Cheaters never prosper

But they get into the Hall of Fame? No, I don't think so!

Rafael Palmeiro (First Base, Baltimore Orioles) recently tested positive for steroids. He claimed loud and clear that he never ever did them. Some of you may remember his adamant finger pointing denial during the Senate hearings regarding "performance enhancing drugs" in baseball.

Well, what do ya know, he lied.

I'm a bit late offering my thoughts on this as he has already served his 10 day suspension. (that's right, just a 10 day (not even 10 game) suspension if you are caught cheating!) What sparked this post is Frank Robinson's (Manager, Washington Nationals) recent comments regarding this subject. He said that MLB should wipe Palmeiro's slate clean. Rafael (who was headed to the Hall of Fame) has some incredible stats! 3020 Hits, 569 Home Runs, nearly 2000 Runs Batted In! But now we know he cheated! So what do we do?

First: Kick him out of baseball! What are we telling young up and comers? The current agreement between MLB and the players says that it's ok if you cheat once. You'll get a 10 day suspension. You'll even get you a second chance, if you are caught again it's a 50 day suspension. But if you are caught three times, then you are gone! Why allow even one?! If steroids have "no place in baseball" then anyone who uses them also has no place in baseball!

Second: Expunge all of his records and stats! Frank Robinson asked "Where do you go back, stop and say, 'OK when did he start using steroids?' To eliminate all that, and to get the players attention, you wipe the whole thing out!" Absolutely! Anyone think there are any players considering betting on the game? Or do you think the Black Sox and Pete Rose convinced them otherwise? Same idea! Sure, you can look at Palmeiro's stats and see that from 1989 to 1991 he jumped from 8 home runs to 26! Peaking twice at 47 homers in a single season. None of those stats matter because it's as if he never played!

Third: No chance of getting inducted in Cooperstown! This goes without saying if the second suggestion is carried out. However, many people say, "Well, his numbers are good enough to get him in. And there are probably people already in the Hall of Fame who did steroids so why should we keep him out?" Um, because he was caught! The people who suggest that he should be allowed to be honored for cheating say that there should be an "asterisk" by his name saying that he was caught using steroids. What, are you gonna give the steroid users their own wing? "And over here we have the Barry Bonds wing. You may notice it's shaped like a syringe. In this wing we honor all of the cheaters from the "Steroids Era" or as we like to call it the "I don't know how that needle ended up in my butt" days. Here's Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Sammy Sosa, and of course, our hero, Mr. Rafael Palmeiro!"

The biggest question is: Why does the players union want to protect the cheaters in their own ranks? If the majority of baseball is clean, why not "expel the wicked brother?" This leads me to speculate that perhaps there are more cheaters in baseball than we even want to imagine! Why else allow three chances before truly disciplining the offending players?

Rafael and any other juicers need to go! And that's just my opinion!