Bonds retains desire to continue playing career

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Controversial home-run king Barry Bonds said he has no intention of retiring and still hopes to sign with a team despite steroid allegations and perjury charges hanging over his head.

"I'm not going to retire. I don't think that's going to happen," Bonds, 43, said in an interview on MLB.com on Wednesday. "I'm working out, I'm training. If my phone rings, it rings, if it don't, it don't.

"I have a cell phone. I have a Blackberry. They work. If something comes up, I'm sure they'll let me know. I'll come back in July if I have to. It depends on the circumstances."

Despite setting baseball's all-time home run record last season, pushing his career total to 762, there has been little interest in signing the free agent slugger, who faces perjury and obstruction of justice charges stemming from an investigation into the BALCO steroid scandal.

The government case alleges Bonds lied in 2003 when he told a federal grand jury investigating the BALCO lab behind closed doors that he had never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs. In December 2007, he pleaded not guilty.

The seven-time National League MVP said he is still hoping to sign with a new team for the 2008 season after the San Francisco Giants, for whom he has played since 1993, did not renew his contract.

"I want to win a championship or else I want to keep trying to win a championship until there's nothing left inside me," said Bonds. "I deserve that."

While the slugger continues to work out with hopes of signing on with a team, Don Fehr, the head of the baseball players' association, said the union is considering investigating the possibility of collusion among baseball owners as the reason Bonds has not been offered a contract.

"We always look at the free-agent markets every year and make judgments about them, and if we come to the conclusion with respect to any player that there's a matter worth pursuing, we'll pursue it," Fehr told MLB.com.