Rafael Palmeiro hit 569 home runs and 3,020 hits. Before him, nobody in the history of baseball had hit either mark and was not voted into the Hall Of Fame on the first ballot. But none of those players were busted for using performance enhancing drugs or had waved their finger at Congress, claiming adamantly that he was on the up and up.
Today, Manny Ramirez 'retired' after receiving inside information that he would be banned for 100 games due to his third offense of using banned drugs. (By the way, why are players finding out ahead of time about these offenses? This demonstrates MLB's looming corruption.)
One has to wonder Man Ram will receive the Palmeiro treatment when he makes his way on to the Hall Of Fame ballot. Or will the media execute one of their patented double standards?
When that time comes, do not allow the media to throw out the Palmeiro's finger wave as a red herring. Cheating is cheating. When a player cheats, he is corrupting the game while being millions of dollars and often breaking records. It makes no difference whether he's piled shame upon shame and lied to Congress or committed perjury (Barry Bonds) or continued to hang out with his supplier (Alex Rodriguez).
Palmeiro's reaction to the 2010 Hall Of Fame Voting
"This is one of those dark days in my life. The last five years, ever since that incident, I've felt like they were putting me in a coffin and putting nails in. Today, they were throwing dirt on my coffin."
Picture: Well known cheaters, David Ortiz (left) and Manny Ramirez (right) embrace.
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