Rafael Palmeiro

HandednessBats Left · Throws Left

Listed at6 ft 0 in · 180 lb

BornSeptember 24, 1964 · Havana, La Habana, Cuba

MLB debutSeptember 8, 1986

Final gameAugust 30, 2005

Seasons20 (1986–2005)

Chicago Cubs 1986–1988; Texas Rangers 1989–1993; Baltimore Orioles 1994–1998; Texas Rangers 1999–2003; Baltimore Orioles 2004–2005

Percentile snapshot

2004 season — qualified batters

154

68.8

651

64.4

550

50.6

19.4

142

31.3

37.5

55.6

RBI

67.5

89.4

15.6

73.8

.258

14.4

OBP

.359

57.5

SLG

.436

36.3

OPS

.796

46.3

wRC+

105.9

OPS+

108.7

50.6

wOBA

.345

41.3

sWAR

1.4

19.4

of 161 qualified 2004 batters (min 502 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

130.6

OPS+

132.0

91.5

sWAR

61.5

99.4

wRC+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; OPS+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1986	22	78	73	9	18	4	0	3	12	4	6	1	1	.247	.295	.425	.720	89.9	90.1	.327	0.0
1987	84	244	221	32	61	15	1	14	30	20	26	2	2	.276	.336	.543	.879	124.5	124.2	.382	1.2
1988	152	629	580	75	178	41	5	8	53	38	34	12	2	.307	.349	.436	.785	122.6	121.0	.357	2.9
1989	156	632	559	76	154	23	4	8	64	63	48	4	3	.275	.354	.374	.728	108.6	104.7	.340	1.5
1990	154	651	598	72	191	35	6	14	89	40	59	3	3	.319	.361	.468	.829	129.9	130.6	.371	3.2
1991	159	714	631	115	203	49	3	26	88	68	72	4	3	.322	.389	.532	.922	153.8	154.8	.406	5.7
1992	159	701	608	84	163	27	4	22	85	72	83	2	3	.268	.352	.434	.786	122.9	122.9	.358	2.9
1993	160	686	597	124	176	40	2	37	105	73	85	22	3	.295	.371	.554	.926	142.1	150.0	.397	4.4
1994	111	498	436	82	139	32	0	23	76	54	63	7	3	.319	.392	.550	.942	137.4	136.9	.409	3.1
1995	143	624	554	89	172	30	2	39	104	62	65	3	1	.310	.380	.583	.963	145.2	147.3	.415	4.5
1996	162	732	626	110	181	40	2	39	142	95	96	8	0	.289	.381	.546	.927	130.0	133.5	.396	3.9
1997	158	692	614	95	156	24	2	38	110	67	109	5	2	.254	.329	.485	.815	110.5	113.3	.352	1.9
1998	162	709	619	98	183	36	1	43	121	79	91	11	7	.296	.379	.565	.945	143.0	145.0	.403	4.8
1999	158	674	565	96	183	30	1	47	148	97	69	2	4	.324	.420	.630	1.050	155.7	159.3	.441	5.2
2000	158	678	565	102	163	29	3	39	120	103	77	2	1	.288	.397	.558	.954	131.3	135.3	.404	3.5
2001	160	714	600	98	164	33	0	47	123	101	90	1	1	.273	.381	.563	.944	139.4	139.3	.401	4.4
2002	155	663	546	99	149	34	0	43	105	104	94	2	0	.273	.391	.571	.962	141.5	144.1	.404	4.1
2003	154	654	561	92	146	21	2	38	112	84	77	2	0	.260	.359	.508	.867	116.3	116.8	.372	2.0
2004	154	651	550	68	142	29	0	23	88	86	61	2	1	.258	.359	.436	.796	105.9	108.7	.345	1.4
2005	110	422	369	47	98	13	0	18	60	43	43	2	0	.266	.339	.447	.786	106.5	108.3	.340	0.9

Career totals

2,831

20th-most career G

12,046

19th-most career PA

10,472

20th-most career AB

1,663

33rd-most career R

3,020

30th-most career H

585

21st-most career 2B

569

13th-most career HR

RBI

1,835

18th-most career RBI

1,353

35th-most career BB

1,348

144th-most career SO

.2884

454th-highest career batting average

OBP

.3707

274th-highest career on-base percentage

SLG

.5145

83rd-highest career slugging percentage

OPS

.8852

95th-highest career OPS

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1993-07-15	DET @ TEX Gameday	4	4	4	2	2	4	1	12
1993-09-06	NYY @ TEX Gameday	4	2	4	2	2	4	0	12
1995-05-16	DET @ BAL Gameday	4	2	4	1	2	4	1	11
1997-08-20	BAL @ KC Gameday	4	2	4	0	2	4	0	10
1996-05-17	SEA @ BAL Gameday	6	1	5	1	1	6	0	9

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

3× Gold Glove2× Silver Slugger4× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.