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If Barry Bonds had retired at the end of the 1998 major league baseball season he would have been a first ballot inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005. Barry Bonds was the greatest outfielder of his generation. In the field his extraordinary arm was matched by his spectacular defensive range. At the plate he hit for both power and average. And on the base path he could steal and advance at will. As the authors note, Barry Bonds thought he was a better baseball player than every baseball player he ever met. And in most cases he was right.

At the end of the 1998 season Barry Bonds was 34 years old. He had won 3 National League MVP awards, was a career .290 hitter with 1,917 hits, 1,357 walks, 1,216 RBI and 411 Home Runs. And he wore size 10 1/2 shoes, size 42 jersey, size 7 1/4 hat (over a head full of hair), stood 6' 1" tall and weighed 190 lbs.

During the 1998 major league season Barry Bonds watched two of his fellow players -- Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa -- wage a season long home run derby in pursuit of Roger Maris' single season home run record. (In 1961 Roger Maris hit 61 home runs to break Babe Ruth's record 60 home runs during the 1927 season. Ruth's record had stood for 34 years. Maris' record would stand for 37 years.)

And as baseball fans feted McGwire and Sosa as genuine heroes -- and the national media proclaimed them the saviors of baseball -- the greatest outfielder of his generation seethed.

Barry Bonds knew he was a better baseball player than Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa combined. And with each home run McGwire and Sosa hit in 1998 (they'd both eclipse Maris -- McGwire hit 70 and Sosa hit 66) Bonds fury grew.

Barry Bonds was 34 years old. He'd never hit more than 46 home runs in a single season (five years earlier in 1993). And in his anger he decided he would do whatever it took to show the world he was the best home run hitter to ever play the game.

In his own words, Barry Bonds would "take the shit."

And like most athletes who chose to "take the shit" two things happened. First, there was phenomenal athletic success. Second, there was the discovery of the cheating and the resulting consequences.

Using a suite of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone Barry Bonds transformed himself -- literally and figuratively -- into the best home run hitter to ever play the game.

Over the next six seasons, from 1999 to 2004, Bonds would average an unprecedented 50 home runs per season. (In 2001 he'd hit 73 home runs to break McGwire's single season record that had stood for a mere three years.)

And over those six seasons -- all after age 35 -- Barry Bonds physically grew at an alarming rate. His shoe size went from 10 1/2 to 13, his jersey went from size 42 to size 54, where a size 7 1/4 hat once covered a head full of hair he now wore a 7 3/4 hat over a shaved head, he grew from 6' 1" tall to 6' 3" tall and he went from weighing 190 lbs. with some body fat to weighing 260 lbs. with no body fat.

What did Barry Bonds mean in 1998 when he said he would "take the shit"? And what, ultimately, were the consequences of his decision? That is answered in this detailed account written by Mark Fainaru-Wu and Lance Williams.

And the answers involve more than 'the cream,' 'the clear,' THG, EPO, human growth hormone and Barry Bonds' mission to claim every home run record in baseball history.

It's an intriguing story with colorful 'criminals' like Victor Conte, Greg Anderson and Remi Korchemny and the underground scientists who produce undetectable anabolic steroids. There are countless cheating athletes from the the Olympics, NFL and MLB. And their coaches and trainers. And their employers. There are straight arrow Boy Scout federal agents, scientists and anti-doping crusaders earnestly seeking to clean things up. There are politicians who talk out of both sides of their mouth, want it both ways and cause more harm than good. There are grieving parents who've lost their children to steroid abuse (children following the example set by their athletic role models). And it's all rounded out by an ensemble cast of journalists, attorneys and judges.

The story is not a pleasant one. It's dirty. And it's genuinely heartbreaking.

If Barry Bonds had retired at the end of the 1998 major league baseball season he would have been a first ballot inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005. But he didn't. Driven by a furious anger Barry Bonds decide to "take the shit" in order to hit as many home runs as possible. He succeeded. And in doing so the greatest outfielder of his generation guaranteed he will never be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.