What a career it has been. Palmeiro hit his 563rd homer Tuesday to tie Reggie Jackson for ninth place on the career list; he has hit at least 20 in each of the last 14 seasons and seems a shoo-in to do it again.

Palmeiro started the season with a lifetime batting average of .289, and while he’s no Ripken, he has played in at least 140 games in 16 seasons — including the last 10 in a row.

During that time, Palmeiro has operated in the shadow of such hard-hitting first basemen as Mo Vaughn, Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi and even former Mississippi State teammate Will Clark.

“In baseball, we all are very respectful of what he’s done,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “But he’s played a position where there have been a lot of big boomers that have gotten a lot of attention. Palmeiro is more of a line-drive guy that hits his home runs; there’s really not a lot of fanfare that goes with it. Still, to play that long at that level is very special.”

His peers have noticed, even if most baseball fans have not.

“Rafael Palmeiro is a role model for myself, for anybody who respects the game and for anyone who strives to be a great player,” Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez said. “He is one of the icons. When you think of guys like Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, you’ve got to put Rafael Palmeiro as one of our all-time greats.”

Palmeiro received some unwanted attention this spring when he was called before the House Committee on Government Reform to testify about steroid use in baseball. Canseco, in a book, wrote that he once injected Palmeiro with a steroid when they were teammates in Texas.

Palmeiro emphatically denied ever using steroids, boldly challenging an accusation that had the potential to stain an otherwise pristine career.

“There is nothing hovering over him other than what came out in Canseco’s book, and you take that with a grain of salt,” Johnson said. “He’s just a real good ballplayer. If you were taking a first baseman, he’d probably be one of your first picks because of what he’s capable of doing.”

Palmeiro is on the verge of doing what no exclusively left-handed batter has done before: joining the 3,000-500 club. Mays and Aaron hit right-handed, and Murray was a switch-hitter.

Asked to assess the significance of his feat, Palmeiro answered in typically understated fashion.

“I don’t know yet,” he said. “I guess I’ll talk about it when we get there.”

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