Rafael Palmeiro’s luck runs dry in Hall of Fame ballot
Things get harder for baseball players who are mixed in controversy during their playing years in Major League Baseball. If there’s one man who can account for that fact, it’s Rafael Palmeiro. The former Texas Rangers first baseman
is considered the game’s most explosive player in history. Smashing more than 500 home runs and registering 3000 hits in his career, Rafael joins a list of players studded with fame in their career.
In total there are 4 players in history with that kind of record and Palmeiro is the only one of them who is not on the Hall of Fame. The player had his first shot at the honour this year when the Baseball Writers’ Association
of America held a ballot to graduate nominees on the list. Unfortunately for Rafael, his ascension journey hit a major block when he only mustered up 11% of the votes.
The hitter, who is renowned for his explosive career, indeed has the credentials to make it to the Hall of Fame but on the negative side, he’s been locked in a career-ending controversy. Mark McGwire, who has been kept out of the
Hall of Fame, can be related to Palmeiro in this regard. The former Oakland Athletics’ slugger was involved in performance-enhancing drugs during the steroids era of the late 1990s.
Rafael wasn’t someone who found himself on the outer border of the situation. The Rangers’ man was suspended for 10 days following a positive result in a drug test during a particular season. In 2005, the player maintained he never
consumed steroids. "I was telling the truth then, and I am telling the truth now," Palmeiro said. "I don't know what else I can say. I have never taken steroids. For people who think I took steroids intentionally, I'm never going to convince them. But I hope
the voters judge my career fairly and don't look at one mistake."
Tom Davis, who was a congressman heading the investigation regarding Palmeiro’s steroid use, has come out to support the player recently. Even though he doesn’t know whether Palmeiro was truly guilty, he has said that the Rangers’
player deserves the benefit of the doubt.
"I feel bad for him," Davis said. "I believe that he didn't know he was taking steroids. I think he told the truth. We conducted an investigation and that was the conclusion our investigators came to."
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