Rafael Palmeiro
I’m back from Suissevale! As usual I had a good week there. Lots of beach, lots of swimming, lots of volleyball, and all that stuff you do on vacation at a lake made it a good time for all. Anyways, a lot has happened in the week that I was gone and I think there’s one thing in particular that’s definitely worth blogging about: Rafael Palmeiro’s positive steroid test.
The most troubling thing about this whole case is not just the fact that Palmeiro is the first legitimate potential Hall of Famer to be caught taking steroids. The most troubling thing is that out of all of the players dragged into the now infamous Congressional hearing many months ago, Palmeiro was probably the most respected and least suspected of ever taking steroids. Even though his name was mentioned specifically by Jose Canseco in his book, essentially everyone in the world shrugged it off as desperate publicity stunt and money making attempt by a man who has gone insane under the influence of all the juice that he took himself as a ballplayer. On the other hand, though, Canseco also mentioned Mark Mcgwire in his book, and because Mcgwire did not stare Congress down and boldly deny ever taking steroids, his Hall of Fame chances were immediately called into question by every sports writer in America.
Now, though, you can throw all of that out the window. With each passing day, and each positive steroid test, the things that Canseco said in his book are becoming more and more believable. Leaked information says that Palmeiro tested positive for a drug called stanozolol also known as the brand name Winstrol. What drug did Canseco say he introduced to Palmeiro when they played together for the Rangers? Winstrol. And even as crazy as Canseco is, Skip Bayless brings up a good point in an interesting article where he expresses clear skepticism towards Palmeiro and other suspected big time sluggers:
Jose Canseco wrote “Juiced” in part because he believed baseball had scapegoated him as its only steroid-freak slugger, blackballing him and denying him the opportunity to reach 500 homers and the Hall of Fame. . .Call Canseco a rat if you must. But rats have helped put away lots of mobsters.
Even though Canseco is a psychotic sell out, he also felt cheated by Major League Baseball and didn’t want to be used by Baseball as the only outcast who would resort to steroids. So in that sense, his book becomes more than just a money-making scheme, it becomes a quest to put the real truth out into the open.
And speaking of the truth, one really major problem that I have with the steroid testing program as it stands right now is that as it stands right now, there is a confidentiality agreement in place that is supposed to protect either side from releasing the specifics of the positive drug tests. In Palmeiro’s case, the information was somehow leaked. If it wasn’t though, we would still have no idea if he tested positive for a steroid not much more potent than caffeine, or if he had been taking a drug that helped Ben Johnson crush the 100m world record in 1988 (Ben Johnson tested positive for stanozolol and has since been stripped of his medals, his records, and been banned from track and field for life). Up to this point, without knowledge of the positive tests and the steroids that these athletes are taking, every athlete that has tested positive thus far has hid behind the “It must’ve been some contaminated supplement” excuse.
The public deserves the whole truth about the steroid scandal in baseball. If there continues to be concealed information and questions about “contaminated supplements,” then the steroid testing program starts to raise even more questions than it answers. In the case of Rafael Palmeiro, he tested positive for a substance whose main qualities were to help build moderate muscle mass, recover more quickly from workouts, improve acceleration, and avoid serious injury. The last of which is one of Palmeiro’s cornerstone strengths to making it to the hall of fame. Never a true superstar, Palmeiro has been a very productive player for an extended period of time and has never gone on the disabled list. Is it all a result of stanozolol? Right now it appears that it was a serious contributing factor, and without more answers and a deeper understanding of the truth behind his story, there is no way Palmeiro is worthy of entrance into the Hall of Fame.
