The Atlantic League’s Sugar Land Skeeters are five games under .500 for the season and will miss the playoffs after going to the championship series last year.
But they gave their fans something to talk about today.
From a press release posted on the Atlantic League’s website:
The Sugar Land Skeeters and manager Gary Gaetti announced the signing of four-time MLB All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner, Rafael Palmeiro to the Skeeters. Rafael joins his oldest son, Patrick, for the final three games of the season. Palmeiro is one of five members of the 500 home run and 3,000 hit club, which includes New York Yankees DH Alex Rodriguez and Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray.
“We discussed me playing earlier this year and it’s something I’ve looked forward to since then,” Palmeiro said. “The chance to play with my son is an opportunity the Skeeters have offered me and I’m very excited to make it happen this weekend.”
Hardball Talk’s Craig Calcaterra writes: “Kudos to the Skeeters for giving [Palmeiro] the opportunity to do something a lot of fathers dream about. And kudos to them for giving fans — way fewer of whom give a rip about the PED stuff than people think — a chance to see something neat.”
I’ll point out that signing a 50-year-old who last played professionally 10 years ago doesn’t say anything good about the quality of play in the Atlantic League.
But if you’re curious, you can see how Palmeiro’s weekend goes on ESPN3…. the Skeeters’ home games are broadcast on WatchESPN.com and SugarLandSkeeters.com
PaulHadsall.com 
Calcaterra might very well be right about fans’ attitudes towards PED’s, but does he have poll numbers to back up his claim, or is he just projecting his own bias here?
Interesting stunt, but I have to wonder how many people would be that excited to watch 50-year old Palmeiro play baseball.
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The only polls I can find about fans’ attitudes towards PED use are from 2009… at the time, a CBS/New York Times poll found that 60 percent of fans cared “a lot” about whether MLB players used PEDs. An AP-GfK Poll found 55 percent of fans cared “a lot.” Maybe attitudes have changed in the intervening years…but it certainly looks like we’ve stopped asking the question.
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I think you know where I stand on this.
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Yup.
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Minor League baseball has ALWAYS been about “silly marketing stunts”. You’re talking very small market teams who struggle to escape the red and reach the black on an annual basis. Bill Veeck was essentially a major league owner with a minor league promotion mindset. You think the Browns were the first team to try batting a midget? I doubt it.
I love minor league baseball. There’s nothing more…..American. Understanding the economics of it, I never question any promotion they want to run. If they wanted to get Charlie Manson out there on a one-day work release and have him take the field with Marilyn Manson, I wouldn’t criticize it. Wouldn’t even roll my eyes. Is it any worse than having Will Ferrell making a joke of the major leagues in spring training? I really don’t think so.
How many people will turn out to watch the Palmeiros play? If you lived in Palookaville and minor league baseball was about your only affordable live entertainment, you might go. Why not? As the writer says, its a chance to see something neat. On the other hand, if Will Ferrell was suiting up to make a mockery of the Mets, I’d pass. I have no need to see that. Stick to the movies. Putz.
Of course, I never was part of the anti-PED crowd anyway. My attitude always was that a baseball player’s job is to produce and entertain to whatever extent they can. If PEDs are the reason a hitter on my team is hitting 50 home runs a year, give him a wheelbarrow full of the stuff. I don’t care. So long as the players understand the consequences. Its entertainment. Through the 60s and 70s, virtually every player was on amphetamines. But that’s OK with everybody? Hypocrites. And nobody seems terribly bothered by all the football players suffering brain damage and committing suicide–just because its not necessarily chemically enhanced. Think about the movie and (soon to be) TV show “Limitless”. Because I guarantee you there is scarcely a human being alive who wouldn’t take a drug to enhance their performance at their job or in their life. Its human nature. You can pretend to be standing on a moral high ground because there is no such pill or shot available for what you do. But, as Chris Rock once said about infidelity, a man is as faithful as his options
I haven’t kept up on the Skeeters but my question would be is Tracy McGrady still playing for them?
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McGrady retired in July 2014 after pitching in just four games for the Skeeters.
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