The Bittersweet Symphony of Alex Rodriguez

The Bittersweet Symphony of Alex Rodriguez

With a season plus left on Alex Rodriguez’s (AROD) contract, the New York Yankees have decided to pull the plug and go all in with their youth movement. I was surprised by the decision since they owe him big money in 2017 too. I assumed the team would allow him to try to hit his way out of his season long funk so he could get back on track for next season. However, they are convinced that batting .204 with a .609 OPS at his advanced age of 41 is a definitive indicator that he has nothing left. Accordingly, it makes no sense to block young players from getting at bats that the team can use to evaluate them for the future. AROD’s career statistics compare to the greatest players in the history of the sport. More impressively, he put up his offensive numbers at the shortstop position which is primarily a defensive position. He also played great defense at shortstop with uncanny range and a laser rocket arm that made him one of the best defensive shortstops of all-time too. He had all the physical tools you would want in a baseball player and was a tireless worker. He was a once in a lifetime talent and the most prolific performer at his position during the tall, offensive shortstop revolution started by Cal Ripken Jr. As we know, he shifted to third base to accommodate the incumbent, Derek Jeter, when he joined the Yankees. We should be reflecting and marveling on his achievements on the field. Like most of his career, it is complicated. Instead of comparing him to Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, or Hank Aaron; most of the first thoughts baseball fans have of AROD are cheat, fraud, and phony. He is another fallen all-time great tainted by the stench of the steroid era. Like a demigod from Greek mythology, he is an individual with Godlike abilities contradicted by very mortal flaws. Unfortunately, his story also mimicked a Greek tragedy of a hero falling from grace by his own hand. It is a sad ending to see him as a shell of his former self and all his unbelievable career accomplishments completely overshadowed by the colossal mistakes he made along the way. Most of the criticism he has received is earned. He did it to himself. Nevertheless, he provided great theater. He is one of the most polarizing athletes in his era. If he had a perfect image to go along with his ridiculous statistics, he would not nearly be as entertaining as he was as a flawed superstar. Love him or [mostly] hate him, he was blockbuster and everyone watched what he did. As a fan who liked and defended him in his time with the Yankees, I will miss him and am a bit saddened that his career was a bittersweet symphony. He had a brilliant playing career that will be mostly discounted because he used performance enhancing drugs and fans tend to not like him anyway.

MARINERS GRIFFEY JR. IS CONGRATULATED BY ALEX RODRIGUEZ

Alex Rodriguez came up as a phenom with the Seattle Mariners. In his first full season with the Mariners, he won the batting title batting .358 with a 1.045 OPS that included 54 doubles, 36 homers, and 123 RBIs. In addition to the power, he also displayed great speed early in his career. In 1998, he joined the rare 40/40 club with 42 homeruns and 46 stolen bases. Even when the Mariners moved to a pitcher’s park [Safeco Field], AROD retained his power and slugged 42 and 41 homeruns respectively in his two seasons playing in Safeco as his home field. When he first joined the Mariners, Ken Griffey Jr. was already the best player in the sport. AROD was the future best player in the sport who was already performing like it. They formed a ridiculous 1-2 punch in a lethal Mariners lineup. Their batting order also included DH Edgar Martinez, who was one of the best pure hitters of all time, and other powerful bats like slugger Jay Buhner. Especially at home in the launching pad that was the Kingdome, they were a nightmare to handle. As a Yankees fan, I vividly remember it as a House of Horrors. Nothing exemplifies it more than the Mariners reeling off 3 straight wins at home to come back from a 2 games to none deficit in the 1995 ALDS. In addition to the lineup, they had superstar ace Randy Johnson. Griffey, AROD, and Johnson gave the Mariners three of the top superstars in the game. It was the pinnacle of Mariners baseball. Those Mariners, particularly the greatness of Griffey, saved the sport in Seattle. Slowly but surely, all three stars left the Emerald City. Johnson was traded in 1998. Griffey was traded after the 1999 season. AROD signed the biggest contract in sports history at the time, 10 years and $252 million, after the 2000 season to bolt to the Texas Rangers. Although the Mariners did go on to win 116 regular season games in 2001 led by rookie and MVP Ichiro Suzuki, they fell apart in the subsequent seasons and have really never been the same since those three superstars left.

Jeter AROD

Most of the damage done to AROD’s career was inflicted by his own hands. He is a very well-spoken person. On the other hand, he had a tendency to use the wrong words at the wrong time. He stuck his foot in his mouth too often which led to a negative perception of him. An example is the deterioration of his relationship with Derek Jeter. Since they were both top shortstop prospects arriving on the Major League scene at the same time, they were natural friends since they shared the same experiences. Unfortunately, the friendship soured in 2001 when AROD made disparaging remarks about Jeter in an Esquire article “’he [Jeter] has never had to lead. He can just go and play and have fun. He hits second — that’s totally different than third or fourth in the lineup. You go into New York, you wanna stop Bernie [Williams] and Paul [O’Neill]. You never say, “Don’t let Derek beat us.” He’s never your concern.’ The comments displayed a lot of AROD’s flaws. Of course, two major reasons he said them were jealousy and ego. AROD was significantly more talented than Jeter. Jeter could never dream of approaching the offensive production AROD put up during their careers. However, Jeter was a great player who played on the New York Yankees dynasty of the late 1990s. He had visible, winning intangibles that were amplified by the success of his team. He was seemingly in the middle of all the major plays that led to Yankee championships. As such, his status was elevated to superstar status and appeared to dwarf AROD’s brilliant individual play.

Of course, AROD did not need to make the case that he was better. He should have left it to the fans, writers, and critics to weigh his superior statistics and production to Jeter’s very good to great numbers on championship teams. The fact AROD would insult his friend to try to elevate himself shows a huge sense of insecurity. Throughout his career, he showed a need for attention, acceptance, and admiration from the fans and his peers. He tried to tell others what he thought they wanted him to say. For this reason, he was similar to a politician trying to pander to voters. When you are not genuine, people tend to see right through you. He would say the wrong things at the wrong times in an attempt to make people like him. Unfortunately, it just made him appear inauthentic and phony at times. While Jeter seemingly would always say the correct thing in the most opportune times, AROD had a habit of tripping over his own words at the worst times which led to fans and other players disliking him. Of course, the AROD and Jeter comparisons occurred throughout their careers. They only amplified once AROD joined the Yankees and they played on the same team. Regardless of AROD’s actions, another reason his peers disliked him was jealousy. He garnered a ton of attention and made the most money. When someone is at the top, the people below have a habit of wanting to tear him down. Nevertheless, AROD gave them plenty of material to work with.

AROD Yankees

The 2003 offseason was a critical point in AROD’s career. He signed the biggest contract in professional sports history to join the Texas Rangers. He lived up to the contract by putting up ridiculous stats. In his three years as a Ranger, he hit over .300. He also hit 52, 57, and 47 homeruns while driving in 135,142, and 118 RBIs respectively in those three years. However, he was stuck in baseball purgatory. While he was putting up otherworldly stats, he played on a last place team. In fact, he won the MVP in 2003 playing for a last place team. Of course, he put himself in that predicament in the first place by taking the highest offer instead of taking less [but still an unthinkable amount of money] to play for a better team. Regardless of how he got there, he craved joining a contender to get back in the big spotlight of postseason play and have a legitimate shot to win championships. Originally, the Boston Red Sox executed a trade with the Rangers that included Manny Ramirez going to Texas. However, AROD agreed to concessions that lowered the total value of his contract. Since the players’ union was against such a thought, it nixed the trade. When Aaron Boone got hurt playing basketball in the offseason, the third base position opened up on the Yankees. Since they were fine with taking on a massive contract at its full value and in the midst of hot and cold wars with the Red Sox, they were more than willing to trade for AROD to stick it to their arch nemeses. It seemed like a perfect match with arguably the sports’ biggest star [considering age and defense since it was during Barry Bonds historical assault on Major League pitching] joining the greatest franchise in professional sports to prolong and extend their dynasty into the new decade. Of course, we know that is not how things turned out.

AROD Ball Slap

AROD’s first season in pinstripes, 2004, set the tone of his tumultuous, up and down tenure with the Yankees. His regular season was fine with 36 homeruns and 106 RBIs. It was a disappointment for his standards but it is not irregular for a player to need an adjustment period when he joins a new team. Naturally, he thrusted himself into the Yankees/ Red Sox rivalry. Unfortunately, he also did it in a couple of negative ways. In late July of that year, the Yankees were cruising and dominated the Red Sox in their head to head matchups. On July 24, the Red Sox decided to send a message and Bronson Arroyo hit AROD with a pitch. Not surprisingly, AROD took exception to the intentional hit by pitch. Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek got in front of AROD’s face and provoked him by saying “We don’t hit .260 hitters”. Accordingly, AROD and Varitek got in a fight and the benches cleared. The moment sparked the Red Sox season. They came back down 10-8 in the bottom of the 9th and hit a walkoff homerun against Mariano Rivera to win 11-10. They surged the rest of the season and would eventually face the Yankees in the ALCS for a rematch of the epic 7 game series in 2003. As we know, the Yankees blitzed the Red Sox at the beginning of the series and took a 3 games to 0 lead. However, the Red Sox made a historic comeback to become the first team to come back from a 3-0 deficit and win the series. In Game 6 of the Yankee collapse, the Yankees were down 4-1 going into the bottom of the 8th inning. Derek Jeter singled to cut the deficit to 4-2. Next, AROD grounded a ball towards first base. As pitcher Bronson Arroyo picked up the ball and made a move to tag out AROD, AROD slapped the ball out of his hand. Jeter scored and AROD advanced to second. Upon a long review, the umpires called AROD out for interference and sent Jeter back to first base. The Yankees would go on to lose that game then get annihilated in Game 7. Rightfully so, AROD took a lot of heat [especially from Red Sox ace Curt Schilling] for the bush league play. A superstar of AROD’s stature should not have resorted to juvenile tactics.

After that play and Game 6, Curt Schilling expressed the idea that AROD was not a “true Yankee”. His thought was that the Yankee dynasty in the late 1990s won because the teams were comprised of tough gamers who played the right way and were developed or groomed by the Yankees. Since the Yankees went in a different direction and brought in hired guns such as AROD, Gary Sheffield, etc. to replace the old guard; they were no longer the teams of the great dynasty. Since AROD was the most high profile of the mercenaries and made the ball slap play, he became an easy scapegoat for the Yankees collapse in 2004. It also set him up to be blamed for future Yankee playoff disappointments. At first, I bought into the “true Yankee” argument. It was easy to accept because I loved the dynasty teams so much. Over time, I realized the idea is complete nonsense. In the late 1990s, the Yankees brought in plenty of new players through trades or free agency to complement their core (e.g. Roger Clemens, David Justice, etc.). The real difference in the teams AROD played on and the dynasty teams was the pitching. The Yankees had a dominant starting rotation and bullpen in the late 1990s. The teams in the 2000s did not come close to matching those pitching staffs. Back to the 2004 ALCS, the offense bludgeoned the Red Sox for the first three games. Moreover, it delivered two late inning leads to the back of their bullpen in Game 4 and 5 of that series. The bullpen in the late 1990s would probably not have blown either of those games. Mariano Rivera was virtually unhittable and untouchable during the title runs. He had the ball in his hands to end the 2004 ALCS in Games 4 and 5 [although Game 5 was basically an impossible situation] and failed. Any pen can blow a single game. The Yankees bullpen in the late 1990s surely would not have blown both games. In the top of the 8th inning of Game 5, Jeter was on third with only one out. AROD should have been able to at least get a ball in the air for a sac fly to drive him in but struck out. If the lead was 5-2 instead 4-2, would it have been insurmountable? 2 runs should have been enough anyway. From my perspective, it was obviously a team collapse. The ball slap in Game 6 was a terrible image but AROD took much more blame as the symbolic goat than he should have. There was not much more he should have done in terms of on the field performance in that series.

The criticism after the 2004 disaster set him up for future playoff failure. Before that ALCS, he put up AROD type numbers in the postseason. His playoff numbers with the Mariners were similar to his regular season numbers. In the 2004 ALDS against the Minnesota Twins, AROD batted .421 with a 1.213 OPS for the Yankees. He was also a part of the offensive assault on the Red Sox in the first three games of the ALCS. His playoff performance went in the wrong direction after the traumatic 2004 ALCS. Critics started to question whether he was clutch or could handle the pressure of the big moments. It is not surprising that a superstar, who yearns for acceptance and adulation, would put even more pressure on himself to succeed in the playoffs. From 2005 to 2007, his playoff struggles were well documented. In 2005 and 2007, he won the regular season MVP awards with ridiculous numbers. In 2005, he batted .321 with 48 homeruns and 130 RBIs. In 2007, he batted .314 with 54 homeruns and 156 RBIs. They were the best seasons from a New York Yankee right handed hitter since Joe Dimaggio. Despite the otherworldly performance in the 162 game regular season, the success of his seasons hinged on a small number of at bats in short playoff series. In 2005, he batted only .133 in a 5 game loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In the deciding 5th game, the Yankees fell behind 5-2 in the game. Jeter homered in the 7th to cut the lead to 5-3. In the 9th inning, Jeter led off with a single in hopes of starting a game tying or winning rally. As soon as Jeter gave them hope, AROD quickly squashed it by grounding into a double play. The specter of Jeter’s playoff heroics were another issue for AROD during his time with the Yankees. Jeter had already won 4 championships before AROD got there and continued to play well in the playoffs. In Game 5 of the ALDS, Jeter did everything in his power to try to will his team to victory and single handedly kept them in the game. At the same time, Yankee fans also watched AROD fall short by immediately grounding into a double play behind Jeter in the 9th. Combined with the criticism AROD took in the previous postseason, it metastasized the notion that AROD was a choker and the most significant reason the Yankees continued to lose in the playoffs. For baseball fans, especially Yankee fans, Jeter could do no wrong and AROD could do not right despite monster regular season statistics. One would have thought AROD playing next to Jeter and putting up monster numbers that dwarfed Jeter would have exposed Jeter’s limitations. Ironically, AROD’s presence on the Yankees actually enhanced instead of diminished Jeter’s legend. 2006 was another embarrassing playoff failure for AROD. In addition to batting a pathetic .071 in the 4 game ALDS loss to the Detroit Tigers, he was humiliated by manager Joe Torre when he was dropped from the 3 hole in the lineup to the 8 hole. Although his 2007 ALDS numbers in a 4 game loss to the Cleveland Indians were better, he continued to fail to come up with the big hit in clutch situations in that series even though he had countless number of those moments during the regular season as the hands down MVP. The pressure to deliver only became heavier with each successive postseason.

Of course, AROD was also under the biggest microscope from critics because he was the highest paid player in the game. After the heat he took for the 2004 ALCS catastrophe, he faced the impossible task of needing to produce in every big pressure situation he faced in the regular season and postseason. In my opinion, it was an unfair burden in a sport where succeeding 30-40% of the time [.300 batting average/ .400 on base percentage] is exceptional. Without a doubt, the anxiety and pressure of needing to come through all the time affected him significantly in postseason play. Despite his otherworldly talent, he was still just a man. Nevertheless, his supporters could point to very logical arguments to defend him. First, the playoffs were an extremely small sample size. Accordingly, it was a bit ridiculous to completely weigh a player’s worth based on a handful of games when the 162 game regular season provides a much larger, representative sample size. Again, the playoffs includes the best competition. More specifically, pitchers affect the game more in individual games than any other position. The postseasons features the best pitchers who often dominate the games. Accordingly, credit should be given to great pitching performances. In addition, a single hitter has a far less impact on a game than a pitcher. For this reason, an AROD cannot affect the game as much as a Lebron James can in a short series or a Peyton Manning can on a Super Bowl run. AROD fans could always point to these facts and note that he would eventually have a big postseason that validates his legacy.

Even though AROD had high profile postseason failures, his supporters could also note that at least he did it naturally in the steroid era. Even his greatest detractors had to give him credit for doing it clean. For example, Curt Schilling conceded that it showed how much of a physical freak AROD was that he could put up astronomical numbers without PEDs. For this reason; in 2009, it was completely devastating to AROD’s legacy when his name was leaked on the anonymous list of 104 players who tested positive for steroids in the 2003 survey testing. Since it was an anonymous list, AROD could have actually denied the accusations. I doubt a source could have validated the claim publicly since he would have to admit to breaching the terms of the anonymous test. A couple years later, when David Ortiz’s name leaked and the media asked him about it, he just denied and got really mad at the media so it would back off. However, Ortiz had already become a Godlike figure in Boston after all the clutch hits and homeruns he had during the 2004 historic Red Sox comeback and leading Boston to another title in 2007 [a third in 2013]. He was also a very charismatic and likeable personality. That untouchable image transcended to the rest of the country. Accordingly, he demonstrated his unmatched political capital when the media simply backed off the story as soon as he got angry and chastised it. As Ortiz is in his final year, it is a wonder how he has avoided any talk of the past allegations and the media just swoons over his performance [which is undoubtedly amazing at any age]. To put the situation into context, Mike Piazza was denied entry into the Hall of Fame for a few years just based on innuendo. Barry Bonds had previously tried Ortiz’s strategy of getting mad at the media. Despite his mind boggling on the field accomplishments and statistics, Bonds was not liked by the media. The media never relented until it broke him down. For this reason, AROD made the proper decision when he admitted to using performance enhancing drugs after his name was leaked. No one other than David Ortiz, especially someone as high profile and disliked as AROD, would have escaped the media. It would have done some investigative work (e.g. found the cousin who supplied him) and proved he used performance enhancing drugs. Prolonging the inevitable and lying would have only made his situation worse. Nevertheless, the confirmation of his use of PEDs destroyed the core defense of his legacy that even his greatest detractors had previously conceded: the notion that he put up his ridiculous stats naturally.

AROD 2009 World Series

Although his chances of ever making the Hall of Fame was wiped out by the admission of PED use, he still had an opportunity to salvage his legacy if he stayed clean the rest of his career, continued to produce, and finally played great in a postseason and won a championship. Ironically, 2009 was the year he finally broke out in the playoffs for the Yankees. To add to the irony, he also had an average regular season in 2009 for AROD standards. His 2009 playoff performance was among the best I have ever seen any player showcase. He batted .365 with 6 homeruns and 18 RBIs. He had big hits and clutch homeruns throughout the postseason. One of those clutch moments was a game tying homerun off Minnesota Twins closer Joe Nathan in Game 2 of the ALDS. I was present at Yankee Stadium at another one of his big homeruns when he hit a game tying homerun off Los Angeles Angels closer Brian Fuentes in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the ALCS on an 0-2 count with 2 outs. I also vividly remember that it made no sense to give AROD anything to hit during that at bat. The Yankees had already pinch run for Hideki Matsui so there was no protection behind AROD. As I comb through a log of all the other clutch hits and homeruns he had during that postseason, his performance was even more brilliant than I had remembered. After that postseason, I had hope that Yankee fans would finally accept and appreciate AROD. However, Yankee fans, especially younger fans, had already watched Jeter lead the Yankees to 4 championships in the late 90s. For this reason, we were a bit spoiled. Instead of being grateful for AROD’s historic performance winning the 2009 World Series, a lot of Yankee fans resent him for only winning one championship.

AROD Red Sox

Consequently, I am under that the belief, shared by others, AROD would have been better off if he were never a Yankee. He missed out on two golden opportunities during his career. The first was during the 2000 offseason when he was a free agent. He had a chance to sign with the New York Mets. He grew up as a Mets fan and loved the 1986 Mets. However, his agent Scott Boras used hardball tactics and the Mets balked at the ridiculous demands. On the other hand, the Wilpons have proven to be frugal over the years so they might have just used it as an excuse to end negotiations instead of paying a mega contract to a single player. Although Mike Piazza would begin his decline after the 2002 season, a couple of seasons watching the Mets with AROD and Piazza as the 3 and 4 hitters would have been amazing. Moreover, AROD could have led the next group of Mets that peaked in 2006. His other opportunity was the previously mentioned trade to the Boston Red Sox that was vetoed. If he won a single championship with either of those franchises, he would have been hailed as a hero. Those fan bases would not have cared about his PED use or his awkward comments. For the Mets, it would have been their third title in franchise history. Growing up and living in New York with the fanbase, the fans would have probably demanded a statue be made of AROD if he won them a World Series. For the Red Sox, he would have probably become a God if he was part of the 2004 team that broke the 86 year championship drought. They blew off Manny Ramirez’s quirkiness as “Manny being Manny”. They would have found a way to completely overlook AROD’s tendency to put his foot in his mouth. With the Yankees, AROD was burdened with the weight of impossible expectations. One title was never enough for the fanbase. I am not even sure if two would have satisfied my fellow Yankee fans.

Even before 2009, AROD’s performance started to decline. It started in 2008 after his historically brilliant 2007 season when he hit .314 with 54 homeruns, and 156 RBIs. Naturally, it was the season before he opted out of his contract to sign another 10 year mega contract for an additional $275 million. From 2008-2010 seasons, he still had representative years of hitting over 30 homeruns and driving in over 100 RBIs. Nevertheless, he never neared the peak years he had in his prime again. In 2011 and 2012, his seasons were shortened by injury and his skills regressed. During the 2012 ALDS, his manager Joe Girardi pinch hit for AROD multiple times with Raul Ibanez. It was a clear indication that AROD was no longer a superstar caliber player anymore. Aging and the regression of skills is a natural part of a player’s career. Of course, fans have no mercy. They expected production anyway because of the size of his contract. Nevertheless, the most damning event late in his career was the Biogenesis scandal. Of course, the first scandal ended his chance at the Hall of Fame with the current stance of the baseball writers. Nevertheless, he could have redeemed a significant part of his legacy and reputation with his peers and the fans if he finished his career clean after the first scandal. Being caught a second time completely condemned AROD as a cheat. To make it worse, he adamantly denied it and threatened to sue a plethora of people, which included the Player’s Union, before finally admitting he was guilty. In a lot of fans’ eyes, his entire career can be mostly discounted now. On the other hand, AROD was an easy scapegoat. At the time of Biogenesis, commissioner Bud Selig was near the end of his career. Consequently, he wanted to redefine his legacy on steroids. He failed miserably at trying to prevent the rampant use of PEDs in his sport. The steroids era stained the sport and its greatest stars. AROD was an easy scapegoat for Selig to string up on his way out the door to try to build the myth that he was tough on steroids as a commissioner. AROD is one of the biggest names in the sport. AROD is also disliked by many so no one would stick up for him and he had many detractors who would salivate in his fall. In my opinion, it was an unfair singling out of one player because it was a widespread issue in the sport. AROD definitely deserves to be ripped for his part in the era but he should not bear all the sins himself. Selig did way too little way too late. From my perspective, he is as guilty as anyone for the era.

AROD Broadcast

To AROD’s credit, he did get a small measure of redemption in the last two seasons. Unlike the earlier days in his career, he has actually said all the right things since coming back from his suspension. In 2015, he remarkably had a great season hitting 33 homeruns. At an advanced age and having a year layoff, it was difficult to assume he would effective at all. After the Yankees were eliminated in the playoffs, he also joined the Fox postseason coverage and did a stellar job. He is a baseball junkie with a wealth of knowledge about the game. Combined with his strong communication skills, he was a natural in the broadcast booth. It is definitely something he could do well in the future. More impressively, he mended relationships he had previously shattered. The Yankees were already upset with the first steroid scandal because it destroyed their marketing opportunities to milk the fanfare from AROD’s statistical accomplishments. The second steroid scandal incensed the Yankees and management even more. Nevertheless, AROD was able to work on fixing his relationship with the Yankees and specifically owner Hal Steinbrenner. He even mended his relationship with the new commissioner, Rob Manfred. It is also important to remember that even though AROD has been an extremely flawed individual, he is not a terrible person. He has given back to younger players and the community. While his peers and older players may despise him, the young players gravitate to him. He has been more than willing to mentor young players and share his knowledge. In particular, he had great relationships with Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano. He was instrumental in their developments. He has continued to do so with the new crop of Yankee players. He has been a mentor to players outside of the Yankee organization too (e.g. Manny Machado). As such, it makes sense for the Yankees to utilize him in a player development role. He has plenty to offer. They will have to pay out his playing contract through 2017 anyway.

Again, I understand that AROD’s legacy has basically been disqualified historically because of his involvement with PEDs. If you just look at the performance on the field, he is arguably one of the top 10 players of All-Time and best player to play the shortstop position ever. Of course, the current group of writers will never vote AROD into the Hall of Fame. It does not mean that the next generations of writers will not have a different perspective. Personally, I would put players who have links to PED in. Cheating has always been a part of baseball. As such, I do not think it makes sense to single out the steroid era. Since it was widespread, I would still put the best of the best in the era in the Hall. For known cheaters, I would use a strict criteria. If I ignore the use of PEDs and consider only performance and impact, would I have to think about whether a player is a Hall of Famer? For players like AROD, Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez, and Roger Clemens, I would not have to debate it. They are Hall of Famers. For players like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Rafael Palmeiro, I do need to think about it and convince myself. As a result, I would still keep them out. Naturally, it is a very subjective exercise where each person has his own opinion. It is why the steroid era is so difficult to define and writers cannot sort it out yet.

Alex Rodriguez accomplished incredible feats on the field. He also showed some tragic flaws. Love him or hate him, his career was anything but boring. He was blockbuster and provided great drama even when he did not want to. He had roller coaster up and downs. Now, the bittersweet symphony is over.

Pat Wong

About Pat Wong

Patrick is a contributor for Rookerville. He is an avid sports fan. Before joining Rookerville, he was part of a defunct New York Yankees message board, NYYankeefans, where he was its top poster and was inducted in its Hall of Fame for his contributions. Patrick is also a passionate fan of movies. He has enjoyed reading movie reviews over the years and is excited about the opportunity to review movies. Patrick is also a passionate foodie. He is Yelp Elite for three years in a row and shares his great finds in New York and his travels.

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