I don't think this story actually happened after checking for it. There are zero mentions of it in Pittsburgh at any point before someone dug up the footnote, though there are jokes about it during that era, just like there are fountain of youth jokes when an old player did well. There were no experiments in Pittsburgh on that date. It was basically huge news everywhere at the same time that he had a great game, so I think it was a comical connection. When there were experiments done, they named the people in it and shared the results. August 13th for instance was done in Philadelphia, where they were also at the previous day.
That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if players tried it because they had no trouble finding people (healthy and not healthy) who were willing to try it. Many people reported negative side effects the next day. I wouldn't consider it to be anything different than trying a new aspirin back then that was said to cure headaches.
It's not comparable to players in the 60s doing pills or PED players, and definitely not comparable to players who failed after testing was put in. Those to me are the worst. There was nothing keeping your favorite player from the 60s from trying anything to help them.
What's more interesting about Galvin is the fact that he's known now still by the "Pud" nickname, which was almost never used in print before he was elected to the Hall of Fame and a bio was shared in all of the papers that used that nickname. Most people like the nickname for the obvious wrong pronunciation (it rhymes with Good not Dud), so of course it has stuck. It shouldn't be anything more than a footnote to his life, definitely not how he is known now. He would likely be shocked it's how he is known now if you could give him an elixir of life for a day
Also this story calls him the first guy to pitch a perfect game. How did no one notice that mistake?
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