Barry Bonds

The U.S. District Court judge who will preside over Barry Bonds' perjury trial next month said Thursday her "preliminary thoughts" were to exclude evidence that Bonds tested positive for steroids three times in the months before his record-breaking 73-homer season of 2001.

According to legal experts, Barry Bonds has little chance of having his perjury case dropped, even though his attorneys are preparing to ask a judge to do that today in San Francisco. Bonds' attorneys were scheduled to ask U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston to dismiss a federal indictment charging him with perjury and obstruction of justice for his grand jury testimony, in which he denied knowingly using illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

The grand jury testimony that led to Barry Bonds being charged with the federal crimes of perjury and obstruction of justice was ordered unsealed Friday by a federal judge who also ordered prosecutors to reword their indictment of the all-time home run king. The original indictment revealed Bonds had tested positive for testosterone in an independent test sought by Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative founder Victor Conte in November 2000.

On a damp evening in September at Denver's Coors Field, Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball's career home run leader, hit No. 762 into the seats in left-center field. If he never hits another, that ball could be worth $1 million, according to memorabilia experts. Once it turns up. No one has seen the historic ball since the unidentified fan who got it disappeared into the night.

The San Francisco Giants will not make an effort to bring back controversial home run king Barry Bonds, even at a reduced price, team President Peter Magowan said. "No, not this team," he said. "We're going in a new direction; that would not be going in a new direction. The time has come to turn the page. "We're very respectful, at least I am, appreciative of all the contributions he made to the Giants over all that long period of time. But the time came when we needed to go in a new direction."

SAN FRANCISCO -- Brian Sabean sat alone at the end of the home dugout Friday afternoon, bundled up in a black jacket beneath gray skies and persistent drizzle, watching this year's edition of the San Francisco Giants take batting practice. The Giants could be dreadful this season, perhaps historically so. Sabean, the general manager, cannot put a happy face on this product, and to his credit he does not try.

Barry Bonds was charged in a new indictment Tuesday with 15 felony counts alleging he lied to a grand jury when he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs and that he hampered the federal government's doping investigation. The career home run leader originally was indicted in November by a federal grand jury on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. Following a motion by Bonds' lawyers to dismiss the case, U.S.

'The Commissar Vanishes" is not your usual coffee-table book. Using photographs, it shows how Josef Stalin systematically erased memories of his chief political opponents from the history of the Russian revolution. In one photo, the dictator appears next to Leon Trotsky. In others, the images of Trotsky have been either airbrushed or crudely blacked out. Barry Bonds has become the Leon Trotsky of Major League Baseball.

Barry Bonds is in a slump. He's unsigned after leaving the Giants last season. Allegations of steroid use and perjury still hang over his head. And now this. The 43-year-old home-run king with the diamond earring and signature sneer was recently demoted from his high-profile front-lobby perch at the local wax museum. Workers removed the head from the bulky torso and carted him in pieces downstairs to join the other sport figures.

NEW YORK -- The players' union anticipates filing a grievance claiming owners improperly acted in concert to keep Barry Bonds out of the major leagues this season, a source familiar with the matter said late Tuesday. No final decision has been made, the source said, but the union is leaning toward filing a grievance. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly in advance of a decision.