There is no definitive, proven date for when Barry Bonds started taking steroids, but most reporting and forum discussion put the probable start around the late 1990s, especially 1998–1999, with clear allegations he was using performance‑enhancing drugs by the 2000–2001 seasons.

When Did Barry Bonds Start Taking Steroids?

What’s actually known vs. rumored

Because Bonds has never publicly admitted to knowingly using steroids, and court cases focused on perjury/obstruction rather than proving the exact start date, everything about “when he started” is based on:

  • Grand jury leaks and investigative reporting (e.g., BALCO case coverage).
  • Testimony and statements from people around him (trainers, associates, ex‑girlfriends).
  • Retrospective analysis and fan/analyst speculation in articles and forums.

So any precise year is an informed estimate , not an official, documented fact.

Timeline: how the story usually gets told

You’ll often see the story framed like this:

  1. Mid‑1990s: already a Hall of Fame–level star
    • Bonds was a lean, fast, power‑speed player with MVPs and elite stats long before any steroid allegations, especially during his Pittsburgh years and early Giants seasons.
  1. Late 1990s: jealousy of the home run race
    • Many narratives say Bonds watched Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa chase 70 homers in 1998 (amid their own PED questions) and decided to “join the arms race,” which is why people often point to post‑1998 as the start of serious steroid use.
  1. Around 1999–2000: suspected PED ramp‑up
    • Fans and writers frequently cite 1999 as the year he likely began using more potent PEDs, with the visible bulk and power spike showing up fully in 2000–2001 , when he hit 73 home runs.
 * Online discussions that try to pin down a year commonly land on “probably 1999 season, effects obvious in 2000,” but emphasize that this is consensus speculation, not courtroom fact.
  1. 2003: BALCO and documented substances
    • In grand jury testimony reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and summarized by outlets like ESPN, Bonds said he used the “cream” and “clear” from trainer Greg Anderson during the 2003 season , claiming he was told they were flaxseed oil and arthritis balm.
 * This is one of the few _documented_ periods where he himself admitted using substances later identified as designer steroids, though he denied knowing what they were.

Why there’s no single agreed‑upon date

A few key reasons the exact start date stays fuzzy:

  • No positive public test
    • Bonds never had a widely publicized, officially confirmed positive steroid test; the case against him came from testimony, documents, and BALCO evidence, not a classic failed drug test.
  • Leaked testimony, not full transparency
    • Much of what the public “knows” comes from leaks of grand jury transcripts and investigative books, not a complete, uncontested official record.
  • Different standards of proof
    • Legal proceedings focused on whether he lied about knowingly using, not on establishing the precise date he first used PEDs.
* Fans, writers, and YouTube creators are more comfortable drawing timelines from body changes and performance spikes, but that’s inherently interpretive.

What most people mean by “when did he start”

So when someone online asks “when did Barry Bonds start taking steroids?” they usually mean:

  • “When did he likely move from ‘natural superstar’ to ‘PED‑augmented super slugger’?”
    • Common fan and writer consensus:
      • Probably around 1998–1999 , inspired or pushed by the McGwire/Sosa home run era.
  * Clearly **using BALCO‑related PEDs by 2003** , per his own grand jury testimony about the “cream” and “clear.”

An example of how this shows up in fan spaces: a widely shared Reddit thread discussing this exact question concludes that he “probably started during the 1999 season” and that the obvious results hit in 2000, while reminding everyone this is not official but a commonly accepted guess.

Mini FAQ

Did Barry Bonds ever admit to using steroids?

  • He admitted under oath to using the “cream” and “clear” in 2003 but claimed he did not know they were steroids.

Is there a single year everyone agrees on as his first steroid year?

  • No. The most commonly cited guess is 1999 , but it’s based on circumstantial and retrospective analysis, not a definitive confession or test.

Why do people focus on the late ’90s?

  • The combination of the 1998 home run chase, his body transformation, and his jump to historic power levels around 2000–2001 creates a narrative that he “must” have started in that window.

Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.