Paul Byrd admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs, specifically human growth hormone, from 2002 to 2005. HGH was put on the banned substances list of major league baseball in 2005. Byrd says that he took HGH under doctors care due to a tumor on his pituitary gland. Byrd had little success in major league baseball until 2002 but he contributes his success to a change in his windup. He began to swing his arms before he pitched, much like the pitchers of old, because he recognized that he did not have good enough velocity to make it in baseball. Byrd says, “Hitters said they didn't like it at all; they couldn't pick up the ball. I thought, 'Maybe I'm onto something here.'” (Priestle).
This scenario brings up an interesting question about performance enhancing drugs in sports. The question is when is it alright for a person to take performance enhancing drugs, and who decides this? I don’t know if it was right for Paul Byrd to take HGH, but he needed it to live. Did it help his baseball career? Probably, but who knows what would have happened to him if he did not take HGH. The other interesting point about this article is that it was not illegal for him to take HGH when he did. He stopped taking it once it became a banned substance. I think in today’s society people are so caught up with steroids and these terrible athletes who will do anything to win, that they jump to conclusions about stories like this were maybe there is a simple explanation. Unfortunately I believe people decide on their own whether or not someone is guilty of cheating and it is just an unavoidable product of the times we live in.
Priestle, Scott. “Indians' Byrd admits taking human growth hormone.” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. 21 Oct. 2007http://0
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