Steroids scandal

Brad Mangin

They will forever be linked as central figures in baseball's steroid era, yet Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi are strikingly different. At age 40, coming off his seventh MVP season, Bonds is poised to break Aaron's career home run record as early as next year. Giambi, by contrast, is a fragile soul who cares deeply what people think of him. The two sluggers now stand together, twin lightning rods in the storm of drug allegations that is battering baseball. Bonds and Giambi were coupled when the San Francisco Chronicle detailed the players' December 2003 testimony before a grand jury investigating BALCO, the Burlingame, Calif., lab that federal authorities say was at the center of a steroid distribution ring.

--From "Balco Blows Up" by George Dohrman, Sports Illustrated, Dec. 13, 2004

• Tom Verducci: MLB's drug plan lacks punch
 Rick Reilly: 2054: A Steroid Odyssey
• Frank Deford: Blame game points to union
• Tim Layden: BALCO case puts stars at risk
• John Donovan: Numbers don't add up
• Phil Taylor: Players should stand up to union