What years did Rafael Palmeiro play?

Rafael Palmeiro played in Major League Baseball from 1986 to 2005.

Was Rafael Palmeiro a pitcher?

No. Rafael Palmeiro was a position player (First Baseman).

How many home runs did Rafael Palmeiro hit?

Rafael Palmeiro hit 569 career home runs with 3020 hits.

Rafael Palmeiro

First Baseman · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1986-2005)

AVG .288

HR 569

RBI 1,835

H 3,020

OPS .885

PIV 42,814

Position: First Baseman
Bats / Throws: L / L
Height / Weight: 6'0" / 180 lb
Born: 9/24/1964 in Havana, La Habana, Cuba
MLB Debut: 1986-09-08
Last Game: 2005-08-30
Awards: 4× All-Star · 3× Gold Glove · 2× Silver Slugger

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Career Batting Statistics

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
2,831	10,472	1,663	3,020	585	38	569	1,835	97	1,353	1,348	.288	.371	.515	.885	42,814

Career AVG .288 vs. league average .263 across their career seasons — +9.5% above league average.

Career OBP .371 vs. league average .332 across their career seasons — +11.6% above league average.

Career SLG .515 vs. league average .411 across their career seasons — +25.1% above league average.

Career OPS .885 vs. league average .743 across their career seasons — +19.1% above league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1986	CHN	NL	22	73	9	18	4	0	3	12	1	4	6	.247	.257 (-4%)	.325 (-10%)	.395 (+7%)	.720 (avg)	-14.7
1987	CHN	NL	84	221	32	61	15	1	14	30	2	20	26	.276	.262 (+5%)	.331 (+1%)	.415 (+31%)	.746 (+18%)	667.9
1988	CHN	NL	152	580	75	178	41	5	8	53	12	38	34	.307	.254 (+21%)	.317 (+10%)	.377 (+15%)	.695 (+13%)	1357.1
1989	TEX	AL	156	559	76	154	23	4	8	64	4	63	48	.275	.254 (+8%)	.319 (+11%)	.375 (avg)	.694 (+5%)	732.2
1990	TEX	AL	154	598	72	191	35	6	14	89	3	40	59	.319	.257 (+24%)	.324 (+11%)	.385 (+21%)	.710 (+17%)	1861.3
1991	TEX	AL	159	631	115	203	49	3	26	88	4	68	72	.322	.255 (+26%)	.323 (+20%)	.384 (+38%)	.708 (+30%)	3840.8
1992	TEX	AL	159	608	84	163	27	4	22	85	2	72	83	.268	.255 (+5%)	.322 (+9%)	.377 (+15%)	.699 (+12%)	1615.5
1993	TEX	AL	160	597	124	176	40	2	37	105	22	73	85	.295	.265 (+11%)	.332 (+12%)	.403 (+37%)	.735 (+26%)	3164.7
1994	BAL	AL	111	436	82	139	32	0	23	76	7	54	63	.319	.269 (+18%)	.338 (+16%)	.424 (+30%)	.763 (+23%)	2081.9
1995	BAL	AL	143	554	89	172	30	2	39	104	3	62	65	.310	.266 (+16%)	.337 (+12%)	.417 (+40%)	.755 (+28%)	3123.7
1996	BAL	AL	162	626	110	181	40	2	39	142	8	95	96	.289	.269 (+7%)	.340 (+12%)	.426 (+28%)	.767 (+21%)	2906.1
1997	BAL	AL	158	614	95	156	24	2	38	110	5	67	109	.254	.266 (-5%)	.336 (-2%)	.419 (+16%)	.756 (+8%)	927.9
1998	BAL	AL	162	619	98	183	36	1	43	121	11	79	91	.296	.266 (+11%)	.335 (+13%)	.420 (+35%)	.755 (+25%)	3392.1
1999	TEX	AL	158	565	96	183	30	1	47	148	2	97	69	.324	.271 (+19%)	.344 (+22%)	.433 (+45%)	.778 (+35%)	4487.2
2000	TEX	AL	158	565	102	163	29	3	39	120	2	103	77	.288	.270 (+7%)	.344 (+15%)	.437 (+28%)	.782 (+22%)	2915.9
2001	TEX	AL	160	600	98	164	33	0	47	123	1	101	90	.273	.263 (+4%)	.332 (+15%)	.426 (+32%)	.758 (+24%)	3334.9
2002	TEX	AL	155	546	99	149	34	0	43	105	2	104	94	.273	.261 (+4%)	.331 (+18%)	.416 (+37%)	.747 (+29%)	3515.9
2003	TEX	AL	154	561	92	146	21	2	38	112	2	84	77	.260	.264 (-2%)	.332 (+8%)	.422 (+20%)	.754 (+15%)	1890.1
2004	BAL	AL	154	550	68	142	29	0	23	88	2	86	61	.258	.266 (-3%)	.335 (+7%)	.427 (+2%)	.762 (+4%)	664.5
2005	BAL	AL	110	369	47	98	13	0	18	60	2	43	43	.266	.264 (avg)	.330 (+3%)	.418 (+7%)	.749 (+5%)	348.6
Career · 20 seasons			2,831	10,472	1,663	3,020	585	38	569	1,835	97	1,353	1,348	.288	—	—	—	—	42,814

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
22	82	13	20	5	0	4	8	6	23	.244

Playoff Batting by Year

Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1999	ALDS2	TEX	3	11	0	3	0	0	0	1	1	.273
1997	ALCS	BAL	6	25	3	7	2	1	2	0	10	.280
1997	ALDS2	BAL	4	12	2	3	2	0	0	0	2	.250
1996	ALCS	BAL	5	17	4	4	0	2	4	4	4	.235
1996	ALDS1	BAL	4	17	4	3	1	1	2	1	6	.176

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (2831 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	1424	5135	866	1466	311	935	.285
Away	1407	5337	797	1554	258	899	.291

Last 10 Games — Batting

Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO
2005-08-30	BAL	TOR	L	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
2005-08-28	BAL	OAK	L	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
2005-08-26	BAL	OAK	L	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
2005-08-25	BAL	LAA	W	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2005-08-24	BAL	LAA	L	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
2005-08-16	BAL	OAK	W	4	1	2	1	0	0	0	1
2005-08-14	BAL	TOR	L	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
2005-07-31	BAL	CHW	L	3	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
2005-07-30	BAL	CHW	L	4	1	1	0	1	2	0	0
2005-07-29	BAL	CHW	L	4	0	2	0	0	1	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1B	2139	2095	17738	1587	111	1782
OF	212	195	390	9	9	3

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1986	CHN	OF	20	18	34	2	4	1
1987	CHN	1B	18	13	112	8	1	15
1987	CHN	OF	45	34	64	1	0	1
1988	CHN	1B	5	3	30	5	0	1
1988	CHN	OF	147	143	292	6	5	1
1989	TEX	1B	147	142	1167	119	12	106
1990	TEX	1B	146	145	1215	91	7	123
1991	TEX	1B	157	152	1305	96	12	119
1992	TEX	1B	156	154	1251	143	7	131
1993	TEX	1B	160	158	1388	147	5	133
1994	BAL	1B	111	110	959	66	4	87
1995	BAL	1B	142	142	1181	119	4	120
1996	BAL	1B	159	159	1383	119	8	157
1997	BAL	1B	155	151	1304	112	10	124
1998	BAL	1B	159	158	1435	124	9	127
1999	TEX	1B	28	28	261	13	1	23
2000	TEX	1B	108	107	820	56	4	86
2001	TEX	1B	113	113	906	83	8	112
2002	TEX	1B	97	95	739	84	5	83
2003	TEX	1B	55	55	445	49	2	53
2004	BAL	1B	130	128	1090	95	8	114
2005	BAL	1B	93	82	747	58	4	68

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position	Games
First Base	2139
Left Field	209
Center Field	2
Right Field	8
Designated Hitter	431

Awards & Honors

Year	Award	Notes
1999	Gold Glove	1B
1999	Outstanding DH Award
1999	Player of the Month	June
1999	Player of the Month	August
1999	Player of the Week	Week of 1999-08-21
1999	Silver Slugger	DH
1999	TSN All-Star	1B
1999	TSN Major League Player of the Year
1998	Gold Glove	1B
1998	Player of the Month	June
1998	Silver Slugger	1B
1998	TSN All-Star	1B
1997	Gold Glove	1B
1993	Player of the Month	July
1993	Player of the Week	Week of 1993-07-03
1993	Player of the Week	Week of 1993-07-31
1992	Player of the Week	Week of 1992-07-11
1989	Player of the Week	Week of 1989-05-26

Salary History

Year	Team	League	Salary
2005	BAL	AL	$3,000,000
2004	BAL	AL	$4,000,000
2003	TEX	AL	$9,000,000
2002	TEX	AL	$8,712,986
2001	TEX	AL	$9,000,000
2000	TEX	AL	$8,620,921
1999	TEX	AL	$8,849,931
1998	BAL	AL	$6,515,828
1997	BAL	AL	$5,337,021
1996	BAL	AL	$5,406,603
1995	BAL	AL	$4,906,603
1994	BAL	AL	$5,406,603
1993	TEX	AL	$4,550,000
1992	TEX	AL	$3,850,000
1991	TEX	AL	$1,475,000
1990	TEX	AL	$300,000
1989	CHN	NL	$212,000
1988	CHN	NL	$90,000
1987	CHN	NL	$62,500
Total Career Earnings			$89,295,996

College History

School Name	City	State	Years Attended
Mississippi State University	Mississippi State	MS	1983, 1984, 1985

Award Voting History

Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
2001	Most Valuable Player	AL	14th	5.0	392	0
1999	Most Valuable Player	AL	5th	193.0	392	4
1998	Most Valuable Player	AL	18th	2.0	392	0
1997	Most Valuable Player	AL	13th	36.0	392	0
1996	Most Valuable Player	AL	6th	104.0	392	0
1995	Most Valuable Player	AL	11th	34.0	392	0
1994	Most Valuable Player	AL	16th	11.0	392	0
1993	Most Valuable Player	AL	8th	52.0	392	0
1991	Most Valuable Player	AL	19th	6.0	392	0
1990	Most Valuable Player	AL	14th	22.0	392	0

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Rafael Palmeiro (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

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