Rafael Palmeiro tests positive for steroids

WFAN | 08/01/05

[JohnnyZ]

The Os are in melt-down mode ..... Go Yankees.

Good, good, you're ahead of the Orioles, now maybe you can fend off the Blue Jays and hang on to 2nd place!

[dead]

That's hysterical!

[.cnI redruM]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/baseball/mlb/08/01/steroids.suspension/index.html

Yep, looks like he screwed this one up.

[Trajan88]

That's why they play 162.

Trajan88 (#23 Plano, Texas Yankees)

[connectthedots]

I have the jim rome show on now - but Skip Bayless is guest hosting....maybe something will pop up on that show. I may not last long enuf to listen, though.

I never make it past "...sitting in for Jim Rome". He is horrible.

[Alberta's Child]

Jason Giambi had to practically go back to the minors to learn how to hit again WITHOUT steroids.

Spending a couple of hours a day in the batting cage with Don Mattingly will do wonders for a hitter.

[Fury]

Damn. I liked him as a player.

What some folks don't seem to get is that this sort of thing calls into question so many of the records of recent baseball players. Players such as Palmeiro, Bonds, Giambi ("Juiceambi"), etc. don't just tarnish their records, they tarnish the game.

Very sad...

[richmwill]

If steroid use disqualifies someone from the Hall of Fame, expect to see maybe 10 inductees total in the next 25 years.

[gopwinsin04]

Or if the test was taken earlier in the year.

[coder2]

Very sad...

What's even worse is that it appears steroid use is gaining momentum in high school and college...

[JohnnyZ]

Spending a couple of hours a day in the batting cage with Don Mattingly will do wonders for a hitter.

Just look at the season John Flaherty's having!

[Alberta's Child]

That has to be the most inconsequential 3,000 hits and 500 home runs ever for a major league ballplayer.

No batting titles, no home run or RBI titles, mediocre defensive player, only four All-Star appearances in 19 years, never played in a World Series, etc. It was actually kind of surprising to wake up one day and read that he was approaching these two milestones.

If there's one guy who should be kept out of the Hall of Fame due to the "Numbers Inflated by DH Stats Late in His Career" rule, it's Palmeiro.

[Go_Raiders]

I think someone spiked his Viagra.

[Alberta's Child]

LOL. Flaherty's problem is that he's barely even a big-league ballplayer. He's basically a bullpen catcher who gets paid a major-league salary.

[pkajj]

Cubs fans will tell you his time in Chicago was more than a little unsettling, when it was revealed he was engaged in a big time affair with Ryne Sandberg's wife. Guess that was during his pre-ED era.

[txkev]

Obviously, this is the handywork of Karl Rove and most definitely is Bush's fault!

[JohnnyZ]

He's basically a bullpen catcher who gets paid a major-league salary.

And yet Posada is such a joke as a receiver that Randy needs Anyone But Jorge to catch him.

[Jhensy]

After this, I'm not so likely to give Giambi the benefit of the doubt.

I mean, he suddenly goes from being pathetic and clueless with 5 whole HRs in the first three months (and on the verge of being sent to the minors and/or being released), to suddenly being the most dangerous hitter in baseball with 15 HRs in July?

No, nothing suspicious here...

Sorry Jason, you brought this on yourself.

[Steve_Seattle]

"That has to be the most inconsequential 3,000 hits and 500 home runs ever for a major league ballplayer. No batting titles, no home run or RBI titles, mediocre defensive player, only four All-Star appearances in 19 years, never played in a World Series, etc."

Setting aside the steroid thing for a moment, there's no such thing as an "inconsequential" 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. The fact that he had no batting, home run, or rbi titles is meaningless. A number of players have won those titles whose career achievements were well short of Palmeiro's. When I think of a modern hall-of-famer with relatively mediocre stats, I think of Yaz. But Yaz played in Boston and got a lot of PR that Palmeiro never got.

[JohnnyZ]

No batting titles, no home run or RBI titles, mediocre defensive player

He does have three Gold Gloves, which is 3x as many as Jeter has and 3 more than Jeter will ever deserve.

From 1990-2003 he was top ten in extra base hits and total bases 10 times, 11 times top ten in HR.

Aside from Raffy's particular case, should a player be punished for only hitting .320 with 40 HR and 125 RBI every year if he is so consistent or a victim of bad timing that he never wins a title in any of those?

A great hitter like Manny Ramirez has only one one title of each in his career, although he may add one or two more this year.