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By Kent Summer, Section MLB
"Juiced: Wild times, rampant `roids, smash hits, and how baseball got big," the title of Jose Canseco's book. In the book, he talks about helping players such as Mark McGwire, Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, and Rafael Palmeiro.
"Yes. We spoke and educated three or four players there. ... Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez," says Canseco. "I injected them. Absolutely." When Canseco's book came out, many people came to arms to defend the players named in the book, including former Oakland A's manager Tony La Russa. La Russa, who managed the bash brothers-McGwire and Canseco, had this to say about the book: "I don't think there's any doubt that it's a fabrication. The product of our good play and the size and strength of our players -- Mark was a great example. What we saw was a lot of hard work. And hard work will produce strength gains and size gains." But when Rafael Palmeiro was suspended by Major League Baseball, for a violation of the league's steroid policy, the thought that Jose Canseco is a credible source, takes on a new light. Nearly 5 months ago, Rafael Palmeiro vehemently expressed to congress, that he had never taken illegal substances. "I have never used steroids. Period." Now, his position has changed slightly. In a conference call on Monday, Palmeiro revised his statement. "I told the truth, and today I am telling the truth again that I did not do this intentionally or knowingly," said the Baltimore slugger. Knowingly...so now we are supposed to believe that he didn't intentionally take human growth hormones. "I made a mistake and I am facing it. I hope people learn from my mistake and I hope the fans forgive me." Unless Kellogg's is going behind Palmeiro's back, and pumping his Froot Loops full of the cream without him knowing, I have a very hard time believing that this was an accident. Of course, there is the possibility that Jose Canseco worked out a deal with Kellogg's, to dose Palmeiro through his Froot Loops at the breakfast table. That way, Jose would have more credibility-but I doubt that. If he got it from a teammate or someone else, he should have had the smarts to check what it was first. He also says in the conference call that no one should take anything without a prescription. "You just have to be careful with what you take," he said. "You have to make sure you see a doctor. You have to make sure you are taking supplements from a reputable source and be very careful with what you take. It happened to me and it can happen to anyone." To me, this sounds like he's guilty, because he's not saying stuff like, "I don't know how this happened...I take vitamins because I am an older player, and maybe one of them has a chemical that registered on the steroid test," but we're not hearing any of that. Taking a look at Palmeiro's home run numbers, it makes me even more suspicious of how credible his numbers are. From 1986, to 2004, here are his home run numbers: 3, 14, 8, 8, 13, 26, 22, 37, 23, 39, 39, 38, 43, 47, 39, 47, 43, 38, 23. Hitting 47 home runs, after he is 35 years old, seems suspicious. But I am really sick of all of this. It is absolutely terrible that we have to question every player's statistics. From Rafael Palmeiro, to someone like Carlos Delgado; everyone seems to now be under the microscope. Do we just wipe out all the numbers from the 90s? Canseco named Palmeiro in his book, as one of the players he taught how to take steroids. And after denying the allegations for a long time, even going in front of congress and under oath, saying that he had never taken steroids, Palmeiro is suspended for taking a steroid substance. I do tend to lean now, towards Jose's story. After the information was released about Palmeiro being suspended, Canseco said that the lasting effects of steroids could have left a fingerprint in the Baltimore first baseman's body. Jose also said that he did not believe that Palmeiro had taken steroids for a while, and that it probably was an accident. I would like to believe Rafael's version of the story. He's not a bad boy in baseball. Working with two senators, Palmeiro was scratching out a no-tolerance drug program in baseball. Generally well-liked in baseball circles, a clean record, it's very sad to see such a classy baseball player go down in flames. We all saw Jason Giambi rise, fall, and rise again. When he admitted to a federal grand jury that he took steroids, he owned up to it. Yes, there were things that he couldn't talk about because of legalities, but even so, he took it like a man. See, this is the problem that we now have. Giambi admitted it. He took his punishment, and he just hit 8 home runs in 11 games! But Palmeiro says that it was unintentional. That he has no idea how the steroids entered his body. And then, he says that people should learn from his mistakes. Don't take anything without a prescription, make sure you are taking supplements from a reputable source...he's uttering contradicting statements. And after 20 years, he starts to take steroids? That seems odd. Like he said in the conference call-he had nothing to gain, and everything to lose. There are two ways to look at the story, and each is very persuading. While you might believe Rafael, the question still remains. But how will this affect his Hall of Fame status? He was a very sure candidate for Cooperstown. A member of the 500 home run club, a member of the 3,000 hits club- only the fourth player to be in those two clubs, along with the likes of Willie Mays. Even before this steroids controversy, people weren't sure if he should be in the Hall of Fame. After testing positive for steroids, his chances at Cooperstown are even slimmer. He won't make the first ballot. I'm pretty sure of that. But because we can't say whether he did or did not intentionally take the substance, and based on his outstanding numbers, Rafael Palmeiro should be in the Hall of Fame.
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