Rafael Palmeiro
Rafael Palmeiro
Rafael Palmeiro Corralesis a retired Cuban American Major League Baseball first baseman and left fielder. Palmeiro was an All-American at Mississippi State University before being drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1985. He played for the Cubs, Texas Rangers, and the Baltimore Orioles. He was named to the MLB All-Star Team four times, and won the Gold Glove three times. He is a member of the 500 home run club and the 3,000 hit club and is one of only...
NationalityCuban
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth24 September 1964
CountryCuba
The tragedy of all of this is that it happened to me and it shouldn't have happened. It ruined my life and my career. That's the tragedy of this.
With all the great products that are apparently out there that are undetectable, for me to take something like that... when people take things that now aren't even being tested for, does it make any sense?
I'm very happy for the Contreras family. They're out. Now they've got a chance to experience life the way I did as a kid. You know, his kids are going to have a real chance in life now, and the same way that I had it.
The other deals with my life and my livelihood and my family and all that I stand for.
But I think mainly, you know, just up in the East Coast, it's where it all originated. You know, Philadelphia. It goes back to the beginning. So, you know, fans have a lot of history, and they love their teams up here.
I don't think that - you know, I'm sure that there's guys that are doing it, because I'm sure in every sport there's players who want to get the edge. But I think that it's been blown overly - way more than guys are using it in our game.
I don't think anybody ever saw anybody taking anything.
It was a hard time. It was something I would love to erase from my memory.
I've never been in a situation where I'm getting booed so badly and I just don't really know how to handle it,
I've never been in a position where I've been booed so badly, and I didn't know what to do,
I've always known to come to the ballpark and play and be in the lineup. I've never missed time because of injuries. I've had days off, where I knew coming in that I wasn't going to play, but I've never sat out 10 days in a row during the season. That was totally new to me. To play a whole career and not know what that's like, that's unusual. Now I'm dealing with it as best I can.
At the time, I thought that was the best I could do. Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do but I did what I had to do at the time.
I don't, but if he'd swing the bat, he would be. It's not different than anyone else.
I wouldn't think so. I mean, that's why I got it from him. I didn't suspect that he would be on anything.