Paul Byrd: Choosing Family Over Baseball

Paul Byrd isn't going to spring training, 2009.  He's staying home.  The announcement came down today through official channels like MLB.com and Ken Rosenthal at FOX Sports.  Coincidentally, I had an interview scheduled with Paul the same day of this big announcement.  "Confused Major Leaguer," is how he described himself as we started our talk.  He was being sarcastic.  Paul is not confused.  He's making a choice, family over baseball.  By backing away from the chance to earn some additional millions of dollars when the new season starts, he's firmly deciding to see what life is like at home with his two kids, ages 11 and 12, and wife Kym.  You can call it a trial retirement.  Or just a hiatus from a game he still loves to play, baseball.

The purpose of our interview was to have Paul fill in some holes.  I spoke with Kym this past summer about her Strong Marriages In Professional Sports study, which led me to further interviews about marriage in baseball.  I've talked to guys who are lost in their retirement.  I've talked to guys, like Doug Glanville, who are thriving.  But when I spoke recently with Rockies pitcher Jason Grilli, he touched upon his faith.  Faith.  Scary word.  Means religion is somewhere around the corner.  Means somebody's going to feel uncomfortable, squirm a little bit.  Means a lot of things.  But Jason started something that needed a little more coverage.  Paul Byrd provided that coverage.

In June, 2008, Paul wrote a book, all by himself, called Free Byrd: The Power Of A Liberated Life.  It covers his journey to becoming a Christian and how he was able to use God to help him on his path through The Baseball Life.  It was important for people to understand where religion fits in a baseball clubhouse.  Paul spoke very well about this, and you'll hear it soon enough on Jimmy Scott's High & Tight. 

So it's an hour before we are to speak and I Google his name.  The top result is the news that he's not going to play baseball for a portion, if not all of the 2009 season.  Why?

Funny parallel.  Just before Game 7 of the 2007 ALCS, when Paul was pitching for Cleveland, word came out that Paul had used HgH.  You can read about it online or in his book.  He would soon afterward be included in The Mitchell Report.  Now, he's planning on sitting out the first half of 2009 with the plan on coming back halfway through to help a team make a run for the playoffs.  Does this remind of you anyone?  Anyone who may have been accused of taking HgH after playing half a season for an absurd amount of money?  Paul laughed at the thought.  It's not a money thing at all.

He just wants to help out at home.  It's as simple as that.  He talked about how tough it is on his wife to raise two kids while he's away half the year.  He talked about how much he missed his family during the year.  He admitted he's already made an absurd amount of money over his career.  And while "it's like daggers through my heart" thinking about how he was one game away from making it to the World Series in both '07 and '08, he has chosen to take this route.

He's not in great shape now.  He mentioned how he played basketball recently and needed a substitute relatively quickly so he could catch his breath.  But he's just about ready to start working out, which he says he loves.  He even said his body will probably be more properly healed and ready for the rigors of baseball come next summer.  So he says from his family  and body/health perspective, he's doing the right thing.

Players in past generations didn't have this option.  They didn't make enough money to quit before they were no longer useful to teams willing to pay them.  Most players from any generation have had trouble leaving the game for other reasons. Paul has his reasons to go, to take his little hiatus.  When family is the most important thing in your life and you're wise enough to see that, maybe it's not the hardest decision in the world.  Maybe it's just what's right.