Rafael Palmeiro*
Rafael Palmeiro is the first player to make this list with an asterisk, which I have affixed to the 6 players on this list who broke rules in order to gain an advantage. Since it is not possible to tell the extent of the cheating, or what impact it had, he appears on the list at his actual ranking.
Palmeiro broke into the league with the Chicago Cubs in 1986, and in his third season had become an All-Star by batting .307, good for second in the NL that season, behind only Tony Gwynn. Because of issues with teammate Ryne Sandberg, Palmeiro was traded to the Texas Rangers after the season.
During his first stint with the Rangers, he began to establish himself as a true star, leading the league in hits in 1990, doubles, in 1991, and runs scored in 1993. After his fifth year in Texas, which was his best year to date, he decided to leave as a free agent after teammate Will Clark was offered a slightly larger contract.
He signed with the Orioles for slightly more than Clark had been offered, and it was there that he became a home run hitter, with a streak of 9 straight seasons of between 38 and 47 homers starting in 1995, and he also surpassed 100 RBI's in each of those seasons, something he had only done once before.
He decided to return to the Rangers in 1999, where he and his family were still living, and in his first season back had his best overall season, when he set career highs with 47 home runs, 148 RBI's, and a .324 batting average, while also amassing 183 hits. He came in fifth in the MVP voting, though I feel he should have won the award that year for the AL, as he had far more home runs, RBI's, and walks than Ivan Rodriguez, his teammate who won the award, while nearly matching him in hits and runs scored.
He returned to Baltimore in 2004 to chase a few more career milestones, and he reached a very impressive one in 2005, when he reached hit #3000, and as he had already reached 500 home runs, he became only the fifth player to reach both milestones, joining Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Alex Rodriguez, and Eddie Murray, all Hall of Famers.
Just days after reaching that milestone, he was suspended for 10 days for a positive steroid test, which also came just a few months after he had been accused by Jose Canseco of using steroids, and after he had testified before Congress that he had never used them. He claimed that he had been given a tainted Vitamin B12 shot by teammate Miguel Tejada and that it was not intentional.
He returned to the team after his suspension ended, but his team and the fans had turned on him, both because of the implications of cheating and the accusation against his own teammate. Rafael Palmeiro Appreciation Day was cancelled, which was to be a celebration of his amazing achievement weeks earlier, and he ended up retiring a few days later due to all of the negativity. He also never came close to being elected to the Hall of Fame, despite having career statistics that would generally be considered surefire.
While Palmeiro most likely cheated, it is unclear how much and how often, and there is still a question as to whether it was intentional, but there is still no doubt that with all that he did in his career, he still deserves to be mentioned as one of the best baseball players of all time.
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