SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Attorneys for Barry Bonds asked a federal judge Friday to hold in contempt of court the authors and publisher of a book that claims the San Francisco Giants slugger used steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.

Bonds' attorneys sent a letter Friday to U.S. District Judge Susan Illston demanding that the writers, publisher Gotham Books, the San Francisco Chronicle and Sports Illustrated, which published excerpts of the book "Game of Shadows,'' be held liable for possessing and publishing "illegally obtained grand jury transcripts.''

"The true victim is not Barry Bonds, but the sanctity and integrity of the grand jury process,'' attorney Alison Berry Wilkinson wrote.

Later Friday, Bonds' attorneys planned to ask a trial judge in San Francisco to block the authors and publishers from making any money from the book, which was released Thursday.

"The reason we filed the lawsuit in the simplest terms possible is to prevent the authors from promoting themselves and profiting from illegal conduct,'' said another Bonds attorney, Michael Rains.

Part of the book is based on leaked federal grand jury testimony from Bonds and other athletes who two years ago went before a panel investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, where they were said to have obtained performance-enhancing substances.

The book claims Bonds used steroids, human growth hormone, insulin and other banned substances for at least five seasons beginning in 1998.

"We fully stand behind our reporting of the book,'' said Mark Fainaru-Wada, one of the authors.

"We certainly stand by our reporters and the reporting they did for us,'' Chronicle executive vice president and editor Phil Bronstein said. "Nothing that's happened will change that.''

Spokeswoman Lisa Johnson said publisher Gotham Books supports both authors.

"We at Gotham Books are shocked that Barry Bonds would take such a foolish step,'' she said. "Any respected First Amendment lawyer in America knows that his claim is nonsense.''

Rains said Bonds will not comment directly on the lawsuit, but strongly supports the case. Bonds has refused to discuss allegations in the book.

"His bat speaks for himself and he's not going to speak on this action and this book,'' Rains said.