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Rafael Palmeiro, the long-time Texas Rangers first baseman who retired after the 2005 season, is coming out of retirement to play for the Sugar Land Skeeters this weekend.
This is the final weekend of play for the Skeeters, a franchise in the independent Atlantic League, and Palmeiro is expected to play games on Saturday and Sunday. Palmeiro's son, Patrick, is a member of the team, and this is an opportunity for Raffy to take the field and play next to his son.
Palmeiro, of course, ended up leaving the game of baseball under a cloud after testing positive for PEDs in 2005. Originally acquired by the Rangers prior to the 1989 season in a multi-player deal that sent Mitch Williams to the Cubs, Palmeiro played for Texas from 1989-1993, left angrily for the Orioles after the 1993 season when the Rangers signed Will Clark to replace him, and then returned to Texas for the 1999-2003 seasons, before finishing out his career in Baltimore in 2004-05.
Palmeiro put up a career .288/.371/.515 slash line, with 3020 hits and 569 home runs, but got virtually no support for the Hall of Fame due to his PED suspension, and has fallen off the ballot. Playing for the Skeeters will not change his eligibility, as the player must have played in the major leagues to re-start his ballot eligibility.