Whether it’s doctoring baseballs like Gaylord Perry, corking bats like Sammy Sosa or juicing up like Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco, ball players have always been looking for that “something extra” to give them an advantage over their opponents.

With balls leaving the yard like Haitians leaving their war torn country, questions surround the game’s biggest home run hitters, especially the king Barry Bonds.On Monday Bonds addressed the steroid issue for the first time since his trainer and close personal friend Greg Anderson was charged with supplying illegal, performance enhancing drugs to professional athletes. Anderson has pleaded not guilty to federal charges.

Bonds denied any use of steroids saying, “They can test me everyday.”But the words ring hollow. Back when Bonds played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the late eighties and early nineties he was a much smaller man and his highest home run total was just 34 in 1992.

We all know what happened when Bonds came to San Francisco. The transformation from a slender, base-stealing player into a mammoth, lumbering power hitter was complete when Bonds jacked 73 homers in the 2001 season to smash Hank Aaron’s record of 61 and become the all-time single season leader for home runs.

Banging the weights, eating tons of food and getting the right amount of rest can help anyone see gains in their muscle mass and performance, but going from around 185 pounds in his Pirates days to 228 pounds today is a little much, specifically taking into account the huge surge in his power numbers.

If Bonds is taking steroids, which has not been proven, gains in size and power are not the only effects he might be feeling.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, male side effects from taking anabolic steroids include shrinking of the testicles, infertility, baldness, development of breasts and increased risk of prostate cancer.

Side effects for women include growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness and deepened voice.

Pretty disgusting, but the performance enhancing effects of steroids can be very tempting to athletes who have hit the wall and want to get to the next level. The drugs can mean the difference in playing in the minor leagues all of your career or actually getting a shot at the big time, Major League Baseball.

For college athletes, steroids could be the difference in getting a football scholarship or having to pay your way through school and getting no playing time.

The NCAA uses random testing on all of its athletes and a positive test results in a one year ban.

At Sacramento State athletes have tested positive for steroids in the past, according to Sports Information director Brian Berger, but names could not be released due to school policy.

So the question is, do fans care if their favorite players use steroids? Most don’t seem to. What fans do care about is seeing guys like Bonds hit 600-foot shots into McCovey Cove. They want to see balls leave the yard and records fall.

But at what cost?

Contact Michael Young at [email protected]