Rafael Palmeiro

Infobox MLB retired
name=Rafael Palmeiro

---

width=256
position=First baseman
bats=Left
throws=Left
birthdate=birth date and age|1964|9|24
city-state|Havana|Cuba
deathdate=
debutdate=September 8
debutyear=by|1986
debutteam=Chicago Cubs
finaldate=August 30
finalyear=by|2005
finalteam=Baltimore Orioles
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.288
stat2label=Hits
stat2value=3,020
stat3label=Home runs
stat3value=569
teams=
* Chicago Cubs (by|1986-by|1988)
* Texas Rangers (by|1989-by|1993, by|1999-by|2003)
* Baltimore Orioles (by|1994-by|1998, by|2004-by|2005)
highlights=
* 4x All-Star selection (1988, 1991, 1998, 1999)
* 3x Gold Glove Award winner (1997, 1998, 1999)
* 2x Silver Slugger Award winner (1998, 1999)

Rafael Palmeiro Corrales (born September 24, 1964 in Havana, Cuba) is a former Major League Baseball player with a career spanning 20 years, 1986 to 2005. Though technically not officially retired, Palmeiro has not played since Baseball Year|2005.

Palmeiro was an All-American at Mississippi State University before being drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1985. His major league debut came on September 8, Baseball Year|1986 with the Cubs. He played three seasons with the Cubs (Baseball Year|1986-Baseball Year|1988), ten seasons with the Texas Rangers (Baseball Year|1989–Baseball Year|1993, Baseball Year|1999–Baseball Year|2003), and seven seasons with the Baltimore Orioles (Baseball Year|1994–Baseball Year|1998, Baseball Year|2004–Baseball Year|2005). He was named to the All-Star Team four times, and won the Gold Glove three times. He is a member of the exclusive 500 home run club and the 3000 hit club and is only the fourth player in history to be a member of both. He ranks tenth in history with 569 home runs.

Career

Palmeiro debuted on September 8, Baseball Year|1986 in a game between the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field, as a left fielder. [ [http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B09080CHN1986.htm Retrosheet Boxscore: Chicago Cubs 7, Philadelphia Phillies 4 ] ] During his tenure with the Cubs, he normally played left field, though occasionally he would play other outfield positions or first base. Palmeiro was the runner up to National League batting champion Tony Gwynn in 1988 with a .307 batting average, only six points below Gwynn's. After the 1988 season, Palmeiro was traded by the Cubs to the Texas Rangers along with Jamie Moyer and Drew Hall in exchange for Mitch Williams, Paul Kilgus, Steve Wilson, Curt Wilkerson, Luis Benitez, and Pablo Delgado.

Upon moving to the American League, Palmeiro was primarily used as a first baseman or designated hitter. Palmeiro blossomed as a hitter while with the Rangers, leading the league in hits in Baseball Year|1990 and doubles in Baseball Year|1991. In 1990, he was third in the American League in batting.

Prior to Palmeiro's Baseball Year|1995 season, he had hit more than thirty home runs only once (37 in Baseball Year|1993). Starting in 1995, Palmeiro began a streak of 38+ home run years that continued through the Baseball Year|2003 season. He hit 373 home runs during this nine-season span, while also driving in over 100 runs in each of these seasons. However, Palmeiro never led the league in home runs, and is history's most prolific home run hitter to have never won the home run crown. Palmeiro's nine consecutive years with 38+ home runs set the record - breaking record of seven consecutive years by Babe Ruth (1926–1932).

On May 11, Baseball Year|2003, Palmeiro hit his 500th home run off David Elder in a game against the Cleveland Indians. Two years later, Palmeiro joined Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Eddie Murray as the only players in major league history to get 3,000 hits and 500 home runs when he got his 3,000th base hit off Joel Pineiro during a game against the Seattle Mariners on July 15, Baseball Year|2005. Because most of Palmeiro's home runs came with the Rangers and Orioles, he is one of only four players in history to hit over 200 home runs for two different clubs.

Palmeiro has played in 2,831 major league games, the most by any player who has never played in the World Series. His 1999 Gold Glove Award is regarded by many as controversial, because he won the award despite playing only 28 games at first base that season. [ [http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=8502 8 Upper by Tom Scocca: Fools' Gold | 11/17/1999 ] ] [ [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/G/Gold_Glove_Award.stm Gold Glove Award | BaseballLibrary.com ] ] He played most of his games that year as a designated hitter.

Palmeiro filed for free agency on October 29, 2005, indicating he would attempt to play his 20th season in baseball. As of 2007, he has not signed or played with any team. Palmeiro currently resides in Colleyville, TX with his wife and two sons.

teroids

Former Rangers teammate José Canseco identified Palmeiro as a fellow steroid user in his 2005 book, "", and claimed he personally injected Palmeiro with steroids. On March 17, 2005, Palmeiro appeared at a Congressional hearing about steroids in baseball and, while under oath, denied ever using steroids and stated, "Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids, period. I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never." [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2121659 ESPN - Palmeiro docked 10 days for steroids - MLB ] ]

On August 1, 2005, Palmeiro was suspended for ten days after testing positive for stanozolol. [cite web | title = Players suspended under baseball's steroids policy | publisher = espn.com | date = 2006-06-07 | url = http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2474192 | accessdate = 2007-07-20] In a public statement, Palmeiro disclosed that an appeal of the suspension had already been denied. He released a statement saying, "I have never intentionally used steroids. Never. Ever. Period. Ultimately, although I never intentionally put a banned substance into my body, the independent arbitrator ruled that I had to be suspended under the terms of the program." [ [http://www.wltx.com/sports/sports.aspx?storyid=29331 WLTX.com Sports ] ] It should be noted that all of his previous tests over several years were negative, and a test he took just three weeks after his positive test was also negative. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/12/28/sports/base.php Baseball: Palmeiro weighs unknowns - International Herald Tribune ] ] The "Washington Post" reported that the steroid detected in Palmeiro's system was a "serious" one. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/01/AR2005080100739.html Palmeiro Suspended For Steroid Violation ] ] According to "The New York Times", Palmeiro tested positive for the potent anabolic steroid stanozolol, the same substance Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson of Canada took in 1988 when he was stripped of the gold medal at the Seoul Summer Olympics. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/28/sports/baseball/28chass.html?ex=1293426000&en=6a52d7b087f8ca80&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss Palmeiro Cites His Own Naïveté and Ponders Mystery of It All - New York Times ] ] Palmeiro returned to Camden Yards following his 10-day suspension on August 11, 2005, although he did not play in the lineup until August 14. Coincidentally, this was the date that had been planned as "Rafael Palmeiro Appreciation Day" in celebration of his 500-home run, 3,000-hit milestone. It was canceled after Palmeiro's suspension. Palmeiro famously inserted earplugs in his ears to block out the loud boos of the fans during a subsequent game in Toronto against the Blue Jays. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/30/AR2005083001909.html Palmeiro Tries Earplugs, But Can't Stop Slump ] ]

"The Baltimore Sun" reported that Palmeiro never offered an explanation for his positive test to the MLB arbitration panel, which ran contrary to his public statements. [ [http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-te.palmeiro19aug19,0,5632662.story?coll=bal-sports-indepth Palmeiro provided no details about test - Upper House, Volusia County, Baltimore Orioles - baltimoresun.com ] ] ESPN later reported that Palmeiro implicated Miguel Tejada to baseball's arbitration panel, suggesting a supplement provided to him by Tejada was responsible for his positive test. This supplement was simply vitamin B12, though it could have been tainted. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2169007 ESPN - Source: Palmeiro named Tejada before panel - MLB ] ] Miguel Tejada and two unnamed teammates provided B12 samples to the panel, and the samples did not contain stanozolol. However, the committee did say they found "substantial inconsistencies between Mr. Tejada's accounts and the accounts of players A and B." [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111000852.html - Congress Declines to Prosecute Palmeiro for Perjury - WaPo ] ] Miguel Tejada, who said he received shipments of B12 from the Dominican Republic, was later implicated for steroid use in the Mitchell Report. [ [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bb/5376406.html Housto Chronicle - Miguel Tejada excerpt from Mitchell Report ] ]

On November 10, 2005, ESPN reported that the House Government Reform Committee would not seek perjury charges against Palmeiro, although they were not clearing him. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2219460 ESPN - Congress won't charge Palmeiro with perjury - MLB ] ]

Palmeiro continues to strongly deny ever using steroids, telling the Baltimore Sun in June, 2006, "Yes sir, that's what happened. It's not a story; it's the reality of what happened," and "I said what I said before Congress because I meant every word of it." [ [http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-sp.palmeiro30jun30,0,7577175.story Baltimore Sun - Palmeiro speaks ] ] Palmeiro passed a polygraph test in which he was not asked if he ever used steroids, but in which he did state that he unknowingly ingested them via a B12 injection. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111000852.html Washington Post - Congress Declines to Prosecute Palmeiro for Perjury ] ] [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=merron/051114 ESPN - Pass the B-12 ] ] A 2005 New York Times article expressed one writer's belief that Palmeiro's story could perhaps be the truth. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/13/sports/baseball/13chass.ready.html?pagewanted=print New York Times - Resolution, and Doubts, Regarding Palmeiro ] ]

In December 2007, Palmeiro was included in the Mitchell Report in which it was alleged that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his career. The report did not provide any new evidence and only recapped allegations made by José Canseco, Palmeiro's appearance before congress and his subsequent failed drug test. The report also details a conversation Larry Bigbie alleges he had with Palmeiro where he claims "Palmeiro asked him about his source of steroids and human growth hormone (the source was Kirk Radomski) and how the substances made him feel." Bigbie also stated that "Palmeiro denied in those conversations that he had ever used performance enhancing substances himself." [cite web | url = http://assets.espn.go.com/media/pdf/071213/mitchell_report.pdf | title = Mitchell Report pp. 103-06, 203| format = PDF]

On December 20, 2007 Palmeiro was also named in Jason Grimsley's unsealed affidavit as a user of amphetamines prior to them being banned by MLB. [cite web
url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/SPORT/12/20/drugs.grimley.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest
title= Affidavit: Grimsley named players |date=2007-12-20
publisher=CNN |accessdate=2007-12-31]

ee also

* List of Famous Cuban-Americans
* List of Major League Baseball Home Run Records
* List of Major League Baseball doubles records
* 500 home run club
* 3000 hit club
* 3000-500 Club
* Top 500 home run hitters of all time
* List of Cubans
* List of major league players with 2,000 hits
* List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
* List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
* List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
* 3000-300 club
* List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
* List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
* List of Major League Baseball players suspended for performance-enhancing drugs
*List of Major League Baseball players named in the Mitchell Report
* List of Baltimore Orioles Opening Day Starting Lineups
*List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

References

External links

* [http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20050801&content_id=1153525&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb Rafael Palmeiro suspended for steroid usage]