Rafael Palmeiro hasn’t played in the major league since 2005, but now the 53 year old is confident that he can make it back to the MLB.
Palmeiro said there’s “no doubt in my mind I can do it,” according to ESPN.
The four-time All-Star first baseman is one of only five major leaguers to record more than 500 home runs and 3,000 hits. But Palmeiro thinks he still has something to prove after alleged steroid use tainted the end of his career.
“I want to prove to myself I can do it on a high level,” Palmeiro said, “then walk away feeling good about the whole body of work.”
Palmeiro, who played for the Cubs, Rangers and Orioles over his 20-year career, retired in September 2005 after serving a 10-game suspension for testing positive for steroids.
Just months before he tested positive, Palmeiro gave an unforgettable testimony at a Congressional hearing about performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.
“Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids, period,” Palmeiro said in 2005. “I don’t know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never.”
To this day, Palmeiro has maintained that he’s never used performance enhancing drugs.
“Maybe 12 years later, if I can come back and prove I don’t need anything as an older player with an older body, then people might think, OK, maybe he didn’t do anything intentionally,” Palmeiro said.
If Palmeiro comes back to the MLB, he’ll be the oldest player to ever play on a roster. Julio Franco currently holds the record. He was 49 when he retired in 2007.
Other players have made special appearances, but haven’t played on a season-long basis. Satchel Paige was 58 when he pitched three shutout innings for the Kansas City A’s in 1965. Minnie Minoso had two at-bats, no hits, at age 54 for the White Sox in 1980, after going 1-for-8 at age 50 in 1976.
Contributing: John Grochowski.
