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Byrd: I Never Took HGH Without Prescription

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The Associated Press

Published: October 22, 2007

BOSTON - His reputation, his clean-cut image, his stature as one of baseball's good guys, they all took a hit.

And Paul Byrd, the soft-tossing pitcher who prides himself on command and control, couldn't stop it.

Just hours before Game 7 of the AL Championship Series on Sunday, Byrd acknowledged using human growth hormone for a medical condition. But the Cleveland right-hander claims he never injected the banned drug without a doctor's prescription.

'I have nothing to hide,' Byrd said about two hours before his team's biggest game against Boston. 'Everything has been done out in the open. I have a reputation. I do not want the fans of Cleveland or honest, caring people to think that I cheated.

'Because I didn't.'

Byrd, whose win in Game 4 of the ALCS moved the Indians within one victory of the World Series, bought nearly $25,000 worth of HGH and syringes from 2002-05, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday.

HGH was not banned by baseball until Jan. 13, 2005. Byrd made his final purchase of HGH a week earlier, the newspaper said.

The Chronicle said Byrd made 13 purchases of HGH between August 2002 and January 2005. During those seasons, he was with Kansas City, Atlanta and the Angels.

Known for his old-school windup and savvy on the mound, Byrd bought HGH from a Palm Beach anti-aging clinic under investigation by authorities for possible illegal distribution of performance-enhancing drugs, the paper said.

The Chronicle, citing an anonymous law enforcement source, said two of Byrd's prescriptions for HGH were not written by a physician.

Standing in front of a media throng outside the Indians' clubhouse, Byrd said he has a pituitary gland condition that required him to take HGH.

Pressed on when he was diagnosed and the nature of his condition, Byrd declined several times to give any details. HGH is banned by Major League Baseball and the International Olympic Committee.

ROCKIES: A Denver snowstorm forced the Rockies indoors for their next-to-last workout before flying off to the AL champion's city for the World Series that starts Wednesday night.

Batters took their cuts in cages beneath the stands at Coors Field, and pitchers split up and threw off the indoor mounds next to the home and visitors' batting cages.

'I played street hockey in Canada,' pitcher Jeff Francis said. 'Do you think some snow is going to bother me?'

A few players ventured outside and tossed some baseballs and snowballs around near the tarp-covered infield, and after the snow stopped, right-hander Jason Hirsh went out to the warning track in right field where the snow wasn't sticking for some long toss.

YANKEES: General Manager Brian Cashman is due in Tampa today to start interviewing candidates to replace Joe Torre as manager.

Former Florida Marlins manager Joe Girardi, Yankees bench coach Don Mattingly and New York first-base coach Tony Pena were the first three candidates invited to interview for the job, which opened last Thursday when Torre refused the Yankees' offer of a $5 million, one-year contract.

Hank Steinbrenner, a son of owner George Steinbrenner, said five or six candidates will be interviewed and that a decision isn't likely until after the World Series.

MEDIA: After ex-Yankees manager Joe Torre declined an invitation to join Fox's Joe Buck and Tim McCarver for the World Series, the network confirmed it likely will pursue Torre again for a more extensive role in 2008.

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