Rafael Palmeiro still haunted by positive steroid test
By Chris Cwik
16 hours ago
Big League Stew
(AP Images)
Eleven years later, Major League Baseball is still coming to terms with the 2005 congressional hearings on steroids. The players involved in those hearings have all taken divergent paths. Jose Canseco is still viewed as a pariah who will never be allowed back to the game, while Mark McGwire has been a major-league coach for years.
[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now]
One of the players prominently featured in those hearings was Baltimore Orioles slugger Rafael Palmeiro. Palmeiro famously denied using steroids during the hearing, saying "I have never used steroids. Period." Just weeks after issuing that denial, Palmeiro tested positive for stanozolol. He received a 10-game suspension, and was one of the first superstar players to be suspended for performance-enhancing drugs.
Since his positive test, and his eventual retirement, Palmeiro has stayed completely out of the spotlight. That's no longer the case. Palmeiro talked to Flinder Boyd of Fox Sports about his life post-retirement.
In the article, Palmeiro reflects on how the positive test and suspension ruined his legacy. It's clear that going through that experience still haunts him today.
“You know what was hard?” he asks. “Going back to Baltimore and being booed and having signs at the ballpark -- liar, steroid monster. I could see that happening on the road in Boston or Toronto. People are bad, throwing (stuff) at me. But I couldn’t see that from the fans that two weeks before were embracing me. I’ve never been back to Baltimore.”
As of right now, it doesn't appear Palmeiro is interested in getting involved in the game. His wife has brought up the suggestion, but Palmeiro hasn't considered it just yet.
Recently she’s nudged him to get back into baseball. Other names from the steroid era now have prominent positions in Major League Baseball. McGwire is a well-respected hitting coach -- and now the bench coach for the San Diego Padres -- and Bonds is now working with the Miami Marlins, but so far Palmeiro has resisted. Instead he spends his time criss-crossing the country watching his two sons play (Preston is a junior with NC State), and he’s started to consider new business ventures. But the weight of embarrassment is still there, and it’s heavy. “The thought of being rejected is a hard thing for him to deal with,” Lynne says. “It’s still so raw for him, it can seem like everything just happened.”
The entire article, which is very much worth a read, is pretty sad. What happened to Palmeiro may have been self inflicted, but seeing how the whole ordeal impacted his family and his life post-retirement is disheartening.
It's worth noting that Palmeiro never addresses the positive test directly during the article. He denied it for years, but Boyd doesn't ask him about it here. Likely because Palmeiro wasn't going to give him an illuminating answer, and whatever Palmeiro said wasn't going to change how people feel about him.
[Elsewhere: This Oakland A's ballboy showed some impressive hops on this catch]
The way Palmeiro was treated at the end of his career still seems to weigh heavily on him. There's still a chance for him to re-invent himself and get back into the game as a hitting coach, but it's clear he has to let go of some lingering feelings before he's ready to return to baseball.
Poster Comment:
Palmeiro is a former Chicago Cub.