Selig an interested observer

For weeks, Bud Selig seemed unwilling to make a commitment to Barry Bonds, the Giants slugger whose pursuit of baseball’s all-time home run record has been shrouded in controversy.

Tuesday, the baseball commissioner went all in, traveling to AT&T; Park to attend Bonds’ games through Friday, a gesture that seemed more a tribute to one of sport’s most hallowed records than the man who is on the verge of breaking it.

“Out of respect for the tradition of this game, the magnitude of the record, and the fact that all citizens in this country are innocent until proven guilty, I will attend Barry Bonds’ next games to observe his potential tying and breaking of the home run record,” Selig said in a statement.

While record-holder Hank Aaron, who hit 755 home runs, has distanced himself from Bonds, Selig had remained at arm’s length from the player who remained stuck at 753 homers after singling in five at-bats Tuesday night during the Giants’ 7-5, 13-inning loss to the Atlanta Braves.

Selig’s refusal to say if he would be on hand for Bonds’ landmark home runs stirred more debate about the legitimacy of Bonds’ achievement -- he has been dogged for years by steroid allegations -- than the glory of the record.

“This is one of those situations where ... you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” Selig said. “Given the way I feel about baseball, I’d rather be here than not. ... I don’t let my personal feelings enter into a decision that I feel is in the best interest of baseball.”

Selig, criticized for not acting against performance-enhancing drugs earlier than 2003, when baseball began steroid testing, has been conflicted about Bonds passing Aaron -- not because Aaron is a close friend (which he is), but because Bonds, who has 259 homers since 2001, is alleged to have cheated.

If Selig’s presence Tuesday is viewed as his taking accountability for the steroid era blooming under his watch, is he comfortable with that interpretation?

“I’ll take responsibility for all things under my watch,” Selig said. “But we now have the toughest testing in sports. We’ve banned amphetamines, we’re funding a program for human growth hormone testing. ... I think we’ve made progress.”

Selig will travel to Cooperstown, N.Y., for Sunday’s Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, missing the Giants’ weekend games against Florida, but if Bonds hasn’t broken the record by Sunday, he said he would “probably” rejoin the home run chase Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.

More suspicion was also cast on Bonds when a prominent figure in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) doping scandal shot a hole through Bonds’ 2003 grand jury testimony, in which Bonds claimed he thought the substance he used while hitting a record 73 homers in 2001 was flaxseed oil, not a powerful synthetic steroid.

In an interview with HBO’s Bob Costas that aired Tuesday, Patrick Arnold, the chemist who created the drug known as “the clear,” found it “hard to believe” Bonds didn’t know what he was taking.

“No, no, not in the least,” Arnold said when asked if it was plausible Bonds thought he was taking flaxseed oil. “The clear was THG [tetrahydrogestrinone].... I guess it’s possible Barry had never tasted flaxseed oil and said, ‘Well, I guess this is flaxseed oil.’ But it’s pretty hard to believe.”

Arnold said he had never met or talked to Bonds, but Arnold did work with BALCO founder Victor Conte, who worked with Bonds.

“All I ever heard was Victor telling me how great Barry’s doing, how Barry’s on the program, how he feels great,” Arnold said. When Conte told him Bonds was on the program, was there any doubt he meant Bonds was taking steroids?

“I have a very strong feeling about it since he was on the program,” Arnold said. “And like everyone else, the program consisted of the clear.”

Arnold called THG, which is administered in liquid form under the tongue, “probably one of the most potent steroids that’s ever been made,” and he has little doubt the substance adds strength and improves bat speed and hand-eye coordination.

“The best way I could put it is it puts you in the zone,” said Arnold, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and served three months in federal prison. “I liken it to an animal that’s hunting. The way a lion can stand there still and just zone in on the kill.”

Conte claimed he did not provide Bonds with steroids, saying THG was supposed to enhance muscle therapy, and that he diluted the material he received from Arnold, setting the weekly dosage at less than 10% of what Arnold advised.

“In 2000 I started providing this diluted version of ‘the clear’ to selected tested athletes, among which Barry Bonds was not included,” Conte said. “The program I created for Barry was a comprehensive nutritional supplementation regimen and had nothing to do with steroids.

“Why would a baseball player have needed an undetectable steroid when drug testing wasn’t mandated until 2003? To suggest that Barry’s 2001 record of 73 home runs was assisted by ‘the clear’ is ridiculous and simply makes no sense.”

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Staff writer Lance Pugmire contributed to this story.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com