Athletic greatness comes in all shapes and all sizes.

It doesn't come naturally, but is achieved from hard work diligence and adversity along the journey.

There's opportunity and there's always struggle.

There is triumph and there is defeat.

And there is always a story behind the glory.

Kentucky native Paul Byrd set records as a pitcher for the LSU Tigers in the early 1990.

That still stands to this day and may never be broken.

Paul wore the purple and gold in the early nineties when LSU baseball was on the rise.

His former teammates and legendary coach Skip Bertman recalled his likable presence, even as a young man.

Paul was, you know, a great teammate, but but he was a guy that to me had a great personality off the field.

But was different.

He had that that that winner mentality.

And I think once once he crossed that line, you knew that the game was Paul Byrd█s to be had.

I guarantee you Skip loved to have Paul.

He was he's an awesome teammate.

He's an awesome person.

And he was a great pitcher.

He█s the winningest pitcher to ever pitch in the history of LSU with 17 wins in one season.

He's a superstar.

We talked to Paul about how his time in Baton Rouge left a lasting impression on LSU fans, many who continued to follow him throughout his career.

Have a seat.

Glad you're back, We█re in the horse racing section.

Growing up in Kentucky I love the racetrack.

So yeah, they've got a lot of cool stuff in here.

Let's segway right into that.

How did a guy from Kentucky get to Baton Rouge.

Give me some back stories between your signing with the Tigers and you're being approached.

So Kentucky horse racing, bourbon, basketball, nobody plays baseball in Kentucky at that time in the eighties.

I couldn't find anybody play catch with me in the fall.

So it was apparent that was my passion and real thankful for my dad not trying to make me something that I wasn't.

So I went to in high school, I went to a Cincinnati Reds baseball camp and I hit 89 on the radar gun and he got the Scouts card, wrote a little thing that said, you know, I wanted to play.

I signed it and he mailed it out to all these colleges.

I'd seen Arizona State in the College World Series.

I was going to Arizona State.

It was a done deal.

And LSU called and I met Coach Bertman.

And when I went on my other visits, there was a lot of guys.

The coaches acted like, Hey, we're going to win without you.

We hope you come here.

Coach Bertman said, I need you.

He said, My program's going to fall apart if you don't come.

Hmm.

And that was a different way of recruiting.

I was the only guy on the trip.

There wasn't a bunch of them.

Within 10 minutes, he had talked me into committing to LSU, and I'm so glad for that.

We recruited Byrd, I remember on the first day he said, Boy, I want to come here.

And I really loved his attitude.

Told me, Go home and talk with your parents.

But he just loved it here.

And from the first day that he started, he loved LSU and everybody loved him.

And he wasn't the best pitcher on that team because we had obviously been the time of an older pitchers.

But he was without a doubt one of the smarter young men I've ever coached on the mound.

He'd always come up with a way to get the hit around.

I remember one day Paul was struggling and one of the games I don't remember when it was, but it was enough struggle to bring Skip out of the dugout and he walked up to the mound.

There's a number of one liners that he had.

So one time he came out and he said, Hey Byrd, it's not your fault, see, it's mine.

And I thought, Oh, wow, he's taking some of the blame for this.

And he said, I never should have recruited you, and I handed him the ball.

And those are the kind of mind games he would play.

But he wanted to bring out the best in you.

And one of the ways he did that was to be really tough on you and tell you you couldn't do it and you had to prove him wrong.

You had the nickname of Bookworm, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So you were taking this seriously.

You were a student of the game?

Yes.

And Coach Bertman wanted you to value education.

He wanted you in the classroom.

He wanted you going to study hall.

He valued that as much or more than he did the baseball, because he knew statistically that only one or two people on our team would get to the big leagues.

When I won the GPA award my freshman year, I didn't even know I won it.

But he did.

And he stopped the game and brought me out to the field and presented me with an award for winning the GPA award of the year.

And that meant something to me.

Coach Bertman was a masterful speaker.

He made you believe in yourself, and he taught me how to think.

That's a way more important in the big leagues than the other stuff.

If you're not convicted or have confidence or believe in yourself or believe in your pitch, you have no chance.

That's the most important ingredient.

That's what I learned at LSU.

(Got him on a pitch out of the strike zone.

Paul Byrd gets out of it.)

You know, I want to go back briefly through the midst of time because I think this is a record that may stand forever.

And that was when you won 17 games, which is unheard of, 17 and six in one season.

19 starts that year.

Nobody will ever do that in college baseball again.

And then I went a little deeper and I found out that you pitched 28 innings in relief.

I mean, you were an all purpose pitcher when these all purpose types of pitchers had long gone.

I appreciate that.

All those guys you mentioned, my freshman year, McDonald, Springer, Lascanic.

We lost those guys and.

Bertman asked me, hey, we need help in the bullpen.

If I start you second game, shorter game on Saturday, and even if you give me five, if we blow them out, I'll take you out of the game.

Instead of throwing the bullpen during the week, can you come in the game, throw nice and easy and see if you can get us outs.

That would probably be frowned upon today.

So there was.

It was a different mindset and I was just trying to help the team and when the smoke cleared 17 games.

I appreciate your you saying that.

I hope it stands a little longer, but somebody will probably come along, go 18-0, and I'd love to shake that guy's hand.

Bird would go on to be a second Team All-America selection, and after three seasons he was drafted in the fourth round to start a 14 year career in the Major Leagues that included 109 wins, along with victories in the ALDS and ALCS to help Cleveland reach the 2007 world Series.

All of a sudden, he reinvented himself to extend his career, and that takes a lot of talent.

The average big league guy plays about three years, Paul played 14, so it was a wonderful big league career for Paul Byrd.

(Swing and a miss, he struck him out).

You played for 19 teams in the major leagues and in the minor league.

Yeah, professionally.

I've heard some teammates kid you and say, well, you couldn't hold a job.

Yeah, with 19 teams but I mean a remarkable 14 year career 1999 National League all star team led the American League in complete games in 2002 and shutouts in 2007.

And all of this is coming when you were suffering a couple of very serious arm injuries.

That's probably what I'm most proud of.

I wasn't Ben McDonald.

I wasn't Lascanic or Springer.

I didn't throw mid nineties, but I had a couple of shoulder reconstructions of an elbow surgeries and I had to reinvent myself after I lost what was already a subpar fastball.

So I think that's what I'm most proud about is just survival.

When I look around and sorry, I didn't know I was going to do that.

When I look around and I see superstars, I don't belong in here.

I was just a average pitcher who survived and who who went out and wanted to compete, who cared?

Man, when I look around and I see, you know, superstars in this room, I wasn't that I was just a decent player who had to survive on the next team.

And I'm real proud that I walked away in my career.

My wife had moved us 54 times.

I had two boys.

She said, You boys need your home.

And I had three major league contracts on the table and I'm in my late thirties and I'm real proud that I walked away to be with them on my own terms.

And I had a great journey.

Well you walked away.

But you also started another chapter with Byrdhouse Ministries.

Yeah.

Tell me what Byrdhouse Ministries is and what it's meant to you and your family.

Personally, I owe so much to the state of Louisiana.

I found my faith at LSU.

I've walked away with the girl Kym Yupper Who grew up in New Orleans.

We met at LSU.

We went through premarital counseling.

It changed my life.

My life was baseball.

My identity was baseball.

And I learned that baseball is what I did.

It's not who I was.

And so I took these lessons that I learned in marriage and counseling, and we said, Hey, if we ever make it, let's opening open a counseling center.

And so she runs an equine therapy ministry where when you get within five feet of a horse, your heart rate lowers.

It's like a huge service dog.

And so we combine counseling with that and teach a lot of these truths.

And she does a great job running it.

With the help of his wife, Kym, and through the work of Byrdhouse Ministries, Paul found a much higher calling to life beyond sports, assisting others in mental and spiritual happiness.

But he wouldn't stray far from the game of baseball.

So after his playing days were over, he traded a ball and cleats for a microphone, making new fans as an announcer for the Atlanta Braves.

You get sent up to Section 414 with a Labradoodle named Sophie.

This level of success on and off the field and ties to the state of Louisiana would earn him a coveted spot among the state's greatest athletes, becoming a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2023.

You know, when you look back over your life from then to now, give me one thing that stands out as we conclude this outstanding conversation.

The one thing that stands out is how quick it's gone by.

I love the journey.

It█s got seasons.

It█s got arm injuries.

It█s got All Star games as It█s got, you know, postseason playoffs were done really well.

It's got years where I played for the Royals or some other teams were it was it wasn't fun, but how quickly the journey has gone by all the different seasons, I wouldn't trade any of them.

The time where I was down, I think built a lot of character and is what has made me and the great times are wonderful to celebrate too.

And this is a great time.

Go on.

Congratulations on your well-deserved induction into the 2023 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Oh, thank you so much.

You giving me this interview is very special.

It█s been a long time.