by Daniel Cote

Created on: February 20, 2009   Last Updated: October 03, 2009

It is almost impossible to turn on your television and not hear or see something about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. High profile players like Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez have been linked to using such substances calling into question the legitimacy of their statistics. What most casual baseball fans do not know is that the use of performance enhancing drugs has been going on for over 100 years.

Jim "Pud" Galvin was a major league baseball player and pitcher from 1875-1892. Pud pitched during an era where 2-man rotations were common. This allowed him to compile over 6,000 innings pitched and 646 complete games throughout his career; by today's standards, these numbers and unachievable. Galvin also played most of his career during a time when the distance between the pitching mound and home plate was a mere 50", rather than the current 60'6". As the distance between the pitching mound and home plate grew farther apart, Galvin found it more difficult to pitch effectively.

On August 14th of 1889, Galvin was injected with a concoction called the Brown-Sequard elixir at a medical college in Pittsburgh with the hopes that it would help him overcome his struggles. This substance, which was created in 1856 by Charles-Edouard Brown-Sequard, is derived mainly from the testosterone of guinea pigs, dogs, and other animals. On August 23rd of 1889, the New York Times published an article about the effects this elixir can have on a human being according to the tests performed by Dr. Henry P. Loomis. According to this article, the elixir has proved to increase the strength of the human organism, not by structural change but by nutritive modifications. This concoction was originally to be used to treat elderly patients by increasing their strength so they could function more easily in society.

Other doctors claimed that the substance provided patients with no significant help. However, Galvin claims that after injecting himself with this substance, he felt stronger and actually played better. According to newspaper reports of the day, Galvin pitched a shutout and knocked in three RBI's with a double and a triple just one day after being injected. It was common knowledge of the day that Galvin used the Brown-Sequard elixir and there were no rules against it. This was probably due to the fact that in 1890's people could still purchase cocaine by mail or order it at your local store.

Had Galvin used this performance enhancing substance earlier, it might have had a more prominent effect on his playing career. However, since he used it toward the end of his career, the overall results were fairly limited. Galvin died in 1902 from pneumonia at the age of 45. Despite knowledge of his use of this performance enhancing substance, Jim "Pud" Galvin was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965.

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