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| Rodriguez with the Yankees photo credit: nydailynews.com |
Let me begin by saying that Rodriguez does not deserve half the criticism he has been given throughout his illustrious career. He may not deserve a quarter of it. But that comes with the territory; if you play for the Yankees and make $25 million a year, you damn well better produce. If you don't, well, you'll get booed when you strike out. New Yorkers have the temper of a senile old drill sergeant. Couple that with the patience of a six year old and you have a prototypical Yankees' fan. I realize I'm buying into stereotypes here, but it's only a stereotype because it's true. In the world of New York sports you can throw out the, "what have you done for me," and insert, "what have you done for me lately?" The answer to that question, in Rodriguez's case is, "I gave some girl my number when I get yanked out of the game."
Okay maybe that criticism he deserves. The rest of it you can throw out the window. Every player in major league history (with more than 100 at bats) has made an out. No one bats 1.000...no one. No one fields every ground ball. No one gets every single bunt down. You mess up, a lot. Baseball is a game that is ruled by failure. You've heard the adage that you can fail seven out of ten times and still be successful in baseball. Hell, you can fail seven out of ten times and make seven million a year. In terms of the players who have failed a lot in major league history, and there are a lot of them, Rodriguez is one that belongs in Cooperstown.
Let the debate begin. He took steroids, HGH, crystal meth, and ate krypton. Great. I don't care, and you shouldn't either. In a league where it seems a player is admitting to steroid use as often as Dwight Howard misses a free throw, my thoughts on the whole issue have quickly become, "who cares?" Melky Cabrera had to sit out the majority of the second half of last season for the Giants after failing a drug test, and he was rewarded with a fat contract in the off-season. You understand that if the executives of the game don't care about steroids, then nothing will change. So about the breath you're thinking about using to dispute my argument? Well, you might as well keep ir to yourself and save it, because nothing is going to change.
Rodriguez may not get elected to the Hall of Fame, I'm not sure. Does he pass the eye test? No. The history of voters seems to be harsh on those who played in the so-called "steroid era," and I imagine Rodriguez's fate will be similar to that of Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire. This is only relevant though because I feel we have all seen the last of a good Alex Rodriguez. He may stick around for a few more years in the sun, I don't know what his thoughts are. But he's not twenty-two any more. He's old, and his body doesn't respond the way it once did to injury. So with that said, what a damn career.
A lot of people will look at Alex Rodriguez as a Yankee, missing his AL West years with Seattle and Texas. It's easy to do that; it's New York. I don't think the city sleeps, so neither does the spotlight. It's always on when you play for the Yankees, and you better be prepared to have your legacy carry on from what you did in pinstripes. Is it fair? Probably not. Is it realistic? Absolutely. With that in mind, I'm going to revisit the younger, simpler days of Alex Rodriguez. After all, had he not gone to New York, I firmly believe we are talking about the greatest shortstop ever.
This is the part where if you don't really follow baseball, you now know that Rodriguez was in fact a shortstop before taking his talents to the hot corner. And in doing so, I present to you reason number one for Rodriguez not deserving most of the criticism: he gave up personal accolades for rings. Sounds like someone else, who took his talents to South Beach. Congratulations to LeBron by the way, Sportsman of the Year, that's a nice honor. I would have chosen Tim Tebow, but apparently you have to actually be good to win the award. Anyway, Rodriguez was pretty good himself, and he was a lot better before he put on pinstripes.
Every baseball fan remembers the greats. Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, all of them are immortalized through stories, videos, and numbers. Alex Rodriguez started his career in Seattle, a place that for some odd reason bred two of the most "what could have been" careers of all-time. When Rodrgiuez joined the M's in 1994, he was not the top dog. No, the top dog was the man who had more talent than perhaps anyone else to ever play: Ken Griffey Jr. Immediately Jr. and A-Rod became the marquee combo, putting the Seattle Mariners on the map, a place they haven't been since the duo left. After Texas gave Alex 252 million reasons to leave Seattle, he did. Griffey Jr. unfortunately was not as fortunate, and injuries ruined his career much earlier than A-Rod's.
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| Rodriguez in his early days photo credit: nasorb.com |
Rodriguez went to Texas and flat out dominated the game of baseball. He was the best in the game, by far. He could run, he could hit, he could field, he could throw, and he could flirt; the five tools necessary for a superstar. He had it all, both the fame and the fortune. He was missing just that one thing that drives athletes: a championship. You don't play to finish second. Rodriguez understood that, so much so that he switched positions. The best shortstop in the game, going over to play third base? Better be Derek Jeter playing shortstop for his new team...oh, it was, okay. Rodriguez's position switch would be like Shaq switching to small forward. The premiere position in the league, and you are the best at it, but you're going to switch for someone else just to win rings? Unselfish. And it worked. The Yankees won, and they won with a featured Alex Rodriguez. But then they didn't win after that, so everyone in New York got upset and forgot about the good times...only in sports.
Now Rodriguez may be down for the final time. I just don't see him coming back and being anything more than a glorified pinch hitter. It's a shame, because baseball will be missing one of its greatest talents ever. We are talking about one of the five greatest shortstops/third basemen/whatever to ever play, perhaps one of the top ten hitters to ever play. Five years ago, Rodriguez seemed a lock to shatter the home run record. Then he got hurt. Maybe it was because he was off steroids. Maybe it wasn't. I'm mot sure, and more importantly, I'm never going to be sure. So let's just cherish what we got. Few have been as feared as Rodriguez was and few have been as disliked. Many portrayed him as the villain in Major League Baseball. So I find it only fitting that less than two weeks after the death of J.R. Ewing, the ultimate TV villain, Rodriguez's career too may be coming to an end. Time to find a new star to fill the void in New York.
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