Barry Bonds struck out on his first attempt to hire a high-powered lawyer to defend him against federal perjury charges.

Negotiations broke down between the home run king and John Keker, a celebrated criminal defense attorney. Reports were that Bonds was put off by Keker’s fee — said to be $900 an hour — and other issues.

But Bonds stepped up to the plate again, and by the end of last week he had assembled a solid defense team of experienced lawyers.

Two major informants play central roles in the searing report on steroid use in baseball, released yesterday by former Sen. George Mitchell.

Kirk Radomski, a former Mets clubhouse attendant, and Brian McNamee, a former strength trainer for the Yankees and Blue Jays, provided much of the information linking players to drug use. The document named 89 players, including superstars Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco and Jason Giambi.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, better known as PETA, usually protests high-profile companies such as KFC, Denny’s and PetSmart.

However, the organization’s latest campaign is more personal. The newest target? Fashion moguls and actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, or should we say Hairy-Kate and Trashley Trollsen, as they are now know on www.peta2.com, the teen-friendly PETA website.

America’s fixation on celebrity has worked its way into academia.

While adding thousands of college records to the Muckety database recently, we couldn’t help but notice several star-studded boards.

One of the most blinding is at Vassar, where trustees include Meryl Streep and Lisa Kudrow, who are both alumnae and (despite Phoebe’s ditziness) brainiacs. The University of Southern California boasts Stephen Spielberg; Bennett College for Women has poet and Oprah pal Maya Angelou; and Gallaudet University has actress Marlee Matlin.

Citigroup yesterday named a new leadership team, whose mission will be to pull the company out of staggering debt from the mortgage crisis.

Vikram S. Pandit was appointed CEO, and Winfried F.W. Bischoff became chairman. The two men succeed Charles Prince, who resigned after reporting up to $11 billion in new losses.

Pity the poor billionaire.

You start with nothing, make a fortune, give away millions.

Then what happens?

If you own a baseball team, sports columnists call you cheap. That’s right, cheap.

Carl R. Pohlad, the 114th richest person in American at $3.1 billion on the Forbes Magazine list, knows this all too well.

An awards show, by nature, is all about competition. But this year’s Grammy Awards, set to air on Feb. 10, may decide several music industry feuds of 2007.

One of the most public battles in the rap industry this year was between 50 Cent and Kanye West, who both scheduled album releases on September 11, 2007. 50 Cent proclaimed that if he were outsold by West, he would retire as a solo artist.

Baseball’s Barry Bonds would seem like a man in need of a really good lawyer, but he’s proving somewhat frugal, perhaps too frugal.

According to news reports, Bonds, who was indicted Friday on charges of lying to grand jury about steroid use, suffered from sticker shock at the $900 per hour fee charged by John W. Keker, a San Francisco defense attorney who has been involved in several high-profile cases.

You have to admit that William Cunningham practices what he preaches.

He teaches a class in corporate governance at the University of Texas and sits on the boards of public companies that paid him a total of about $800,000 in stock and cash last year.

If the former chancellor of the University of Texas system lives in an Ivory Tower, it is firmly anchored in a very nice real-world neighborhood.

Cunningham, 63, is a director of Southwest Airlines, Lincoln National Corporation, Introgen Therapeutics, Inc., LIN Television and Hayes Lemmerz International Inc.

The battles between Revlon billionaire Ronald Perelman and ex-wife Ellen Barkin didn’t stop with divorce court.

Despite a divorce settlement in the tens of millions (estimates range from $20 million to $60 million), Barkin sued Perelman in August for $3.4 million. Last week, Perelman sued her right back.