SAN FRANCISCO — Former New York Yankee Randy Velarde testified Wednesday that he purchased a performance-enhancing drug from Barry Bonds' personal trainer throughout the 2002 season, the Texas native's last after 16 years in the big leagues.
Velarde said the human growth hormone gave him more "endurance and strength" and that personal trainer Greg Anderson would help him inject the drug.
Velarde, 48, was the fourth athlete to testify about his desire to work with Anderson because of his connection to Bonds, the home-run king who experience a surge in power after he started working with the trainer.
Several more former baseball players were expected to testify Wednesday about their connection to Anderson. Anderson himself is in jail on contempt of court charges for refusing to testify at Bonds' federal perjury trial, which is in its second week.
Velarde, who hit 100 home runs and batted .276 for four different teams, spent less than 15 minutes on the witness stand and testified that he never used two designer steroids that prosecutors allege Bonds knowingly used after getting them from Anderson.
Velarde followed former San Francisco Giant Marvin Benard to the witness stand Wednesday morning.
Benard, 40, testified that Anderson supplied him with the designer steroids dubbed the "clear" and "cream."
Prosecutors hope to use the players' testimony to undercut Bonds' position that Anderson duped him into unknowingly using designer steroids. None of the players, except for former Giants catcher Bobby Estalella, were expected to directly testify about Bonds.
Prosecutors said in a court filing before the trial started March 21 that Estalella will "testify that the defendant admitted using performance-enhancing drugs, as well as their effects, and that they had several discussions regarding that topic."
Also on the government's witness list: former Bonds teammates Armando Rios and Benito Santiago.
Colorado Rockies first baseman Jason Giambi and his brother, former major leaguer Jeremy Giambi, testified Tuesday about their relationship with Anderson and gave similar accounts of their relationship with him. They said that before the 2003 season Anderson supplied them with steroids designed to evade Major League Baseball's plan to test players for steroids that season.
Bonds, the major league record holder for home runs in a career (762) and a season (73), has pleaded not guilty to four charges that he lied to a grand jury when he denied knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs. He also pleaded not guilty to a charge of obstruction.