EDITORIAL FOULING OUT STEROIDS USE CONTINUES TO TARNISH THE REPUTATION OF THE NATIONAL PASTIME.

IT'S official: Viagra is not the only performance-enhancing drug that has coursed through Rafael Palmeiro's body.

And the Baltimore Orioles first baseman seems destined for baseball's Hall of Shame - home to an ever-growing lineup of steroids users.

At a time when baseball's reputation is in tatters, Palmeiro wowed crowds with on-field achievements, and claimed he played by the rules. In congressional hearings in March, he spoke boldly against drug use, saying, ``I have never used steroids. Period.''

Now that statement looks like perjury. And Palmeiro's public image, like that of the game that's made him rich, is tainted.

It doesn't help that Palmeiro has tried to push the laughable excuse that his steroid use was an ``accident.'' Nor does it help that Major League Baseball has dealt with the scandal in its typical secretive and self-protective manner.

And it's downright devastating that - according to three sources who spoke to The Associated Press - MLB officials knew of Palmeiro's positive drug test months ago, but said nothing. They waited until after he became only the fourth ballplayer of all time to rack up 3,000 hits and more than 500 homers, and cynically cheered the feat with full-page newspaper ads.

In a sport that's driven by statistics, we now don't know which records are real and which are chemically enhanced. Steroids violate the integrity of the game far more than Pete Rose's gambling problem ever did. Yet while Rose was banished from the sport, the worst that MLB seems willing to do to offenders such as Palmeiro is to slap them on the wrist with a 10-day suspension.

Until MLB starts getting tough on offenders - and team owners start putting integrity ahead of short-term gain - the reputation and popularity of America's national pastime will continue to sag.