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Palmeiro says he can't explain steroid test
Free-agent first baseman Rafael Palmeiro still isn't sure why he tested positive for steroids, he told The New York Times for a story published Wednesday.
The 41-year-old Palmeiro was suspended in August for 10 days by Major League Baseball. His steroid test in May came up positive just six weeks after he testified in Congress that he had never taken the performance-enhancing drugs.
"I wish I could pinpoint exactly what happened," Palmeiro told the newspaper in his first public comments since last season ended. "I would think it was the B-12. I'm not certain of that; I can't prove it."
He has said former Baltimore Orioles teammate Miguel Tejada gave him vitamin B-12 earlier in the season, and suggested it might have been tainted with performance-enhancing drugs.
"I wish I could have turned in the vial for testing," Palmeiro said. "But when I found out, it was long gone and I couldn't come up with it. If something happened that I'm not aware of, an intentional act by someone else, I don't know. I can't rule out anything."
Palmeiro also told the Times that he blames no one but himself for what happened.
"I'm going to take the responsibility, me being careless and taking something I wasn't knowing if it was clean, having full trust in what I was getting. It was careless, stupid, naive of me to think it was safe."
Palmeiro, one of four players in baseball history with 3,000 hits and 500 homers, told Congress at a March 17 hearing examining performance-enhancing drug use in professional sports, "Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids. Period. I do not know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never."
About six weeks later, he tested positive for stanozolol, a steroid.
Palmeiro challenged the test results and was suspended by baseball on Aug. 1. He told the Times his tests the previous two seasons were negative, and a test he took three weeks after the positive test was negative.
In November, the House Government Reform Committee determined he did not commit perjury when he earlier testified he had never taken steroids.
"Never in my wildest dreams did it cross my mind that I had something in my body," he told the Times. "That was the furthest thing from my mind. I went in after the game. I wasn't hiding anything. If I had done anything, I would have been scrambling to figure out what to do. I was stunned when they called me and said I had tested positive. I thought someone was playing a sick joke on me."
Palmeiro struggled when he returned to the Orioles, getting just two hits in 26 at-bats before the team sent him home for the season. He's considering returning with another team for his 20th major league season so he can improve on his Hall of Fame-caliber numbers and repair his tarnished image.
"I guess I'd have to consider that," he told the newspaper. "If I decide not to come back, I hope people look at my whole career and not base their decision on an innocent mistake I made. I hope they don't base their decision on what happened to me in a three-, four- or five-week period. Look at my career and base their opinion on that."
Source: espn.com
The 41-year-old Palmeiro was suspended in August for 10 days by Major League Baseball. His steroid test in May came up positive just six weeks after he testified in Congress that he had never taken the performance-enhancing drugs.
"I wish I could pinpoint exactly what happened," Palmeiro told the newspaper in his first public comments since last season ended. "I would think it was the B-12. I'm not certain of that; I can't prove it."
He has said former Baltimore Orioles teammate Miguel Tejada gave him vitamin B-12 earlier in the season, and suggested it might have been tainted with performance-enhancing drugs.
"I wish I could have turned in the vial for testing," Palmeiro said. "But when I found out, it was long gone and I couldn't come up with it. If something happened that I'm not aware of, an intentional act by someone else, I don't know. I can't rule out anything."
Palmeiro also told the Times that he blames no one but himself for what happened.
"I'm going to take the responsibility, me being careless and taking something I wasn't knowing if it was clean, having full trust in what I was getting. It was careless, stupid, naive of me to think it was safe."
Palmeiro, one of four players in baseball history with 3,000 hits and 500 homers, told Congress at a March 17 hearing examining performance-enhancing drug use in professional sports, "Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids. Period. I do not know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never."
About six weeks later, he tested positive for stanozolol, a steroid.
Palmeiro challenged the test results and was suspended by baseball on Aug. 1. He told the Times his tests the previous two seasons were negative, and a test he took three weeks after the positive test was negative.
In November, the House Government Reform Committee determined he did not commit perjury when he earlier testified he had never taken steroids.
"Never in my wildest dreams did it cross my mind that I had something in my body," he told the Times. "That was the furthest thing from my mind. I went in after the game. I wasn't hiding anything. If I had done anything, I would have been scrambling to figure out what to do. I was stunned when they called me and said I had tested positive. I thought someone was playing a sick joke on me."
Palmeiro struggled when he returned to the Orioles, getting just two hits in 26 at-bats before the team sent him home for the season. He's considering returning with another team for his 20th major league season so he can improve on his Hall of Fame-caliber numbers and repair his tarnished image.
"I guess I'd have to consider that," he told the newspaper. "If I decide not to come back, I hope people look at my whole career and not base their decision on an innocent mistake I made. I hope they don't base their decision on what happened to me in a three-, four- or five-week period. Look at my career and base their opinion on that."
Source: espn.com