updated 9:11 p.m. ET July 13, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO - Barry Bonds and Steve Hoskins were boyhood friends who went into business together and made a lot of money selling the San Francisco slugger’s autographs. But the relationship collapsed when Bonds accused Hoskins of stealing from him and took the case to federal prosecutors.

Now, the Redwood City businessman might be getting his revenge by talking to investigators about Bonds’ alleged steroid use and the alleged diversion of proceeds from memorabilia sales to Bonds’ girlfriends.

A grand jury considering possible perjury charges against Bonds met again Thursday in San Francisco, and Bonds’ lawyer, Michael Rains, has identified Hoskins and the player’s former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, as key witnesses in the probe.

Hoskins’ lawyer, Michael Cardoza, declined to say Thursday whether his client had testified before the grand jury, but he discussed the falling out between his client and Bonds and said Hoskins believes the slugger’s angry outbursts at the time were caused by steroids.

“It appeared he was in a sort of steroid rage, the way he was acting,” Cardoza said. “That’s what we thought was causing him to act that way.”

Steroid allegations surrounding Bonds intensified in 2003 when he testified before a different federal grand jury about his relationship to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, the nutritional supplement lab at the center of doping scandals in both track and field and baseball.

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Hoskins did not return messages left Thursday at his home and business, Kent Collectibles, in San Carlos.

He and Bonds grew up together outside San Francisco and after Bonds signed with the Giants as a free agent in 1993, the ballplayer helped Hoskins go into business selling sports memorabilia bearing Bonds’ signature.

Hoskins became a fixture in the Giants’ clubhouse, but a rift opened during spring training 2003 when Bonds spotted a fan wearing a jersey bearing his autograph that he claimed was a fake, Cardoza said.

He flew into a rage, and Hoskins had to convince him the autograph was authentic, but simmering tensions between the two came to a head, Cardoza said.

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“That’s what started the big rift,” Cardoza said. “And the big rift was already going on, because Barry was demanding more from Steve. He was being even more demanding and abusive of Steve. The chasm between Barry and Steve really started to widen then.”

Some of the tension can be traced to an arrangement Bonds had requested for delivering money to two girlfriends, Cardoza said.

Bonds gave more than $100,000 of his profits from the business to Hoskins to pass along to those girlfriends, including down payments on homes and a car for Bell, Cardoza said.

Rains could not be reached Thursday to respond to Cardoza’s claims.

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