TTM Stats
- Sent: 5/15/2018 | Received: 5/26/2018 | 11 Days
- ’90 Donruss, ’93 Upper Deck
- Address: Cleburne Railroaders
The Story of the Autograph
Rafael Palmeiro is a Cuban-born first baseman who played first base and DH’d with the Cubs, Rangers (twice), and Orioles (twice). I was going to say that I thought of him mostly as a Ranger, but given how he went back-and-forth between Texas and Baltimore my mind is going back-and-forth on that too. He played in the majors for 20 years from 1986 through 2005 and after the Cubs he went to Texas for five years, Baltimore for five years, Texas for five years, and then Baltimore for his final two years.
While he was born in Cuba he came to the US and went to high school in Miami and then College at Mississippi State. After high school he was drafted by the Mets but didn’t sign. In college he was the first of two players to have ever won the SEC triple crown (the other also was a Bulldog – Will Clark). Known as “Thunder and Lightning”, Clark and Palmeiro were known to dislike each other. Palmeiro was chosen by the Cubs with the 22nd pick in the first round of the 1985 Draft.
Over his long career Palmeiro made the All-Star team four times (1988, 1991, 1998, 1999), won a Gold Glove Award three times (1997-1999), and won the Silver Slugger twice (1998, 1999). In his career he led the league in runs (1993), hits (1990) and doubles (49). He was among the top of the league in MVP votes 10 different years but never won and never placed as high as sixth. And while Rafael played in 2,831 career games, that’s the most by any player who never played in a World Series.
Palmeiro was identified as a steroid user in Jose Canseco’s book in 2005 having claimed that he personally injected Rafael with steroids. This claim was denied by Palmeiro in front of congress. However, Palmeiro was suspended for 10 days for testing positive for a steroid in his final season (he did test negative three weeks later). He threw teammate Miguel Tejada under the bus and blamed him for a tainted b12 shot. Baltimore was supposed to have Rafael Palmeiro Appreciation day when he game back in order to celebrate his 500 homer, 3K hit milestone but it was cancelled after is suspension. Palmeiro was booed wen he returned to Camden Yards.
Currently Rafael can be found at the Cleburne Railroaders trying to make a comeback at the age of 53. He hit a homer the other day and is playing left field.
The Score on Rafael Palmeiro – 6.0
I really wasn’t expecting for this to come back, let alone take eleven days to come back. I thought it was just a flyer to send to the minor league team he’s trying to make a comeback with. What I like best is that he really takes up some space on the card. It’s not the prettiest signature ever, but it still OK. He actually looks like he might sign without sitting is hand on or next to the card. Just comes off that way to me.
Thanks Mr. Palmeiro! I’m giving this a 6.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.