Baltimore Oriole Rafael Palmeiro (C) appearing with former Oakland Athletic and St. Louis Cardinal Mark McGwire (L) and Boston Red Sox Curt Schilling on 17 March before a Congressional committee examining the use of steroids in baseball. Palmeiro vehemently denied – as “vicious, malicious and absolutely false” – the allegation his former teammate Jose Canseco made in his tell-all book “Juiced…” that every ballplayer he knew (including the indignant Palmeiro whom he claimed to have personally injected) was taking steroids.
Just months ago, Rafael Palmeiro testified under oath at Congressional Hearings on the use of steroids in Baseball that he achieved his remarkable success by supplementing his natural abilities with nothing but hard work and sheer determination. In fact, he became the poster boy for clean professional athletes after opening his emotional and defiant testimony as follows:
[Pointing his finger at committee members as if to say “you should know better than to even suspect me” he said] Let me start by telling you: I have never used steroids. Period. I don’t know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never.
Well, that was then. Because just yesterday, the Baseball Commissioner’s office announced that Palmeiro had been suspended for taking steroids after testing positive under the league’s more stringent drug policy that was implemented pursuant to those hearings. In a PR statement, Palmeiro insisted that “ingesting [the steroids] was an accident” and begged his fans (and his personal friend and the former owner of his old baseball team, President George W. Bush) to “forgive me.”
But if Palmeiro thinks that pleading more incredulous denials – with humility instead of defiance this time – will get him a “walk” then steroids are not the only drugs he’s taking. After all, on the one hand he has now made fools of the Congressmen who sang his praises as an ideal role model for the youth of America. Whilst on the other, he insulted the intelligence of baseball fans by appearing like a self-righteous, do-gooder at those Congressional hearings. Therefore, there are more than a few people who would like his comeuppance to extend far beyond a simple suspension and a little public humiliation. And, to be sure, Palmeiro will now join Mark McGwire and other stars sitting on the bench wondering whether their baseball stats will become so tainted by cheating that they will never be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
It’s all a toss up now Raffy!
Note: No one who knows how Washington works has any doubt that zealous Congressional staffers spent all night sifting through Palmeiro’s testimony to find evidence to support charges of perjury against him. Testifying falsely before Congress is a felony crime.
Of course, Palmeiro will argue that back then he was telling the truth. And, there’s probably no way to prove he wasn’t. But the motive for the charge is not so much to convict him as to make his life a living hell to deter others from thinking they can lie to a Congressional committee with impunity….
News and Politics
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