Joe Giza / Reuters

The Baltimore Orioles' Rafael Palmeiro is a member of the 500 home run-3,000 hit club.

Every team has a trainer, and every player who is even considering taking a supplement can take it to that trainer and ask if there’s anything to be concerned about. Every team also has a doctor who can provide the same service. And if the trainer and doctor can’t vouch for every last ingredient, down to the inert filler, the player shouldn’t take it.

In the second place, it’s clear now that he was taking something, and the reason he took it was to get bigger and stronger, the better to put up those Hall of Fame numbers and continue to draw a big-league paycheck.

In the third place, if he has been taking supplements now, it’s impossible not to wonder what he was taking a couple of years ago, before baseball concerned itself about how its players were getting muscles that Superman would envy.

This is the problem. It’s why we had the sorry spectacle of congressional hearings and the damning testimony that was leaked from the BALCO grand jury. Players want an edge, and they’ll push whatever limits there are to get it.

Before baseball finally started testing for steroids, there wasn’t anything a fan or critic could say. The drugs may have been illegal, but taking them wasn’t – not as far as baseball was concerned. So you could rant and rave about the records that Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Sammy Sosa and others put up, but the bottom line was, the game didn’t prohibit what they were doing. From baseball’s perspective, using a corked bat was a worse sin than breakfasting on dianobol smoothies.

But those who are disgusted with what went on have been waiting for somebody with big numbers to get caught. And Palmeiro, the man who swore to the world he never used steroids, is the man.

Few people, including Shoeless Joe Jackson, have ever done anything dumber. Despite not being an all-time great player, Palmeiro had his ticket to Cooperstown already punched. And now, he may have canceled it.

More news

Tony Gutierrez / AP

More heroics from Hamilton

Josh Hamilton fights off illness to hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 13th inning, lifting the Texas Rangers to an 8-7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Angels win as Pujols HR streak up to 3 games

SEATTLE (AP) - Albert Pujols hit a home run in his third straight game and pinch hitter Alberto Callaspo came through with a grand slam in the sixth inning to give the Los Angeles Angels a 5-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.

Headlines

• Label

Saltalamacchia's walkoff HR lifts Red Sox

Red Sox's Valentine calls out Rays' coaches

Teixeira hits 2 HRs as Yankees rout A's

HBT: Santana pitches first shutout in 2 years

Harper homers as Strasburg, Nats beat Braves

Buehrle, Marlins stay hot, beat Giants

Fielder's 4-hit game lifts Tigers over Twins

Fear of losing Montero leads D-backs to big deal