O’Neill: Pud in Pittsburgh was the original PED user

From Brian O’Neill at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on April 27, 2017, with mention of SABR member Chip Martin:

It shouldn’t make suspended Pirates outfielder Starling Marte feel any better, but there was a time when a Pittsburgh ballplayer could shoot himself up with a performance-enhancing drug and people thought that was dandy.

Or hadn’t you heard of Pud Galvin, the 300-game winner who, on Aug. 12, 1889, was injected at a Pittsburgh medical college with an elixir whose major ingredient was the ground-up testes of animals?

The next day this aging, overweight pitcher went out and beat the best team in baseball, shutting out the first-place Boston Beaneaters on only five hits in a 9-0 triumph for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys. Galvin, never known for his hitting, belted a double and a triple in the bargain.

Read the full article here: http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/brian-oneill/2017/04/27/Brian-O-Neill-Pud-Galvin-Hall-of-Fame-steroids-Starling-Marte/stories/201704270020



Originally published: April 28, 2017. Last Updated: April 28, 2017.