RAFAEL PALMEIRO HAS NO PEACE
At this point in Rafael Palmeiro’s life, he should be reaping the benefits of an incredible career in major league baseball, reveling in all its honors and preparing a speech for a future hall of fame induction. But that’s not the case at all. Consider the words of Lynne Palmeiro, Rafael’s wife:
“There’s no peace,” Lynne said. “He worked his tail off to get where he was. Now, it’s changed forever. Life in general has changed. It affected his career. It affected him. And our family. And our kids. People don’t realize that.
“My kids, all of a sudden, couldn’t go to the ballpark anymore, which is something they had done their whole lives. Everything changed for us.”
That quote comes from an article in the Dallas Morning News describing how Raffy now prefers privacy. The columnist, Jean-Jacques Taylor, was trying to pen a piece about Palmeiro’s induction into Mississippi State’s Hall of Fame. Palmeiro apparently did not return the columnist’s calls. But Lynne Palmeiro is wrong about one thing: We do realize it. We also realize steroids are illegal, as is lying to congress. We also realize that no act of contrition has ever been made by Palmeiro.
Here is what Rafael said in 2006:
“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,” Palmeiro told the Baltimore Sun in June 2006. “That’s the tragedy of this. Three thousand, it’s just a number. It’s just a game. The other deals with my life and my livelihood and my family and all that I stand for. All of that is gone.”
Taylor ends his column with these words:
“Right now, you’d have to say his enshrinement depends on whether Bonds, Clemens, McGwire and Sosa get in.
If one gets in, they all get in. Palmeiro would enhance his chances by admitting his mistakes.
We love to forgive in America. All you have to do is ask.”
