The accomplishments compiled by former Texas Rangers slugger Rafael Palmeiro amount to a strong candidacy for the National Baseball Hall of Fame on paper. Unfortunately, those numbers, which include 569 home runs, 3,020 hits and 1,835 RBI, were amassed in the steroid era.
↵Palmeiro played half of his 20 big league seasons in Texas, but a positive drug test for anabolic steroids in his final year in Baltimore has made his full career suspect in the mind of the public, including Hall of Fame voters. In a recent interview on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM, Palmeiro maintained his career wasn't based on taking steroids and continues struggling to deal with that perception.
↵↵↵"People are questioning my career, my integrity and what I did throughout my career, and it's unfair. They're judging me on a mistake in judgment that I made near the end of my career," Palmeiro said. "If people want to think that I cheated or did something to enhance my performance, then that's fine. I can't say anything to make them change their mind, but other than that I played the game the right way. I never cheated the game, never missed any games, never on the DL or anything like that. I'm proud of the way I played the game.
↵"There is nothing else I can do. I can't prove it to anyone. It is what it is. Some people are going to believe me and some people are not. That's just the way it is," Palmeiro said.
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As much as Palmeiro wants to make the Hall of Fame, he also sounds resigned to the fact his numbers alone won't earn him the trip to Cooperstown.