Byrd admits HGH usage
The Indians pitcher believes he did nothing wrong.
GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
BOSTON — Of all the things that could become a distraction in a Game 7, no one thought it would be Paul Byrd’s pituitary gland.
Byrd, one of the heroes of the Indians postseason run as the little engine that could, might have had his image tainted before the ALCS-deciding Game 7 at Fenway Park.
Hours after Boston beat up on Cleveland in Game 6, the San Francisco Chronicle broke a story that said Byrd spent close to $25,000 on more than 1,000 vials of Human Growth Hormone. HGH is a prescription drug that Byrd injected into his thigh.
Prior to Sunday night’s game, Byrd said he never took HGH without a prescription from a doctor. He said he took the drug because an endocrinologist diagnosed him with a pituitary gland problem. He said in the “recent past” he was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor.
“I have never taken any hormone or any drug that was not prescribed to me by a doctor,” Byrd said. “That is the key to this. I have a reputation. I speak ... to kids, I speak to churches. I do not want the fans of Cleveland, I do not want honest, caring people to think I cheated, because I didn’t. That is very important to me. That is first and foremost.
“I do understand, there are people around, it doesn’t matter what you say. They’re going to take a negative viewpoint. I can say with complete confidence I have never taken anything apart from a prescription. I did not try to hide anything.”
Byrd said he purchased his prescribed HGH from a pharmacy in Florida with his own credit card. The shipments went to his home in Atlanta, and clubhouses in which Byrd played. He said he sometimes stored the HGH in the clubhouse refrigerator.
However, the Florida pharmacy that Byrd purchased the HGH from is an anti-aging clinic that is under investigation for illegal distribution of performance-enhancing drugs. Byrd declined to comment on why he used that facility, but said he would provide more details at a later date.
“If that pharmacy — and I have to use these words — did something wrong, I didn’t know about it,” Byrd said. “I never received anything in a shipment that wasn’t prescribed to me.”
Byrd is working on a book that is to come out next year. In his book, he wrote about how he was tempted to take more HGH than was prescribed, but never did.
“I was trying to think of a way to prove to people [that he didn’t abuse HGH] and I don’t know there is, other than you can ask different scouts and see if there was a period of time when I showed an increase in strength, or an increase in anything,” Byrd said. “I didn’t. My fastball always stayed the same.”
Byrd, according to the report, purchased HGH between August 2002 and January 2005, prior to signing a two-year, $14 million contract with the Indians in 2006. Byrd had shoulder surgery in 2002 and elbow surgery in 2003. The Chronicle also reported that a dentist prescribed the hormone for Byrd twice and had his license suspended in 2003.
Byrd was specific in saying a doctor prescribed the hormone.
“I’ve taken blood tests,” Byrd said. “Everything has been out in the open. ... I’ve been working with Major League Baseball. That’s another thing that shows I didn’t try to do anything behind anyone’s back.”
Major League Baseball didn’t ban HGH until January 2005 and the league still doesn’t test for the substance. A blood test for HGH does exist, but its reliability is debated. The World Anti-Doping Agency supports the blood test and believes it to be reliable.
A MLB spokesperson said the league did not have any prior knowledge of the situation, but it would want to meet with Byrd at some point.