The first big-name caught in the steroid test...

...is apparently Rafael Palmeiro. There are no links yet, but the electronic media (WEEI, WFAN, ESPN) are reporting that Palmeiro has been suspended for 10 games under the league's substance abuse policy. Which everyone takes to mean "steroids," though there are many non-steroid substances on the list. Whether we'll ever know which substance caused the positive test or not is anyone's guess.

But that emphatic testimony he gave in front of the congressional committee in the spring is now subject to real suspicion of "protest[ing] too much..."


Update: MLB.com has the statement from the commissioner's office.

Update: David Pinto has the statement that he gave to congress.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is Rafael Palmeiro and I am a professional baseball player. I'll be brief in my remarks today. 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. The reference to me in Mr. Canseco's book is absolutely false. I am against the use of steroids. I don't think athletes should use steroids and I don't think our kids should use them. That point of view is one, unfortunately, that is not shared by our former colleague, Jose Canseco. Mr. Canseco is an unashamed advocate for increased steroid use by all athletes.

Update: Palmeiro's statement:

I have never intentionally used steroids. Never. Ever. Period. Ultimately, although I never intentionally put a banned substance into my body, the independent arbitrator ruled that I had to be suspended under the terms of the program.

Update: One more thing. I wrote about Steroids a couple of months ago, and I made a point that I want to make again today. As I sit an listen to the radio commentary, one of the memes rearing its head again is the "how good was Henry Aaron, because he did it without steroids" meme. I don't have any evidence to suggest that Hank Aaron, a great ball-player, ever used steroids. But these people using him as an example don't have any evidence that he didn't. The fact is, Aaron's power numbers increased late in his career, when players of his age are typically dropping. And steroids were freely available during his career, maybe even more available than they are now, because they weren't illegal. As I said in April, "the bottom line is that the Russians were using testosterone in 1954, and John Ziegler and CIBA introduced methandrostenolone (Dianabol) in 1956. And it became widespread in usage during the late 1950s and early 1960s."

I'll repeat - I don't want to accuse Aaron of anything. But it seems to me that any comparison in which Palmeiro is "dirty" and Aaron is "clean" is based on assumptions and information that is, at best, incomplete...


Update: Chris Lynch compares Palmeiro's to another piece of famous congressional testimony...