Former Giants trainer testified about Bonds' arm injury

SAN FRANCISCO -- A former San Francisco Giants trainer testified before the federal grand jury looking into steroid use in U.S. sports, a sign the investigation of Barry Bonds was not derailed by the firing of the investigation's top prosecutor.

Mark Letendre told the Associated Press on Tuesday he testified for about an hour on Feb. 14 and was asked about Bonds' size, and confirmed the slugger hurt his elbow in 1999.

"It was all pretty vanilla," Letendre said. "I'm pretty far removed from it."

Bonds' former girlfriend Kimberly Bell told an earlier grand jury that Bonds blamed the 1999 elbow injury on steroid use. Bonds missed seven weeks that season after undergoing surgery to remove a bone spur and repair a damaged tendon in his left arm.

The 50-year-old Letendre served as the team's head trainer until after the 1999 season, when he was appointed director of Major League Baseball's umpire medical services.

Since U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan was fired in December, speculation has mounted that the Justice Department would quietly extinguish the long-running investigation into Bonds.

"There is absolutely no doubt that the U.S. attorney is still running a grand jury and still taking evidence that involves Bonds," said Michael Rains, the lawyer for Bonds. "There is still an active effort to indict Barry."

U.S. Attorney Scott Schools refused to comment Tuesday on Letendre's remarks or whether the grand jury probe was continuing, a spokeswoman said.