Rafael Palmeiro, 2005 Bowman #23

Ah, spring training. Florida sunshine, Arizona warmth, and...100 or so unsigned veteran free agents still looking for jobs. That's not even counting Rafael Palmeiro, who has spent the winter insisting that he's primed for a comeback at age 53, some 13 years after his long and accomplished career ended unceremoniously in the aftermath a positive steroid test. As was the case back in 2005, when his drug suspension was announced shortly after he collected his 3,000th base hit and mere months after he famously pointed his finger at members of Congress in a hearing and denied ever using any illegal performance enhancers, his timing just couldn't be worse.

Rafael Palmeiro, 2004 Topps Hit Parade #HP21

The Orioles have had a rich, six-plus decade tradition of great power hitters. But from Jim Gentile to Boog Powell, Frank Robinson to Eddie Murray, and Rafael Palmeiro to Chris Davis, nobody had ever done what Mark Trumbo did last night, in just his tenth game in an O's uniform. In the seventh inning, he was the driving force behind an immense nine-run outburst that turned a 5-1 deficit into a 10-5 lead just like that. He blasted a two-run homer after Davis walked to lead off the inning, and then came up again with two outs and two men on and crushed a three-run shot. No other Oriole hitter had ever homered twice in the same inning, and in franchise history, it hadn't been done since Ken Williams went deep twice in an inning for the 1922 St. Louis Browns. Trumbo and Davis are now tied for the American League lead with five home runs, two weeks into the season. As a team, the Birds are leading the pack with 24 dingers. So far the Baltimore offense has been as advertised.

Rafael Palmeiro, 2004 Topps #620

Did you hear that the Orioles signed Palmeiro yesterday? Patrick Palmeiro, of course. Who did you think I meant? Anyhow, the O's inked Raffy's oldest son to a minor league deal yesterday. Patrick will turn 26 next month, and batted .256/.315/.404 with 13 homers and 68 RBI for the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League last year. You might remember that the Skeeters signed Rafael Palmeiro at the end of the season so that he could play alongside his son. Now the younger Palmeiro will get another crack at affiliated ball after a three-year stint in the low minors with the White Sox.

Rafael Palmeiro, 2004 Fleer Hot Prospects Draft Edition #15

Here's a story that broke while I was out of town the weekend before last: Rafael Palmeiro's return to pro baseball.

A full ten years (plus a couple of weeks) after playing his last MLB game with the Orioles, the most overlooked member of the 3,000-hit club signed a contract with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League. How a team from Texas fits into the Atlantic League is a question for another day. I'm more interested in the fact that Palmeiro was back on the field at age 50 to play alongside his son Patrick, aged 25. The younger Palmeiro was drafted by the White Sox in 2012, but batted only .227/.277/.365 in three seasons in the low minors. He's spent all of 2015 with the Skeeters, putting up a line of .256/.315/.404 in 128 games, with 13 home runs and 68 RBI.

As it turned out, Raffy played a single game for Sugar Land, batting third and pulling DH duties. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Patrick batted ahead of his father in the two-hole and started at third base. Patrick turned in a 2-for-5 effort with a walk, a double, a homer, and four RBI. I'm sure the lineup protection afforded by one of the best lefthanded hitters in the history of baseball - one who just happens to be his father - made it all possible.

Rafael Palmeiro, 1995 Upper Deck #366

Before he was finger-pointing, earplug-wearing, Tejada-blaming twilight-of-his-career Rafael Palmeiro, he was just Raffy, and he did a lot of impressive things in an Orioles uniform. But #25 only had one 40-homer season in Baltimore. Same goes for Frank Robinson, Jim Gentile, Brady Anderson, and Nelson Cruz. Within the past week, Chris Davis became the first player in franchise history to hit 40 home runs in two different seasons. Last night, he slugged his 41st in the top of the ninth to give the O's a 2-1 win in Yankee Stadium. Tonight, "Crush" was held in the ballpark, but still came up big in a series-clinching 5-3 win in the Bronx. He singled, doubled, and walked twice, driving in the team's first run and a crucial ninth-inning insurance tally. There hasn't been much worth celebrating in Birdland over the past month, but Chris Davis continues to inspire awe.

Rafael Palmeiro, 1998 Skybox Dugout Axcess #145

This card is so horridly designed that you probably can't read that trivia question, so I will transcribe:

Oriole Park at Camden Yards is located two blocks from the birthplace of what baseball legend?

If you're reading this blog, I'm going to guess that you know the answer. If you don't, I won't spoil it for you.

Rafael Palmeiro, 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings Update #321

This portrait is probably the creepiest picture of Rafael Palmeiro that I have ever seen. That's really saying something, considering that he: A) has had a mustache for his entire adult life, B) was a pitchman for Viagra, and C) once posed for this photograph.

Rafael Palmeiro, 1994 Studio #126

Well, there you have it. Hall of Fame voting results for the Class of 2014 were released at 2:00 PM this afternoon, and three men who were superstars for the first 15 years of my baseball fandom made the cut. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, come on down. That's a big improvement over last year's selection of zero players, but the moral grandstanding and/or lack of intellectual curiosity from a large swath of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (the men and women who vote on Hall membership) has conspired to make the story largely about who is being left out, dwelling below the 75% threshold needed to enter the Hall. All-time home run king Barry Bonds, seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens? Neither cracked 40% this year. Craig Biggio, whose 3,060 hits and 1,844 runs scored would seem to rubber-stamp him as a first-ballot Hall of Famer, fell a razor-thin two votes shy in year two of his wait. Jeff Bagwell, with his 449 homers and 149 OPS+, didn't get much more than a bare majority of votes. Mike Piazza, the greatest-hitting catcher of all time, got a handful more votes than adequate starting pitcher Jack Morris. Morris' ballot eligibility elapsed at long last with his 15th unsuccessful nomination, but he'll turn up again in Veterans' Committee proceedings, I'm sure. Several other worthies are left to wait another 365 days: Tim Raines, Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, Alan Trammell, Jeff Kent, Curt Schilling, Mike Mussina (a hard-to-believe 20.3% in his first year eligible)...that's not even a complete list of the guys that have a strong case for Cooperstown.

Then there's the confounding case of Rafael Palmeiro. After scratching and clawing to stay on the ballot in each of his first three years of eligibility, the man who ranks 25th all-time in career hits and 12th in home runs received only 25 votes among the 571 ballots cast. That gave him 4.4% of the vote, dropping him below the 5% minimum required to stick around. It would have seemed inconceivable a decade ago, but Raffy is off the map. He's being swept aside with a group of one-year-and-done retirees that includes Moises Alou, Hideo Nomo, Luis Gonzalez, Eric Gagne, J. T. Snow, Armando Benitez (and woe be unto the one solitary lunatic who cast a vote for him), Jacque Jones, Kenny Rogers, Sean Casey, Ray Durham, Todd Jones, Paul LoDuca, Richie Sexson, and Mike Timlin. As the years pass and the Hall of Fame debate becomes even more of a scattershot fiasco, I tell myself in an increasingly-loud voice that the whole thing is unworthy of my annoyance and frustration. But the whole messy process is just too much to ignore for a baseball fan. May time heal all wounds...and wound all heels.

Rafael Palmeiro, 2004 Upper Deck Power Up #22

It's Christmas Eve, so I'll pass along a quick link and get back to my family. If you've got some free time over the weekend, read Oriole fan Tom Scocca's essay about Rafael Palmeiro and his slim Hall of Fame chances. It's been eight years since Raffy flunked his steroid test and disappeared from baseball in a near-instant. I still haven't come any closer to making sense of the entire situation.

Rafael Palmeiro, 1996 Skybox Metal Universe Platinum Edition #8

Chris Davis appears to have gotten back on track in the past few games. He's now hit three home runs in a four-game span, making him the fifth player in Orioles' history to hit 40 homers in a single season. The last time an O's hitter reached the big 4-0 was 1998, when Rafael Palmeiro was one of the bright spots on a disappointing Baltimore team. So if you're still keeping track, Crush has 52 games left to play in 2013. He's 11 homers away from breaking the team record, and an even 20 away from the rarified air of 60. But who's counting?

Rafael Palmeiro, 1997 Score Heart of the Order #10

There are not nearly enough baseball cards that feature the Bromo Seltzer Tower in the background.

Rafael Palmeiro, 1997 Upper Deck Run Producers #RP9

If you were an Oriole fan in the 1990s, there's a good chance that Rafael Palmeiro was once one of your favorite players. He was the first big "get" of the Peter Angelos era, he seemed to be an affable family man, and most importantly, he contributed big-time to some successful teams. In his first stint with the O's (1994-1998), Raffy batted .292/.371/.545 (134 OPS+) with 182 home runs and 553 RBI. Just as importantly, he played almost every game and was a solid defender at first base. But for some reason or another, folks' warm memories of the slugger have cooled.

We've hashed and rehashed the ignominious end of Palmeiro's career-ending second swing through Charm City, so I thought I'd share an entertaining story from better times. This one comes straight from Brady Anderson, who was recently talking to ESPN's Buster Olney about the legacy of retirement-bound Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. Some of those late-90s Birds had uncommon success against the great closer, particularly Raffy (.331/.471/.556) and Roberto Alomar (.385/.438/.615). The duo had a special, smaller-than-usual bat (32 inches long) that was intended to help them get inside of Rivera's trademark cutter. The bat was socked away safely until it was time to face #42. Then the All-Star infielders would summon "Stumpy", as it was called. Brady says that he relished the challenge of facing Mariano with his own standard-sized bat, and his numbers were decent, but well below the bar set by his teammates: .273 average (6-for-22), with a walk and a pair of doubles. Anyhow, Anderson used Stumpy once, perhaps out of curiosity, and promptly got jammed by Rivera. He broke Stumpy.

That's why the Orioles can't have nice things, I guess.

Rafael Palmeiro, 1995 Pinnacle Zenith #82

I'm guessing that somebody at Pinnacle really loved The Wizard of Oz. Follow, follow, follow, follow...

Rafael Palmeiro, 1994 Collector's Choice #605

Wow. I don't quite remember Rafael Palmeiro having such a formidable mullet. It looks like birds could comfortably nest in that thing. Teaming up that mullet with his trademark mustache just seems like overkill, if you ask me.

Rafael Palmeiro, 2004 Playoff Honors #32

Okay, the season didn't end on a great note, but the Orioles are still alive. So bring on the Rangers, and the first-ever Rafael Palmeiro Postseason Invitational. Friday night, the O's have a chance to bounce the two-time defending American League champions from the playoffs. That would be a nice payback for 30-3, huh?

Rafael Palmeiro, 1996 Upper Deck SP #35

I've been bolstering my Orioles collection lately by rooting through some el cheapo boxes provided by my friend (and bargain hunter supreme) Ed. One of the gems I added was this unusual Rafael Palmeiro card. I stared at it for a few seconds before I noticed that Raffy was standing on the mound and delivering a pitch...or at least pretending to do so. It seems pretty clear that he's clowning around in a practice session, though you have to admire his form. I'm not much of a scholar when it comes to pitching mechanics, but my crack research indicates that the slugging first baseman is flashing a four-seam fastball grip. Please correct me in the comments if you know better.

Rafael Palmeiro, 1994 Score Select #317

It's hard to believe that it's been exactly 18 years since Rafael Palmeiro signed a 5-year, $30 million contract with the Orioles. I remember it fondly because it was the team's first marquee acquisition since I had become a fan the previous summer. As I recall it, there was a lot of to-do about Raffy's college teammate Will Clark earlier in that offseason, despite the fact that Palmeiro had been healthier and much more productive in the just-concluded 1993 campaign. "Will the Thrill" was the household name, but he displaced Palmeiro by signing a similar five-year deal around Thanksgiving. I was still in the midst of a crash course in baseball fandom, but I knew enough to be excited by big numbers like a .295 average, 37 home runs, and 105 RBI. For the first time since trading away Eddie Murray five years earlier, the O's had the big bat (and a nifty glove besides) that they craved at first base. They could officially turn the page from Glenn Davis' disastrous chapter in club history.

Raffy more than lived up to his contract, with a pair of Gold Gloves, an All-Star appearance, and a batting line of .292/.371/.545, 182 home runs, and 553 RBI. He was a member of the 1996 squad that won the American League wild card and upset the Indians in the Division Series before mumble mumble something Yankees mumble ALCS. He was also a steady force on the 1997 wire-to-wire A.L. East championship team that dispatched the Johnson-Griffey-Rodriguez-Martinez Mariners in the ALDS before grumble grumble Indians cough ahem ALCS.

Of course, the rest of the story isn't so textbook. Davey Johnson leaves, the free agent-heavy O's tumble in 1998, Palmeiro returns to a chastened Rangers club in free agency and continues knocking the cover off the ball for the next five years, then returns to Baltimore to finish his career and collect his 3,000th career hit but winds up retiring in disgrace after a positive test for the steroid stanozolol. Despite his continued insistence upon a bizarre alibi involving a tainted B-12 shot borrowed from Miguel Tejada, I've concluded that life is too short for harboring animosity. I think Rafael Palmeiro belongs in the Hall of Fame, I'm grateful for all of the positive contributions he made to the Orioles during his career, and I think he's suffered for the mistakes that he made.

Rafael Palmeiro, 1994 Upper Deck #340

How much detail is too much? Does this photo make you feel like you're part of batting practice? Or are you just distracted by the sunlight glistening off of Rafael Palmeiro's chin stubble? Doesn't it contrast nicely with the inky blackness of his nostrils?

Rafael Palmeiro, 1996 Score Dugout Collection #88

Alright, this summer is shaping up in a way that's all too similar to every other Baltimore summer since 1998. But there are still moments of fun, and many of them have come from third baseman Mark Reynolds. His 2 home runs last night gave him 5 in 11 at-bats, 13 since June 1 (most in the majors in that span), and 20 for the season. I don't think any of them have been shorter than 400 feet; the dude just kills baseballs. Obviously power has been in short supply 'round these parts, so I found myself wondering just how long it has been since an Oriole player had more than 20 homers before the All-Star Break. If my crack research is correct, you'd have to go back to 1998, when Rafael Palmeiro had 26 heading into the Midsummer Classic en route to a season total of 43. Going forward from there:

-The following year, B.J. Surhoff went deep 20 times in the first half and finished the year with 28.

-In 2000, Charles Johnson had 20 big flies at the break and finished with 31 altogether. The last 10 HR he hit came with the White Sox after the July fire sale.

-In 2001, Jay Gibbons and Chris Richard tied for the team lead with 15 home runs...for the entire season. Ugh.

-Aaaand no one else has reached 20 in the first half in the past decade.

So Reynolds has already done something no Oriole has since 2000, and if he can hit one out in the next few games he'll be in even rarer company. Brady Anderson's 1996 tally of 30 homers at the break is probably out of reach...but never say never.

Cal Ripken, Jr., Rafael Palmeiro, Brady Anderson, and Roberto Alomar, 1998 Pinnacle Inside Stand Up Guys #15-C/15-D

Here's another instance of a card company trying to reinvent the wheel. As an insert to their "Inside" brand (which crammed baseball cards into Pringles cans), Pinnacle slapped four players from one team on two sides of a thick card with a notch cut into the top center. There's another card (numbered #15A-B) that is meant to slide into this notch to create a FrankenCard that will stand on its own. Why? The world may never know. I do not have the other half of the card, which features the photogenic rear ends of all four men. Such a shame.