Hall of Lame is getting crowded

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Rafael Palmeiro vowed to tell his side of the story after he was suspended for steroid use in August.

He said he did not knowingly inject steroids into his body. No, no, no. Never. Ever. And oh how he wanted to make that clear to the public and the perjury-minded members of Congress.

But now we know better. We know Palmeiro believes he tested positive because of a dose of B-12 vitamin supplied by teammate Miguel Tejada. At least that was his theory during his grievance hearing. It could have been the B-12. Yep. Or maybe someone stuck something in the post-game food platter and he unknowingly consumed steroid-laced fried chicken.

Oh, please. Stop. These guys are pathetic.

Jason Giambi apologizes for something, not certain what, Mark McGwire says the past is the past, Barry Bonds sticks to his flaxseed-oil defense, and now Palmeiro trots out his B-12 spiel, as if he expects the baseball public to swallow it whole.

Move Palmeiro immediately into the Hall of Fame of lame excuses.

By the way, that particular Hall of Fame is the only one that ever will grant Palmeiro admission.

His 500 home runs and 3,000 hits are tainted beyond repair, too toxic and radioactive. Generations will pass before anyone in baseball will have the stomach to sift through them, and only then in a Hazmat suit.

Baseball no longer wants any part of Palmeiro, although the game is complicit in this scandal.

Baseball turned a blind eye to the home-run explosion of the '90s, because it was financially beneficial following the strike and lagging attendance figures. The home run chase of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998 rejuvenated the game, although baseball insiders knew the assault was not as genuine as it appeared to outsiders.