Major League Baseball

Palmeiro signs with independent club to play alongside son

Published Sep. 17, 2015 4:41 p.m. ET

foxsports

NEW YORK — Rafael Palmeiro has signed with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League and plans to play alongside his son Patrick for the remainder of this season, which ends Sunday.

Palmeiro, 50, was a four-time All-Star who played for the Chicago Cubs (1986-88), Texas (1989-93, 1999-03) and Baltimore (1994-98, 2004-05). He hit .288 with 569 homers and 1,835 RBI, but his career was tarnished by a 10-day suspension in 2005 for a positive steroids test — after he testified at a congressional hearing that he had never taken the performance-enhancing drugs.

Palmeiro never received more than 12.6 percent of the vote for the Hall of Fame ballot and was dropped after the 2014 vote, when he fell below 5 percent.

Patrick Palmeiro, 25, signed with the Chicago White Sox organization in June 2012 and was released last October.