New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez stepped into the limelight of Major League Baseball 20 years ago and it has been nothing short of a roller coaster for him. Rodriguez was the first overall pick of The 1993 MLB Draft by The Seattle Mariners. Rodriguez was a five-tool player at the shortstop position as he was compared to Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. The Mariners called him up to the big club in 1994, but he was in the shadow of mainstays in The Mariner lineup such as Ken Griffey Jr. By 1996 Rodriguez went on to make a name for himself as he was dubbed “A-Rod”. In 1996, Rodriguez hit 36 home runs along with 123 runs batted in and he led The American League in batting average at .358.
Rodriguez came to baseball at a time when people were looking for the heir apparent to Ripken Jr. The Boston Red Sox had Nomar Garciaparra and The New York Yankees had Derek Jeter. Both Jeter and Garciaparra were in bigger markets as they won The AL Rookie of The Year Award in 1996 and 1997 respectively. From 1998 to 2000, Rodriguez would hit 125 home runs as he would be on a path to change his life forever.
After the 2000 season, Rodriguez entered the world of free agency. A-Rod saw longtime Mariners such as Griffey and Randy Johnson leave The Pacific Northwest and he was looking for a big payday as well. Rodriguez and his agent Scott “Show Me The Money” Boras set out to get the best deal possible. In the age of overspending in baseball, Boras convinced Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks to sign A-Rod to a 10-year, $252 million contract. When Hicks originally bought the team he only paid $250 million. This sent shock waves through the sports world as the second closest contract offered to Rodriguez at the time was nearly half of what he got from The Rangers. Not only with Mariner fans, but with people around the country, A-Rod became public enemy number one overnight.
In each of his three seasons with The Rangers, Rodriguez led The American League in home runs as he totaled 156 home runs over that stretch which was highlighted by him winning The AL Most Valuable Player Award in 2003.
In each of Rodriguez’s seasons with The Rangers, the team finished in last place in The AL West. The Rangers went broke after Hicks spent a king’s ransom to get A-Rod and by 2004, The New York Yankees came calling to rescue both The Rangers and A-Rod. Rodriguez came to The Yankees as he would be apart of a lineup full of All-Stars which included Jeter, Gary Sheffield, and Jason Giambi. With Jeter cemented at shortstop, Rodriguez moved to third base, but he soon found out that no matter what he did with The Yankees that he would never measure up to Jeter. By this time Jeter was a four-time World Series Champion and for a guy that made more money that The Yankee Captain the road was tough.
Rodriguez had a .286 batting average with 36 home runs in his first season with The Yankees, but all people will remember is that The Yankees blew a 3-0 lead to The Red Sox in The American League Championship Series. Rodriguez hit .258 for the series while Jeter hit .200, but people blamed A-Rod for The Yankee collapse. Rodriguez would win two more AL MVP Awards in 2005 and 2007, but with futile performances in the playoffs which was highlighted by former Yankees manager Joe Torre demoting Rodriguez to the seventh spot in the batting order of the series clinching loss to The Detroit Tigers in The 2006 American League Division Series as he batted .071 for the series, Yankee fans started to grow tired of A-Rod.
Rodriguez didn’t do himself any favors in 2007 when he opted out of his contract to once again become a free-agent. The announcement came during The World Series as many baseball pundits saw it as a sign of disrespect by A-Rod and Boras as he tried to make himself appear bigger than the game. The two men conspired to make Rodriguez the first $300 million man in Major League Baseball as they were seeking another 10-year deal. When teams were not taking the bait, Rodriguez dumped Boras and personally spoke to Yankee general manager Brian Cashman.
Cashman and Yankee owners Hank and Hal Steinbrenner agreed to give Rodriguez a 10-year, $270 million deal with many incentives based on A-Rod breaking becoming baseball’s career home run king. Since that time, Rodriguez admitted that during his stay with The Rangers that he used steroids. All was forgiven in 2009 when Rodriguez helped The Yankees win The World Series. Now he is back in the news again after ESPN connected Rodriguez’s name to a Miami clinic that provided performance-enhancing drugs to the slugger. Rodriguez has denied the charges, but the controversy will continue to follow him.
Rodriguez had a disastrous 2012 season which only saw hit hit 18 home runs with a batting average of .272. The postseason wasn’t that much better as A-Rod only batted .111 as The Yanks were swept by The Tigers in The ALCS. With five-years and $114 million remaining on his contract, The Yankee brain trust is now looking for ways to dump Rodriguez as the notion of attempting to void his contract has come up. Rodriguez is scheduled to miss a good portion of the 2013 season after undergoing hip surgery. In a perfect world The Yankees would love it if A-Rod were to retire, but like a bad credit report he will be tough to get rid.
The Yankees will have to go through The Major League Baseball Players’ Union to void the deal which is something that the union will not go along with as it will be unprecedented and it will go against everything that the union has tried to establish since the days of Marvin Miller.
The New York tabloids have made a living running A-Rod’s name through the mud. Rodriguez’s is now divorced, but not before his name had been linked to relationships with several women including musician Madonna. Rodriguez will more than likely try to collect every penny from the $114 million that is remaining on his contract. With all of the controversy that is swirling around Rodriguez’s name, it will be tough for him to market himself once his playing days are over.
If Rodriguez had never signed that $252 million deal in 2000, he would have never faced half of the scrutiny that he has. Rodriguez came to a town in New York City where Jeter was “The Golden Boy”. Rodriguez found out real quick just like former Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield realized after batting .081 in The 1981 World Series that people will turn on you relatively quickly when you don’t produce.
Unless Rodriguez goes 4-for-4 with a grand slam in his first game back in Yankee pinstripes the boo birds will once again be out. Life isn’t easy and it is extremely difficult to be Alex Rodriguez.
What has hurt A-Rod the most since he came to The Yankees is the fact that he isn’t Jeter.
I’ve never been a Rodriguez fan, the dude HAD unbelievable talent. He was the chosen one, he would have been a fool not to take the money that the Rangers gave him. I think anyone of would have taken it. I remember the BS he was trying to pullwhen the Mets were chasinh him. He wanted more money than Piazza, his own fan greteting tent and a billboard anouncing his arrival. It’s one of the best moves Steve Phillips did, in not signing him. The Red Sox should he thankfull they never got him. Hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things to do in all of sports. It’s even harder when you have 40,000 rabid yankee fans expecting you to do it everytime you step to the plate. It’s been proven that he has a very fragile ego, what did he expect when he came to the Yanks. He was suppose to bring a million championships to the Bronx, he only got one. He can kiss the HOF good bye.