Palmeiro just digging his grave deeper

[accinfo]

Palmeiro should just keep his mouth shut and stop this BS about him getting a tainted B-12 shot. I don't believe him. Just like Clemens it just shows you are not only a cheat but a liar. He is shocked he only got voted on 11% of the ballots? I have zero respect for him and hope he NEVER gets in the Hall of Fame. I don't care about how everyone was doing it. If these guys just said I did it and shouldn't have and not offer any more details, like a Brian Roberts, then they gain a little respect back.

[MrOrange82]

Palmeiro should just keep his mouth shut and stop this BS about him getting a tainted B-12 shot. I don't believe him. Just like Clemens it just shows you are not only a cheat but a liar. He is shocked he only got voted on 11% of the ballots? I have zero respect for him and hope he NEVER gets in the Hall of Fame. I don't care about how everyone was doing it. If these guys just said I did it and shouldn't have and not offer any more details, like a Brian Roberts, then they gain a little respect back.

Yeah, just like all those poor, inner-city kids should just plead out when facing heavy charges. They're guilty either way, right?

No, I'm not saying I buy Palmeiro's story (necessarily), but he's basically in an impossible situation if innocent...given your account.

[MJA3488]

Has anyone else ever heard the rumor that Raffy was caught sleeping with one of the wives of someone in the clubhouse and his B-12 shot was mixed with steroids so he would test positive?

I heard that rumor a long long time ago and was told it was from a reliable source....who knows, but its interesting and I never hear anyone mention it.

The idea being he DID know what he was taking - He and the rest of the team had been using B-12 all year and then he gets caught with someone's wife and someone on the team does this to him to get him back.

Anyone hear about this?

[waroriole]

Lets assume for a second he IS telling us the truth. That, like Roger Clemens, he let a man, who is NOT a trainer or team physician, inject him with some sort of substance that he allowed in his body.

For the love of God, cant anyone see how incredibly thin and shallow and hard to believe that is? Heres a world class athlete being paid millions of dollars and he is"willing"to allow a foreign substance to be injected into his body WITHOUT full awareness as to what it is?

The'my dog ate my homework' excuse is stronger than that!

And all of this, AFTER playing for years with the Texas Rangers, the RX of MLB. Gonzalez,Pudge, Canseco,Arod, Caminetti, just to name a few.

Raffy was a great player. No doubt. But he's gonna have go come up with a better excuse that that.He's never getting in.And he's not alone.

Check out Joe Posnanski's great piece of steroids and the HOF:

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/01/05/the-hall-of-fame-recap/

That's kind of why I think he's not making excuses. His story hasn't changed one bit. It's not like he's taking a shot from some random guy. He got it from a teammate that he apparently trusted.

[TonySoprano]

Lets assume for a second he IS telling us the truth. That, like Roger Clemens, he let a man, who is NOT a trainer or team physician, inject him with some sort of substance that he allowed in his body.

That man is Miguel Tejada who has been scrutinized under steroids accusations of his own.

[sangar]

Lets assume for a second he IS telling us the truth. That, like Roger Clemens, he let a man, who is NOT a trainer or team physician, inject him with some sort of substance that he allowed in his body.

For the love of God, cant anyone see how incredibly thin and shallow and hard to believe that is? Heres a world class athlete being paid millions of dollars and he is"willing"to allow a foreign substance to be injected into his body WITHOUT full awareness as to what it is?

The'my dog ate my homework' excuse is stronger than that!

And all of this, AFTER playing for years with the Texas Rangers, the RX of MLB. Gonzalez,Pudge, Canseco,Arod, Caminetti, just to name a few.

Raffy was a great player. No doubt. But he's gonna have go come up with a better excuse that that.He's never getting in.And he's not alone.

Check out Joe Posnanski's great piece of steroids and the HOF:

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/01/05/the-hall-of-fame-recap/

I certainly agree about the stupidity of allowing oneself to be injected with an unknown substance by someone tainted by PED's. What I question is the nature of the substance itself. Someone with years of experience using PED's should have used something not as easily detectable as Winstrol and would have used masking agents.

I assume he is guilty as charged but I also recognize that it is an assumption.

[jjdman]

Lets assume for a second he IS telling us the truth. That, like Roger Clemens, he let a man, who is NOT a trainer or team physician, inject him with some sort of substance that he allowed in his body.

For the love of God, cant anyone see how incredibly thin and shallow and hard to believe that is? Heres a world class athlete being paid millions of dollars and he is"willing"to allow a foreign substance to be injected into his body WITHOUT full awareness as to what it is?

The'my dog ate my homework' excuse is stronger than that!

And all of this, AFTER playing for years with the Texas Rangers, the RX of MLB. Gonzalez,Pudge, Canseco,Arod, Caminetti, just to name a few.

Raffy was a great player. No doubt. But he's gonna have go come up with a better excuse that that.He's never getting in.And he's not alone.

Check out Joe Posnanski's great piece of steroids and the HOF:

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/01/05/the-hall-of-fame-recap/

Roy why does he need another excuse IF he's telling the truth? If you interviewed him tomorrow would you tell him to his face you think he lieing?

[TakebackOPACY]

Here's the thing. It doesn't matter (to me) if he's telling the truth. In determining his actions on an arbitrary ethics scale of 1-10, I guess it matters. But concerning the level of responsibility he has for his positive test, it doesn't matter at all. He's responsible for what he puts into his body. He sure as hell was properly educated on these responsibilities. If any group of athletes in the history of sports should understand this responsibility, it's the guy who went in front of congress and testified, "I have never used steroids. Period. I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never."

For those who don't know (which of course is the majority of potential readers of this), I coach for a living in a much less prestigious sport. When we have an athlete who is approaching a national level, there's a certain amount of education about accountability that they and their parents are walked through. Concerning Palmeiro's story, he's either flat out lying or he's remarkably naive and stupid beyond comprehension.

I have a little more sympathy for an athlete who might have taken a mislabeled or tainted supplement that was labeled. (Of course it's hard to know what to believe.) I have a little more sympathy for Sheffield supposedly not knowing that a rub on cream could be a steroid. But Palmeiro stuck an apparently completely unlabeled needle into his body? He is responsible for that. And if the story is true, Tejada is responsible for that. Period.

All that said, my feeling right now is that Palmeiro should eventually get into the Hall.

[BrunoCherrytown]

Has anyone else ever heard the rumor that Raffy was caught sleeping with one of the wives of someone in the clubhouse and his B-12 shot was mixed with steroids so he would test positive?

I heard that rumor a long long time ago and was told it was from a reliable source....who knows, but its interesting and I never hear anyone mention it.

The idea being he DID know what he was taking - He and the rest of the team had been using B-12 all year and then he gets caught with someone's wife and someone on the team does this to him to get him back.

Anyone hear about this?

I think this rumor was the Ryne Sandberg rumor...

Some Chicago sports radio on air personalities have hinted and insinuated at some sort of relationship between Palmeiro and the wife of Ryne Sandberg when Palmeiro was with the Cubs, but there is no evidence to back up these rumors. They credit these rumors as the reason that Palmeiro was traded.

Here

Who knows if that's true...I once heard a "rumor" from a former Carroll County Times reporter - who's sanity I've questioned many times - who told me that Cal Ripken beat his wife and the only reason nobody never reported it was because he was Cal Ripken and loved in Maryland...

There was that great false rumor too about Kevin Costner and Ripken's wife here...(That link also references the Palmeiro/Sandberg rumor)

I also heard from John Cusack the world was going to end in 2012...

They all kind of fit in the same category for me...

aka the Mayans predicted it all...

Or it's complete b.s.

I'll go with b.s. on all rumors I've listed..

[The Wedge]

The thing is he is now readily admitting that he's fully accountable for testing positive as he wasn't dutiful enough, and he knows that caused him to lose everything no matter what. And to compare his denial to Clemens is laughable. Palmeiros problem is that either way, there's not enough evidence beyond the positive testing, so his reasons can't be vetted or disputed. Clemens protestations are in direct contradiction to physical evidence and testimony from his trainer and Pettitte. Palmeiro might be lying, yeah, but at least he doesn't come across as possibly delusional like Clemens has.

[Night Owl]

The problem I have with all of this is the people who vote the players in. A bunch of freeloading reporters. Let's look into their closets. Raffy put up most of his numbers long before the Tejada B-12 episode. You can scrutinize all the current HOF players and find alcoholics, cheats and who knows what. Just look at Raffy's numbers and vote him in 2012. He deserves it.

[MrOrange82]

The thing is he is now readily admitting that he's fully accountable for testing positive as he wasn't dutiful enough, and he knows that caused him to lose everything no matter what. And to compare his denial to Clemens is laughable. Palmeiros problem is that either way, there's not enough evidence beyond the positive testing, so his reasons can't be vetted or disputed. Clemens protestations are in direct contradiction to physical evidence and testimony from his trainer and Pettitte. Palmeiro might be lying, yeah, but at least he doesn't come across as possibly delusional like Clemens has.

IMO, the gradations don't matter. There hasn't been a single player who's come out and admitted steroid use without actually getting caught first (besides Canseco...I think?). I honestly don't care whether someone "took responsibility" after getting nailed, or goes to their grave spitting denials. If they've been shown to have taken steroids, they should be barred from HOF consideration...period (if not kicked out of the sport entirely).

Palmeiro's case, IF his story is true, is more sympathetic, IMO. But that's all.

[bsebllfan4life]

I know it is a little off topic but I was wondering what others thought. Everyone keeps talking about how the game is tainted and the hall would be tainted to let some of the "PED Era" into the hall. But does it not "taint" the hall of fame that other players will be getting in solely because people will not vote for the PED guys. When looking at the guys who were voted for by some of the writers in place of guys like Palmeiro, etc... who would be 1st ballot hof's based on the numbers alone, it seems odd. The problem will only get worse as more and more players who are on the ballot from this era.

[MrOrange82]

I know it is a little off topic but I was wondering what others thought. Everyone keeps talking about how the game is tainted and the hall would be tainted to let some of the "PED Era" into the hall. But does it not "taint" the hall of fame that other players will be getting in solely because people will not vote for the PED guys. When looking at the guys who were voted for by some of the writers in place of guys like Palmeiro, etc... who would be 1st ballot hof's based on the numbers alone, it seems odd. The problem will only get worse as more and more players who are on the ballot from this era.

There's nothing (but money/publicity) that says someone has to be elected to the HOF every year...or even every decade. I'd prefer the honor was rarer, TBH.

[JTrea81]

As I've said, if you aren't going to let Palmeiro in, you'd better kick Gaylord Perry, Hank Aaron, Mike Schmidt and others out for "cheating" as well.

Major League Baseball has never been and never will be a clean game.

Players will do almost anything to get an edge. There's too much money at stake not to.

You are kidding yourself if you think today's baseball players are 100% clean.