x
Breaking News
More () »

At age 53, exiled slugger Rafael Palmeiro is returning to pro baseball in Texas

Rafael Palmeiro, whose Hall-of-Fame-caliber career was tainted by steroid controversy, will play alongside his son for an independent league team in Cleburne.

Thirteen years after his big league career ended, shrouded in controversy over steroids, Texas Rangers legend Rafael Palmeiro is returning to baseball at age 53.

The slugger, who belted 569 home runs during a 20-year MLB career between 1986 and 2005, on Wednesday signed with the Cleburne Railroaders of the independent American Association.

The Railroaders announced the signing of Palmeiro – and his son, Patrick – Wednesday night with a series of tweets celebrating Raffy’s big league accomplishments.

The 53-year-old was in the lineup for the Railroaders in an exhibition game Thursday morning, going 1-for-2 in his debut. The New Jersey Black Sox were in town for a three-game preseason series at Cleburne High School before league exhibition games start May 14.

Palmeiro is one of just six MLB players all-time to record 500 home runs and 3,000 hits – first-ballot Hall of Fame numbers. But it hasn’t yet earned him a spot in Cooperstown because of the bitter end to his two-decade run with the Chicago Cubs, Rangers and Baltimore Orioles.

It was in early 2005 that admitted steroid user Jose Canseco not only alleged that Palmeiro had used steroids, but that Canseco himself had injected his fellow slugger with performance-enhancing drugs.

Raffy went before congress, under oath, in March of that year and emphatically denied ever using steroids. Five months later, he was suspended after testing positive for an anabolic steroid. He claimed he took the drug unintentionally.

Credit: Mark Wilson, 2005 Getty Images
Rafael Palmeiro testifies as pitcher Curt Schilling listens during a House Committe session investigating MLB's effort to eradicate steroid use on Capitol Hill March 17, 2005. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

In 2007, he was named in the Mitchell Report – the result of a senator’s nearly two-year-long investigation into steroid use in baseball – as one of at least 89 players who used performance-enhancing drugs.

Palmeiro got serious about a comeback this year, in January revealing his intent to return to MLB at 53. The Rangers, among other teams, politely passed on the chance to take a flyer on the career .288 hitter, though.

He hopes independent league success can prove his doubters wrong.

"I'm doing it because I love the game first of all," Palmeiro told The Associated Press on Thursday. "And because I want to get back to proving to myself that I can do this and maybe for some of those people that think that I cheated, they might think again and say well, wait a minute, he's 53 years old, he's playing at this level, he's playing in the big leagues, he's producing. Maybe some of those will say, OK, he did it legitimately."

Patrick Palmeiro, who turned 28 in March, was drafted in the 22nd round of the 2008 MLB Draft after a stellar high school career at Colleyville Heritage. He chose college ball, though, playing a season each at Grayson County College and Howard College before playing two years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

He signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox in 2012 but never made it past A-ball. He's spent the last three seasons in Independent League ball with the Sugar Land Skeeters and Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.

It’s the second independent league team for father-son duo. Rafael signed with the Skeeters to join Patrick in 2015, but the elder Palmeiro appeared in just one game.

The American Association is a 12-team league that begins its 100-game season next week. For those interested in the independent league standings, the Railroaders finished eighth in the league with a 47-53 record in 2017.

Before You Leave, Check This Out