Baseball Notebook: Balco Bonds May Regret Burning Bridges Behind Him
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by Niteowl049
Like they say what goes around comes around and Balco Bonds may be learning that if his perjury case goes to trial. Steve Hoskins and Kimberly Bell will be testifying against him even though they both were very close to him with Bell being his girlfriend for ten years. She lived with him so her testimony could be the most damaging. She saw the changes in his appearance and his demeanor when he was using the steroids. She saw Balco and his trainer Greg Anderson take a satchel into another room and close the door obviously to get his steroids dose for that day.
I am sure Balco's attorneys will try to discredit her and her testimony so her attorney needs to prepare her for a worst case scenario in the courtroom so that she will not wilt under the questioning by the defense attorney. Bell will reinforce that Balco was very jealous of Mark McGwire and was more than likely the motivating factor for his steroids use. His ego could not stand the idea of McGwire getting all the fanfare for hitting over 60 home runs while he was hitting his normal 30-35 home runs a season before he donned Superman's cape and became a slugger of literally gargantuan proportions.
If allegations by the defense are true that Bell asked Balco for money to remain quiet it may damage her credibility but her attorney may be able to deflect that somehow and not sustain too much damage. Brian Getz an attorney not connected with the case has said "She is at the intersection of passion and wealth and that makes her particularly vulnerable".
Another ex crony of Balco is Hoskins who was a boyhood friend of Balco and was his business partner in selling Balco's memorabilia. He fired Hoskins when he accused Hoskins of forging his signature and selling memorabilia without his permission.
The grand jury also investigated whether Balco took $80,000 from an autograph signing session and Hoskins and Bell had direct knowledge of this crime if Balco did not pay income tax on this money. Hoskins has said that he handed the $80,000 to Bell.
Prosecutors may use this evidence as a bargaining chip in a plea bargain since he could also face separate charges for this crime if he did not pay the taxes on the money.
The defense will try to slice up Bell and Hoskins like a Thanksgiving turkey to make them look like they were only after the money and discredit them in any way possible.
However, by the end of the trial if it does go to trial Balco may rue the day he severed ties with Bell and Hoskins because as of today they are the best witnesses the government has to offer against him.
The old adage "Don't burn your bridges behind you" may come to haunt Balco in the courtroom. This trial may not have a glove left behind at the crime scene like the O.J. Simpson trial unless Balco left some syringes behind but could be just as riveting as that trial and hopefully it will be on television so the American public can see Balco squirm in the courtroom.
It might not be a bad idea to have a baseball statistician present evidence of how his power numbers escalated in the years he took steroids and have Balco explain how he could hit 34 home runs in 1999 and two years later hit 73 home runs....and how he could suddenly start hitting 450 foot home runs when he had hit few of them in his career previously.
It looks like this is an open and shut case against Balco but with lawyers involved and a San Francisco jury anything is possible. If O.J. can buy his freedom with a stellar defense team then Balco should be able to buy an even better defense team since he made almost $16 million last season not to mention the $188 million he has made in his entire career according to baseball-reference.com.
Sometime in 2008 this trial should start unless there is a plea bargain and when it does it will be the focus of every sports show on TV and talk radio and places online where sports fans congregate like the ArmchairGM.com site where many an article will be written about the trial.
As far as I know Balco has not made a statement to the media maintaining his innocence. We heard him say last summer after passing Hank Aaron that the record was not tainted but I think we are on the brink of finding out that it was tainted in a major way.
Maybe Balco will learn a lesson from all this and learn it is not wise to burn his bridges behind him because those burning bridges may land him in a federal prison.
