because it used illegally obtained grand jury testimony, but he dropped the suit three months later.
Asked about Schilling's comments, Bonds was cryptic.
"Don't worry," he said, "my day will come."
Schilling also discussed accusations by Bonds' former mistress, Kimberly Bell, who testified before a grand jury that Bonds told her of his steroid use in 2000. She also said Bonds gave her $80,000 in cash proceeds from an autograph session to buy a house.
"If I wrote a book ... about Bob Costas' girlfriend being on the road, and giving that girlfriend card-show money, and I outlined your daily steroid regimen, I've got to believe your first line of defense is to sue my [butt] off," Schilling said.
