Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for 10 days on Monday for violating Major League Baseball's doping policy, nearly five months after the Baltimore Orioles first baseman told the US Congress that "I have never used steroids. Period."
Palmeiro became the highest-profile player among the seven who have failed a test under this year's toughened major leagues policy -- rules criticized by Congress as not being stringent enough.
During a telephone conference call, the 40-year-old Cuban-born player said he never intentionally took steroids and left the impression that the banned substance was contained in a supplement that was not prescribed. He said it was an "embarrassing situation" and that he still did not know what caused the positive test.
"Why would I do this in a year when I went in front of Congress and I testified and I told the truth?" Palmeiro said.
"Why would I do this during a season where I was going to get to 3,000 hits? It just makes no sense. I would not put my career on the line. I would not put my reputation on the line, everything that I've accomplished throughout my career. I would not do that. I'm not a crazy person."
The players' association challenged the suspension, which was secretly assessed by the commissioner's office earlier this year but held in abeyance until arbitrator Shyam Das decided on Monday not to overturn it.
A report, posted late Tuesday on the Web site of the New York Times, said the Orioles slugger tested positive for stanozolol, a powerful anabolic steroid not available in dietary supplements.
The report cited a person in baseball with knowledge of the drug-testing program who requested anonymity because the sport prohibits disclosure about test results without authorization.
Stanozolol is known by the brand name Winstrol, most notably linked to the Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson of Canada, who was stripped of his 100-meter gold medal in 1988.
Palmeiro will lose US$163,934 of his US$3 million salary during the suspension. Because the penalty was delayed, it meant at least one member of MLB's management-union medical panel initially found there was a "reasonable basis" for the challenge.
"The evidence in this record is not sufficient for the player to meet his burden of establishing that his positive test result was not due to his fault or negligence," the panel said in a statement released by the union.
The panel also said "our decision does not equate to a finding or belief that Rafael Palmeiro -- whose testimony in many respects was quite compelling -- was untruthful in his testimony."
Last month, Palmeiro joined Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray as the only MLB players with 3,000 hits and 500 homers.
In March while appearing with Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and other baseball stars before a congressional committee, Palmeiro made an opening statement in which he said: "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."
Palmeiro was so emphatic in his denial of steroid use that he pointed his index finger at the panel, and expressed indignation over accusations made by former slugger Jose Canseco, who cited Palmeiro as a steroid user in his tell-all book. In an interview on the CBS television show "60 Minutes," Canseco -- who also testified before Congress -- said he had injected Palmeiro with steroids.
RSS