A person lucky enough not to be of interest to MLB

7/20/10, "(Victor) Conte's products remain the word for (Marlon) Byrd," Yahoo Sports, Steve Henson

• "Associating with (Victor) Conte is perceived as a risk. The stigma lingers. When the Conte-Byrd alliance was reported by Yahoo! Sports 13 months ago,

Major League Baseball officials had a hissy fit, summoning Byrd to their New York City offices,

• then backing off when
• he balked at making the trip.

Officials said they’d talk to him over the phone,

• but never even did that....

“I think they backed off because it was me,” he said matter-of-factly.

• A year later, his performance speaks louder for Conte than any testimonial. Byrd, who played in his first All-Star Game last week, keeps getting better.

Power? Last year with the Texas Rangers he doubled his previous high in homers with 20, and this year his OPS is a career-best .864.

• Stamina? The 32-year-old is batting .320, nearly 40 points higher than his career average, and hasn’t dipped below .297 since April 22.

Byrd, a reserve for most of his career, has played in 91 of 93 games this season.

• Conte’s array of pills, powders and potions promises increased energy and faster recovery after workouts. He has his skeptics, but to Byrd it’s the word. Upon signing a free-agent contract with the Cubs last winter, Byrd contacted Conte to adjust the regimen to take into account the increased number of day games he’d be playing in Chicago....

Byrd also frequently submits to a comprehensive metabolic blood-testing panel that Conte uses to adjust the regimen. Cubs manager Lou Piniella doesn’t care about the particulars, but he does appreciate Byrd’s contribution....

• “Victor’s supplements have become so much a part of my routine, I can’t imagine not using them,” he said. “I think other guys are missing out.”...

Byrd is still the only MLB player known to use Conte’s supplements."

• I make no inference from this article, I've always heard Marlon Byrd is a terrific person and team mate. It's just interesting the writer either didn't ask for the dates on which Byrd has been tested by MLB in the past year, knew the dates and chose not to put them in the article, or knew that Byrd hadn't been tested at all in the past year and didn't put that in the article. Saying that Byrd "broke no rules" and had good deportment doesn't necessarily cover the topic at hand. ed. photo above AP

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