Who Can Really Say?

Last March at a Congressional hearing Rafael Palmiero emphatically denied ever, EVER, using steroids. Yesterday, MLB announced Palmiero would serve a 10 day suspension after testing positive for . . . 'er, steroids. Actually, that was the first story out of the box, but technically Palmiero tested positive and was suspended for a banned substance which has not been identified.

Palmiero, of course, denies "intentionally" taking the mystery banned substance, and maybe that's so. Will Carroll has an interesting primer with details not found on most sports pages. And Dave Pinto has collected links with thoughts from others.

The biggest problem Palmiero and MLB face is not that he's a solid first ballot Hall of Famer so much as that he had to make a big deal out of being clean, before he was caught. Pinto quotes Palmiero from USA Today:

Palmeiro's statement: "Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is Rafael Palmeiro and I am a professional baseball player. I'll be brief in my remarks today. Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids. Period. I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never. The reference to me in Mr. Canseco's book is absolutely false. I am against the use of steroids. I don't think athletes should use steroids and I don't think our kids should use them. That point of view is one, unfortunately, that is not shared by our former colleague, Jose Canseco. Mr. Canseco is an unashamed advocate for increased steroid use by all athletes."

Yeah. And I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky. We've heard it before, and that's the point. Palmiero's credibility was tossed down the crapper by the test result. If Palmiero wants us to believe him, and if MLB wants us to believe in their test program's results, both have to do something to tighten the process -- they need to identify the substance he tested for and need to explain how, what, or why the positive result was either false or not. This burden falls more heavily on Palmiero than MLB, but Carroll makes a good point that baseball's testing program isn't as tightly defined as the NFL's. And while I'm sure that OJ is still suffering sleepless nights as he searches high and low for Nicole's killer, it seems to me that Palmiero uniquely has the means to identify what he took that caused the test to return a positive result. Have at it Mr. Hall of Famer.

And it wasn't simply Palmiero's credibility that took a dive. All players who've denied steroid use (or if you prefer, banned substance use) will now also be denied the benefit of the doubt to which they otherwise might have been entitled. Thanks, Raffy. I'd love to see a player make it to first against the 0's, and after a few whispered words see Palmeiro take a swing at him.