After staying away from the public eye for much of the last 11 years, Rafael Palmerio was interviewed for a longform piece by Fox Sports that was released early Monday.

The piece, titled "The Rise and Fall of Rafael Palmerio" focused mostly on the effects of Palmeiro's 2005 positive steroid test, just months after he appeared before Congress wagging his finger and saying he had never taken steroids. The most telling part of the article was Palmerio's reaction to his less-than-satisfying Hall of Fame vote results:

Throughout everything, Palmeiro always had one hope of redemption. He'd always wanted to be in the Hall of Fame. It wasn't just a whimsical dream. The statistical goals that he wrote down before each season were yearly projections he needed to be enshrined amongst the greats.

"Based on my credentials, what I did on the field equals first-ballot Hall of Famer, end of story," he says.

The first year he was eligible, in 2011, he watched the results from his couch. Reporters were calling asking what he thought his chances were and how much the steroids would affect the Hall of Fame voting. But really they just wanted to know if he was a steroid user and unrepentant cheater, or a naive sap, or maybe an innocent man. He was polite and, if asked, he'd repeat that his positive test was a result of a tainted B-12 vial. Needing 75 percent of eligible baseball writers to vote him in, his heart sunk as he watched his name scroll across the bottom of his TV screen with just 11 percent of the vote, less than even admitted long-term steroid abuser Mark McGwire.

"That was like a knife in the back," he says. "I knew I wasn't going in the first year because of what happened, but I'm thinking 50 or 60 percent. They'll punish me, then the second year I'll get in."

The positive test had a great negative effect on Palmeiro's life. Throughout the article, he talks about his desire to give up on life after his baseball playing days were over:

After the Orioles let him go, Palmeiro tried to stay in shape, hoping for an offer the next year, but no one was willing to take a flyer on a 40-year-old with a steroid past. When he knew his agent wasn't going to call, the full force of shame struck him head on, and he retreated inside his palatial estate in the Dallas suburbs. His TV would flicker in his room, but he rarely watched it.

"I was done with baseball. I hated it," he says. "It wasn't like I had a void, like 'what do I do now,' it was, 'let's see if I survive today.'"

The 51-year old Palmeiro also talked about how he called President George W. Bush after he learned about his impending suspension for steroids just to let him know before the public knew.

Palmeiro hung up the phone and, hoping for a stay at the 11th hour, called an old friend from his days with the Texas Rangers. George W. Bush was a minority owner during Palmeiro's first stint with the team, and they'd talked about two weeks earlier, after Palmeiro's 3,000th hit. He dialed the former President's personal number.

"You and me go back a long ways," Palmeiro remembers saying, then stating his case. "Baseball is going to suspend me on Monday, and I want you to know so you don't look at me any differently."

The President responded, as Palmeiro recalls, "Be strong. Whatever happens, you'll be able to survive." When Palmeiro put the phone down, he knew he was a dead man walking.

Palmeiro fell off the Hall of Fame ballot in 2014 and won't be eligible again until 2028 when he will appear on the Veteran's Committee ballot.