From Balco to Bonds, Baseball's asterisk era
A quarter of a century ago, Barry Bonds hit his first home run for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He had only been a first-team player for a week but great feats were expected of this 21-year-old prodigy. The son of a famous player, Bonds had been on Major League Baseball's radar ever since high school.
A superb athlete blessed with coordination, speed and strength, Bonds had it all. And he used it. A long and lucrative career in the majors saw Bonds break some of baseball's most hallowed records, including the holiest of holies, the all-time home run record.
But now - 25 years after that first beautifully-timed combination of hand, eye and muscle - Bonds has a record he did not desire: a criminal record for obstructing justice in a federal inquiry into the use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
Hi, I'm Matt Slater and I try to shed light on what's happening behind the scenes in sport - so everything from football finance to Olympic squabbles. You can also follow me on . 