Bonds' attorney, Michael Rains, called the charges "ridiculous" and insisted Bonds would be cleared.

"I am utterly confident that this case will absolutely dissipate when the misconduct of the government comes to the forefront," Rains told The New York Times. "Every American should worry about a Justice Department ... that can't tell the difference between prosecution on one hand and persecution on the other. Barry is innocent of the charges. This is ridiculous."

Another Bonds attorney, John Burris, dismissed the indictment as a witch hunt.

"I'm surprised, but there's been an effort to get Barry for a long time," he said. "I'm curious what evidence they have now that they didn't have before."

Bonds, who could not immediately be reached for comment, is scheduled to appear Dec. 7 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Each of the four counts of perjury could lead to five years in prison. He faces 10 years on the obstruction charge.

The long-running drama began in 2002, when Bonds' name surfaced in a government investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO), a manufacturer and distributor of nutritional supplements based in Burlingame, Calif. Anderson, an associate of Bonds' since their high school days in San Mateo, Calif., spent most of the last year in prison for refusing to testify against Bonds. He was ordered released Thursday after Bonds' indictment.

Mark Geragos, Anderson's attorney, reiterated that his client had not cooperated with the grand jury.

"This indictment came out of left field," Geragos said. "Frankly, I'm aghast. It looks like the government misled me and Greg as well, saying this case couldn't go forward without him."

Prosecutors said they had assured Bonds he would not be charged if he told the truth to the grand jury during his 2003 testimony. Baseball did not ban steroids until Sept. 30, 2002. Bonds, who has never been identified by Major League Baseball as having tested positive for steroids, repeatedly denied knowingly taking any performance-enhancing drugs, testifying that Anderson had told him the clear and creamy substances he was using were flaxseed oil and a rubbing balm for arthritis.

Also testifying at the BALCO hearing was baseball star Gary Sheffield, who said Bonds had arranged for him to receive "the clear," "the cream" and "red beans," the latter of which were steroid pills from Mexico. Brothers Jason and Jeremy Giambi, former NFL running back Tyrone Wheatley and track star Marion Jones also were called to testify about steroid use. Jones recently admitted using steroids after years of denial.

Bonds' alleged steroid use later was chronicled in the book "Game of Shadows," which further tainted an already suspect reputation. But he has resolutely insisted he did not use steroids, and after breaking Aaron's record he was adamant that the achievement "is not tainted ... it's not tainted at all."

Commissioner Bud Selig declined to comment on the indictment, telling the Associated Press he takes the development "very seriously" and he'll "follow its progress closely."

Bonds is currently a free agent. The San Francisco Giants announced near the end of the 2007 season they did not plan to re-sign the controversial slugger, who now has 762 homers. Bonds' chances of signing with another team appear slim because of the public relations fallout from the indictment and the threat of imprisonment.

The steroid issue has been a cloud over baseball since the late 1990s, after Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa staged their celebrated home run duel in '98 to break Roger Maris' single-season record of 61 homers. McGwire wound up setting the record with 70, only to have Bonds break it three years later with 73. Bonds was 37 at the time and had never had hit more than 49 in a season.

After McGwire refused to answer questions about steroid use at a congressional hearing in March 2005, his reputation was shattered, and he failed to come close to election to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility last January. Bonds may face similar resistance, even though most experts considered him a first-ballot Hall of Famer before he began bulking up and putting up unheard-of power numbers.

The use of performance-enhancing drugs not only has put baseball's record book into dispute, but many sports medical experts say it has contributed to a marked increase in torn muscles, ligaments and tendons as bodies grow artificially large. Noted orthopedist James Andrews of Birmingham, Ala., told Sports Illustrated in 2002 that steroid use in baseball had become "obvious."

"More athletes are carrying more muscle than their frames can support, and the trauma is greater," he said. "You wouldn't believe the Achilles' tendon ruptures, the quadriceps ruptures, the hamstring tears, the massive rotator cuff tears, the tearing of the biceps muscles at the elbow joints. There's just too much mass for the body to handle. And more of these injuries are career-threatening."

Since baseball instituted a drug-testing policy, home run numbers have fallen markedly. But some players have circumvented the tests by using human growth hormone, which requires a blood test that the players union has fought successfully to keep out of baseball's collective-bargaining agreement.

[ Open Letter to Barry Bonds ]