TAMPA - Jason Giambi started doing steroids to please his perfection-seeking dad and approached Barry Bonds' trainer to see what he could do to help, authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams claim in their book "Game of Shadows," which hits bookstores today.
According to the book, which focuses on Bonds' alleged steroid use, Giambi, the 2000 American League MVP when he played with Oakland, developed a relationship with Bonds' trainer, Greg Anderson, during a baseball exhibition trip to Japan in 2002, by which time he had signed with the Yankees.
The book said Giambi wanted to learn "what was Anderson doing to keep Bonds playing at so high a level. Could Anderson help Giambi, too?''
The authors wrote Giambi craved success in baseball because his father, John, loved the game, but Giambi last night issued a vehement denial.
"That's not true, that's not true at all,'' Giambi said on his way out of Legends Field last night after the Yankees topped the Red Sox, 5-4.
Before the game, Giambi said he had "nothing to say," about the book because "I haven't seen it."
The book claims Giambi flew to the San Francisco Bay Area and met Anderson at a gym, and that the pair went to a hospital to have Giambi's blood drawn and take a blood and urine sample to BALCO.
Giambi, according to the book, tested positive for Deca-Durabolin, and that Anderson advised the slugger he would fail baseball's new drug test, which was starting in the upcoming season.
Anderson then started Giambi on a cycle of testosterone, saying the hormone would clear his system before he was tested by the league.
Calendars seized by government agents show Giambi took drugs similar to Bonds.
Giambi's 2004 season was ruined by an intestinal parasite and a benign pituitary tumor. After a slow start last year, Giambi rebounded in the second half and was named comeback player of the year.
The book, based on a two-year investigation by the two San Francisco Chronicle reporters, includes an extensive summary of the authors' sources, including court documents, affidavits filed by BALCO investigators, documents written by federal agents, grand-jury testimony, audio recordings and interviews with more than 200 people.
