I have been following the steroid-use controversy concerning Rafael Palmeiro with trepidation. Let me say first that when Rafael came up w/ the Cubs, I thought he was going to be a really good ballplayer, and I never did understand why the Cubs traded him.
My respect for him dwindled when he started hawking Viagra a few years ago.
My respect regrew once he quit doing that and when I realized the record-breaking hitting achievements he'd posted in the interim.
I was entirely stunned to learn of his suspension for steroid use. After all, back in March during the Congressional hearings on steroid use in baseball, he was adamant that he was not a user, despite what Jose Canseco wrote in his book. [I now hear echoes of "I did not have sex with that woman."--Ed.] At the time, I was not the only one to think that Palmeiro's stature increased to the same degree that Mark McGwire's decreased when contrasting Palmeiro's statements with McGwire's evasive testimony.
I was willing to give Palmeiro the benefit of the doubt about his testing positive: perhaps it was due to a minor ingredient in an over-the-counter concoction he'd taken. I knew he had nothing to gain and tons to lose (especially at this late stage of his career) by taking steroids and getting caught . . . and then I learned that the steroid in his system was stanozolol, the same steroid that felled Olympic and world-champion sprinter Ben Johnson. It is not something that just shows up in trace amounts in anything OTC.
The very next day, a Seattle Mariners pitcher (whose name escapes me at the moment) was also suspended for testing positive. He offered the same increasingly-lame-sounding explanation: "I have no idea how the steroids got into my system."
Right. And all unicorns will be destroyed if the guy doesn't share his Emerald nuts with his little girl.
All the facts must be revealed and evaluated in each and every case before we simply choose to ignore the accomplishments of the current major leaguers. Every little relevation, however, especially about someone so high profile due to his on-field exploits, chips away a bit more at my resolve to hear all the evidence before making up my mind.
Palmeiro eventually may still be elected to the Hall of Fame, but certainly not on the first ballot. Maybe not on the first five or ten ballots. Of course, if even more bad news comes out about his steroid use, he may have demolished his chances to be enshrined at all. We can but wait and see.
Contrast the weekend induction of Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandburg into the Hall. Boggs's tribute to his mentor, his father, was incredibly moving. Sandburg's speech, focusing on how he approached everything he did to show his respect for the game, was genuinely inspiring. (I know the already-inducted HOF members liked Sandburg's speech a lot. They were nodding in agreement all the way through it.) Boggs was only the 41st player to be voted in on his very first eligibility; Sandburg should have been voted in on his first appearance on the ballot. Nevertheless, they both embody what baseball can produce when those who play the game play it right.
This week's suspensions cannot sully or tarnish the weekend's ceremonies, but they sure do muck up the game today.
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