YOU’RE OUT…..AT LEAST FOR ONE SEASON!

YOU’RE OUT…..AT LEAST FOR ONE SEASON!

(Al Jazeera, Cornel West, Forbes, Wayne G. McDonnell Jr.)

(Selena Roberts, David Epstein, Tyler Kepner, Frazer Chronicle)

 

I watched with interest last Sunday (12-12-14) night’s episode of 60 Minutes, the one about the New York Yankee 3^rd baseman, Alex Rodriguez, and was amused at the seeming frankness of the answers that Anthony Bosch, (the Bosch Clinic guy) gave to the 60 Minutes interviewer.  Bosch did it for the money, he felt no remorse, and he’d do it again. Now believing this Bosch guy doesn’t mean that I’d trust him around my wife, or my grandkids, he just seemed believable for the questions that were posed.

 

Alex Rodriguez didn’t sound truthful, nor did he sound like he was telling a lie, he refused to appear on the show and answer questions. So the 60 Minute piece was one sided to say the least, it’s kind of the way that Rodriguez has conducted the entire investigation into the alleged hormone use case against him.

 

For me the entire drug allegation against Rodriguez by Major League Baseball, and the Commissioner’s office is kind of like a charade, Alex Rodriguez will be 39 years old in July…..and believe me, his best years are behind him, like close to 7 seasons. His last good season was in 2008 when he hit .302, socked 35 homers, knocked in 103 runs and scored 104…..and he was 33 years old. 

 

There are a couple of areas of this drugging to hit homer case that really doesn’t make any sense…..at least to me. Did you ever look up Rodriguez’s exploits as a ball player, well I did, and wow, A-Rod has been a stud, I suppose the optimum word here would be has been a good ball player, actually a great ball player.

 

Rodriguez started the first full year of his career back in 1996 for the Seattle Mariners, when as a 21 year old shortstop, A-Rod established himself as a super star when he hit a league leading .358, cranked 36 home runs, scored a league high 141 runs, knocked in 123 and found time to steal 15 bases. In addition he fielded his position with the guile of a savvy veteran.

 

I don’t have any secret accesses into some private information that could be called a smoldering gun, I’m not privy to any earth shaking video showing Rodriguez administering some kind of pill that’ll give him super powers for a couple of hours, and I don’t have any taped phone conversations between Tony Bosch and A-Rod discussing the protocol for how and when to take a particular enhancing drug without being detected after a game in a random test by the MBL office.    

 

What I do have is an unabashed love for the game of baseball; it’s in my blood, under my skin, and what I used to think morning, noon and night. I was what you could call a fanatic, I wanted to be involved with baseball in any way, that I formed my own team…..you see I wasn’t that good of a ball player, in fact I stunk the place out. But fortunately for me, I learned early on that I was lousy, and didn’t want to get myself in a position on the field of play, where I’d have to use my limited abilities.

 

I surrounded myself with the best possible players that I could find and entice into my camp, and then scheduled as many games as I could to keep these players interest. It was a tough price to pay…..pretty much because my baseball talent on the field was lacking. The price that I paid was pretty high, my future in the real world. By immersing myself in the game that I loved, I sacrificed whatever business future that I might have had. But it was okay, and I suppose I’d do it all over again…..however, with some alterations.

 

WITH LITTLE EXCEPTION

It’s an almost unspoken resolve that every ball player that I played with, or against, would trade almost anything to be in the place that Alex Rodriguez has occupied up to this point in his career. There are two reasons why I can say this, one, it would afford the chance to play the game that is so loved, and two…..for the money, come-on, I can be pretty dumb, but I’m not stupid, the money would be kind of like icing on the cake.

 

Rodriguez amassed such numbers during his ten years with the Yankees, 1,404 hits, 206 home runs, 910 runs scored, 979 runs batted in and 145 stolen bases, that if nothing else, he’ll be in the Yankee’s hall of fame.

 

A-Rod spent the first seven years of his Major League career in Seattle where he hit 189 homers, batted .309, registered 966 hits and stole 133 bases. Rodriguez spent only 3 seasons in Texas, and was paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars for his services, which were immense, 156 home runs, 569 hits, and a .305 batting average.

 

During his three years in Texas, 2001, 2002, and 2003, his home run hitting power was…..to say the least prodigious, 52, 57, and 47. A-Rod at this time was just 26, and as they say, medically, an athlete is just coming into his own. It is a time with the body aligns itself with the mind, and depending on how much talent has been allotted by the big guy in the sky, these peek productive years last into the early thirties.

 

And in Rodriquez’s case, his record would seem to bear this equation out, his best and most productive years, 2001 through 2008 is where he amassed most of his numbers, 1178 runs scored, 364 home runs, 1011 runs batted in, 1438 hits, and a .303 batting average.

 

HOWEVER AFTER FURTHER REVIEW

The eight years in question, at least for me, from his 26^th year through his 33^rd year, his power numbers were almost off the charts, while his batting average remained constant…..301. Over his 20 year Major League career, Rodriguez has maintained a .299 batting average. And since his 33^rd year, his numbers have fallen completely off the radar, for him.

 

Since 2009 A-Rod has batted .273 with 101 home runs, 314 runs scored, 363 runs batted in and collected 535 hits in 1958 at bats. Now these numbers are decent statistics, but hardly worth much more than a mention during casual baseball conversations. What might come to mind would be the word brittle…..kinda like peanut brittle-brittle. It happens to every ball player, and it’s happened to Alex Rodriguez.

 

For a man that has earned more than $350,000,000 during his playing career, who has absolutely no worries with his bank statements, why would he seemly jeopardize his legacy and his acceptance into baseball’s hall of fame?

 

The answer is simple, and two pronged, first, Rodriguez isn’t the smartest of ball players, after all, he’s been paid millions of dollars to play a kids game, dress up in pajamas, hit a baseball and run like hell, his refinement, and intellect is a work in progress, and number two, he’s been led to think that no matter what he does, money can make it all right, or simply go away.

 

Is A-Rod guilty of using illicit performance enhancing drugs, (you betcha,) probably from about 1999 or 2000, and for what, I’d have set all kinds of hitting records just by using the talent that he’d been given, no enhancing drugs necessary.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!