Just five months after proclaiming to a congressional panel, “I have never taken steroids. Period,” Rafael Palmeiro has become the seventh domino to fall to the new MLB steroid testing policy. While other notable players have been revealed as users, such as Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees, Palmeiro’s case is the most unusual as he had nothing to gain and everything to lose. After hitting his 3,000th hit in July, Palmeiro has constantly been in the public eye, not for accusations of testing positive for foreign substances, but rather to discuss his Hall of Fame potential. Always a good player, but never great, Palmeiro found himself on the border in the eyes of most Hall of Fame voters. This was when his reputation was as flawless as his acting in the Viagra commercials. Now the four-time all-star may find himself, like Pete Rose, looking at Cooperstown from the outside in.
Baltimore Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli claimed his players were upset but would continue to support Palmeiro. I’m sure one teammate is very thankful, as it could have easily been Sammy Sosa facing the same fate as Palmeiro. Unlike his teammate, “Slammin’ Sammy” made his name due a span of seven years of stellar slugging numbers which included the famous home run race with Mark McGuire in 1998.
Because Sosa hired an interpreter for the congressional hearings while losing a great deal of muscle mass, he has recently received much steroid speculation. The slimmer McGuire earned the same suspicions with his constant rebuttals to Congress that he wouldn’t like to focus on the past.
It was Palmeiro, however, who vehemently denied his association with steroids. He pointed his finger and, for one moment, became the epitome of everything right in baseball. Yet on Monday, Palmeiro had nobody left to point at except himself.
Player’s Union head Donald Fehr said, “The suspension should serve to dispel doubts about our determination to rid baseball of illegal steroids, or the strength or effectiveness of our testing program.” Well, Donald, all this suspension proved is that the public can’t trust professional baseball players anymore, except maybe Jose Canseco. Wow, who thought that would ever be said.
We still have no evidence that McGuire, Sosa, Gary Sheffield or even Barry Bonds intentionally took steroids, only speculation. But these are the players that noticeably bulked up physically. Yet with skinny, no-name players like Alex Sanchez of the Devil Rays receiving steroid suspensions, how can we know for sure who is innocent? If anyone is a victim, it’s not Bonds and Company but instead natural talents like Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez. Never before had they been accused of doping after seasons of fifty or more home runs, but they will always be part of an era that has been given a permanent asterisk.
“I don’t know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never.” Well, Raffy, I can’t say it any more clearly that you have embarrassed yourself and your profession. And for what? You were never suspected of using steroids and this season had nothing for you to gain as you could have reached 3,000 hits by hitting less than .200. Steroids would have done very little for a player of your prestige and necessity.
Of the three other players to hit 500 homers and have 3,000 hits, two had over 650 homers and the other batted well over .300. It is because Palmeiro was close to neither that he might miss getting inducted to the Hall of Fame on his first ballot. It is because of his careless actions, and the appearance that he may have perjured himself before Congress, that Palmeiro may miss the Hall of Fame all together.
Maybe Rafael was telling the truth; maybe he didn’t take steroids knowingly. Yet in a country that respects those who admit mistakes and condemns those who don’t, Palmeiro must now decide how he wants to be remembered. He could follow Jason Giambi, admit his sins and possibly revive his career. Or, he could follow many of his peers and hide the truth, further destroying his chance for baseball immortality.
Thus far, all we do know is that Jose Canseco’s “witch-hunt” of a novel may be accurate. Maybe the heroes of the past decade weren’t heroes at all. Palmeiro was never in their class, anyway, just a hard-working, average player representing the common man. Then again, maybe those who work the hardest with every ounce of their heart are the true heroes.
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