Si, July 28, 2008 Update

EVEN AS Barry Bonds hopes to return to the big leagues—at an Aug. 9 appearance at 3Com Park he reminded the crowd, "I haven't retired"—government lawyers are focused on the home run king's day in court. Bonds is set to go on trial on March 2, charged with lying to a grand jury about his use of steroids, and the prosecution might be bolstered by testimony from Greg Anderson, Bonds's former trainer who served three months in prison for distributing steroids and money laundering.

Anderson has so far refused to testify about Bonds (and thus spent a year in prison for contempt), and so the development, as revealed by The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle , that Anderson's mother-in-law, Madeleine Gestas, is being investigated by U.S. attorneys for possible tax violations, is seen by some as a tactic that could pressure Anderson to testify. Anderson's wife, Nicole, had previously received a letter saying she could be charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, and her lawyer, Charles Smith, told the Times that targeting the women is "unfair." The tangled, ugly situation is a reminder of why a still dangerous slugger can't find a job.