Instead, the scene was Byrd hemmed in by hundreds of reporters outside the visitors' clubhouse of this ancient hardball shrine, making a statement and taking a handful of questions after a story in yesterday's editions of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that he had received nearly $25,000 worth of human-growth hormone and syringes from the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center while playing for the Royals, Braves and Angels between August 2002 and January 2005.
He pitched for the Phillies after being claimed off waivers by the Braves from August 1998 to June 2001, when he was traded to Kansas City.
In a remarkable appearance about 2 hours before the first pitch, Byrd openly admitted having ordered, received and used the hormones . . . while steadfastly denying he had done anything wrong.
"I have never taken any hormone or any drug that was not prescribed to me by a doctor, and that is the key to this," he said earnestly. "I have a reputation. I speak at different places. 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 that I cheated. Because I didn't. That is very important to me. That is first and foremost above anything else."
He went on to point out that he made the payments on his personal credit card, in his own name, and openly accepted the shipments at team facilities.
"I had nothing to hide," he said. "I actually, for a small period of time, stored them in the refrigerator in the clubhouses. So I feel like that . . . makes things very legitimate [as far as] my intentions."
Later, he said that he has been prescribed medication for a pituitary tumor and that he was "very happy" that he's been working with Major League Baseball.
There are at least a few inconsistencies or questions in that self-defense.
* According to the Chronicle story, two of the prescriptions were written not by a physician, but by a Florida dentist whose license was suspended in 2003 for fraud and incompetence.
