Rafael Palmeiro - OK I's Say It!

There are just too many coincidences going on here. Let me say what many of you are thinking.

First let's look at the timing of this.

Palmeiro was caught a while (supposedly back in May) ago but was allowed to appeal the test finding. MLB clearly decided to wait till after the Hall of Fame induction ceremony to suspend Raffy. Why? In small part Bud Selig probably wanted to put this off till after his birthday (he turned 71 on Saturday) but in large part because MLB did not want to take the spotlight off the HoF activities. I think MLB was also sensitive to who was being inducted and how one of the inductees may have reacted to the news.

Ryne Sandberg was briefly a teammate of Palmeiro and it is well known that Sandberg had marital difficulties. In fact Sandberg skipped the 1995 season in order to try work out the issues with his wife Cindy Sandberg. Many rumors link Cindy Sandberg to some of Ryno's teammates like Dave Martinez, Mark Grace and one Rafael Palmeiro.

It it just another coincidence that soon after the rumors of Cindy Sandberg and Rafael Palmeiro popped up that Palmeiro was traded away from the Cubs to the Rangers? Coincidence?

Maybe I'm reading too much into this but take a look at Sandberg's speech on Sunday:

The reason I am here, they tell me, is that I played the game a certain way, that I played the game the way it was supposed to be played. I don't know about that, but I do know this: I had too much respect for the game to play it any other way... These guys sitting up here [other HoF players] did not pave the way for the rest of us so that players could swing for the fences every time up and forget how to move a runner over to third, it's disrespectful to them, to you, and to the game of baseball that we all played growing up. Respect.... Andre Dawson, the Hawk. No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more or did it better than Andre Dawson. He's the best I've ever seen. Stand up Hawk. The Hawk. I watched him win MVP for a last place team in 1987 and it was the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen in baseball. He did it the right way, the natural way and he did it in the field and on the bases and in every way, and I hope he will stand up here someday. Respect for the game of baseball. When we all played it, it was mandatory. It's something I hope we will one day see again...

Steroids seemed to be the elephant in the room nobody wanted to talk about. Why else stress that Dawson played "the natural way"? It should also be noted that Sandberg spent some time praising his new wife Margaret but no mention of Cindy was made at all.

I imagine that Sandberg may have been a little more direct if his speech was given after the suspension of Palmeiro.

Palmeiro has long been rumored to be a steroids guys. Many people thought he was a steroid guy before being named in Jose Canseco's book. Count me among them. It was impolite to say this because it is reckless to make accusations like that (even though at least 7% of baseball players could not pass a drug test they knew was coming). Now Palmeiro tells Congress in March that he never took steroids but in May he flunks a test for steroids. Are we still supposed to give Palmeiro the benefit of the doubt? Are we still supposed to believe in coincidences?

Oh yeah - another coincidence; the same day that Palmeiro is suspended Barry Bonds decides to announce that he won't be back this season. Just a coincidence - right?