It seems the issue of steroids in baseball won't be going away anytime soon. According to Sunday's issue of the San Francisco Chronicle, an ex-girlfriend of San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds testified to a grand jury in the BALCO investigation that Bonds told her in 2000 that he had begun to use steroids.

The woman, 35-year-old Kimberly Bell of San Jose, was reportedly dating the Giants outfielder between 1994 and 2003. According to the Chronicle, Bell's testimony directly contradicts that of Bonds who claims he never knowingly took steroids of any kind. Bell also alleged that Bonds gave her large amounts of cash. According to Bell's attorney, she testified with full immunity from the BALCO grand jury.

Bonds's attorney, Michael Rains disputed the truth of the story, claiming that Bonds never used banned substances and never made cash payments to Bell. Rains did accuse Bell of attempting to extort money from Bonds since the end of their relationship.

The steroid controversy will follow Bonds wherever he goes, especially as he closes in on Babe Ruth for second on the all-time home run list and Hank Aaron for first. Bonds needs 52 homers to tie Aaron as major league baseball's all-time home run king.