On the north side of the Mississippi State campus there is a structure being built that is too big to ignore. It captures the attention of campus and highway traffic alike. It is the newest addition to the MSU skyline, the Palmeiro Center.
Named after MSU baseball great Rafael Palmeiro, the building will serve both the baseball and football squads as a state-of-the-art practice facility.
It houses 68,000 square feet of floor space, enough for both a full sized football practice field, as well as a baseball infield. Retractable batting cages can be lowered from the ceiling for extended practice repetitions.
“The biggest impact is recruiting,” said associate athletic director Duncan McKenzie. “Recruiting-wise when you are competing in the conference facilities are very important. This will be one of the best ones in the conference.”
The center, a $3.8 million facility, was made possible by a generous donation from Palmeiro and his wife Lynn, though it did not start out to be anenormous landmark that is has become.
“It started out with some new coaches offices,” McKenzie said. “Then they expanded to a small indoor practice area, and Rafael decided this was something he wanted to do for his university. Then as Larry (Templeton) started looking at it, he saw that we could put in some extra money, expand it, and make it multipurpose for football and baseball.”
In addition to the main area of the center, the new complex will feature coaches’ office space and even a banquet facility that will seat up to 350 people.
“Because of another donation from Bryce Griffis, there will be a banquet room at the front of the building,” McKenzie said. “That can be used for us in recruiting, but it can also be used campus-wide. As renovations continue in The Union Ballroom, it will be a place that can be used for big events where food is involved.”
Palmeiro hails from Havana, Cuba, but wore the Maroon and White for three seasons from 1983 through 1985, earning all-American honors all three years, batting .415 in 1984 on his way to becoming the Southeastern Conference’s first Triple Crown winner.
“It has been long standing that Rafael wanted to do something, but he wanted to do something that was really impressive,” MSU head baseball coach Ron Polk said, “something he and his family could take a lot of pride in and something we could use. What better than an indoor workout area where we can hit, pitch and complete infield drills?”
Palmeiro was drafted in 1985 by the Chicago Cubs in the first round (22nd pick). He was called up to the majors for the final month of the 1986 season, batting .245 and belting three home runs.
These numbers were only the tip of the iceberg, as Palmeiro knocked in 30 RBI in 221 at-bats in 1987 before breaking into full-time duty in 1988 batting .307.
Rafael departed the Cubs in 1989, beginning alternating five-year stints with the Texas Rangers, Baltimore and then again for the Rangers. He was just released last week from his second tour of duty with the Orioles.
He currently stands at 569 career home runs, ninth all-time in the Major Leagues. He is one of only four players to ever hit more than 500 home runs and more than 3,000 hits.