Quotes by Rafael Palmeiro

• But as far as I'm concerned, I can still play defense.
• But I think mainly, you know, just up in the East Coast, it's where it all originated. You know, Philadelphia. It goes back to the beginning. So, you know, fans have a lot of history, and they love their teams up here.
• I don't know who took what. That is pretty private with an individual.
• I don't see myself as someone that brings a lot of luggage.
• To snap my fingers and let it go away. Even if it takes the 3,000th hit with it, just let it all go away.
• Three thousand, it's just a number. It's just a game.
• Well, you know, I left Cuba as a kid when I was 6 years old back in 1971.
• With all the great products that are apparently out there that are undetectable, for me to take something like that... when people take things that now aren't even being tested for, does it make any sense?
• Yes, but I - you know, it's been such a long time, I'm sure that I've got cousins and uncles that I've never met before, you know, that I've left behind.
• You just want to be able to have a nice career and make a living at it.
• You know, my family stood for something that they believed in, and I wasn't about to turn my back on them.
• You know, when you first come up, and you get called up to the big leagues, all you want to do is just, you just want to have a career, a nice career. You want to make a living at it.
• You set your goals to a point where they're attainable, but far enough away that you have to really go get them. And every year I push my goals a little bit farther away, and every year I work a little bit harder to get them.
• When I testified in front of Congress, I know that I was testifying under oath and I told the truth.
• I still feel like I can play defense at first base at a very high level.
• They try to say this era was a tainted era. But so many great players played in the last 15 to 20 years. This is going to be the best era in the history of the game in my opinion.
• There's a lot of history in Boston and a lot of history, obviously, in New York with all the championships.
• The tragedy of all of this is that it happened to me and it shouldn't have happened. It ruined my life and my career. That's the tragedy of this.
• The other deals with my life and my livelihood and my family and all that I stand for.
• My parents didn't agree with what was going on, you know, with the communists coming in, Fidel Castro. I didn't see the reason why I needed to go back there and be a part of that exhibition.
• My life was on the line here and my career and everything I worked for, it was hanging by a thread.
• It was a hard time. It was something I would love to erase from my memory.
• I'm very happy for the Contreras family. They're out. Now they've got a chance to experience life the way I did as a kid. You know, his kids are going to have a real chance in life now, and the same way that I had it.
• I'm not sure. I did not set it up. I have never done a polygraph test in my life. I didn't know what to expect. I was just there to answer the questions that they put in front of me.
• I would love to go back and help rebuild that country and help - you know, kind of like what's going on with Iraq right now. You know, they've got a new government in place. They're trying to rebuild the country. I would love for that to happen in Cuba also.
• I don't think that - you know, I'm sure that there's guys that are doing it, because I'm sure in every sport there's players who want to get the edge. But I think that it's been blown overly - way more than guys are using it in our game.
• I wish that they had the freedoms like the Japanese and the Koreans and the Mexicans and everybody else that has that freedom to come over here and play the game, because I know Cuba has a very strong baseball history.
• I don't think anybody ever saw anybody taking anything.
• I said what I said before Congress because I meant every word of it.
• I have never used steroids. Period.
• I hope that people learn from my mistake and I hope that the fans forgive me.
• I hope that people look at my whole career and appreciate that I've given everything that I've got.
• I love baseball, and the door remains open.
• I respect the Hall of Fame, and if they think that I'm worthy enough, I would be very honored. And if they don't, I gave it all that I had to this game.