In the Yankees’ Reality Show, It’s Alex Rodriguez, Flaws and All

Mr. Rhoden, let's see how much of a fan boy you are of Arod when he's batting .235 and doesn't hit in the clutch. It's a weak argument to continue citing the owners and MLB's tacit involvement in the matter. That was long ago; they saw by 2003 changes needed to be made; new rules were in place; and then it was up to the players to go clean or not and change the culture of the game. Guys like you make deviants like Arod into victims. Perhaps it helps your standing in the locker room. I'll stick to reading Tyler Kepner.

What was left out, and has since fallen by the wayside, are the 90 + other players who were on "the list" and who have effectively beaten the rap. One more inconvenient truth for MLB and the equally fraudulent Selig, so fans of other teams all around the country can bash Rodirguez, look the other way at how Braun lied and played the religion card, and pretend the Red Sox were squeaky clean. As for this year's Yankees, it is indeed telling that the most interesting moment in every game is when A Rod is at bat. Maybe sad is a better description.

The owners et al should but never will come clean as to who knew what and when. I wasn't prepared for your insertion of their race in your argument, but it's a fair point. When it comes to the substance users/abusers there is certainly a melting pot.
I disagree with you that we played ourselves regarding A-Rod. A-Rod did everything in his power to play us. I see him as a despicable character, a serial abuser, liar, and narcissist. There's a point where petty criminals do their time and come back to society, but A-Rod seems to be a recidivist. And all the niceties he is uttering are self serving which is what I would expect.
Girardi's comments that you state are sensible and fair minded are him playing you and us. Let's not forget that his bosses prior to spring training were trying their best to vacate A-Rod's contract. So anything Girardi puts out there is mandated by ownership. Talk about sound bites.
Your "reality" that A-Rod is the Yankee's only true star is subject to one's definition of stardom. If celebrity equals stardom that's of your making. He's no star. He's a creep. You say that's compelling. So was Lance Armstrong.
You say A-Rod is flawed. Who isn't? Jeter's refusal to move to 3rd base in light of his clearly diminished range was, to me, selfish. But I loved him even though as you mention he was the master of controlling his own message.
I'm chalking your column up to your need to fill the eternal news cycle. But your assessment of A-Rod is flawed.

Move to a different paper and cast your HOF votes as you want. Other than the HOF, which Alex will most likely never enter, what is your complaint on his behalf? Making $25 million, treated fairly by Girardi and cheered by fans. Backed by a contract guarantee unheard of anywhere else, he gets to continue to be employed by a company he tricked into a deal thanks to PED fueled results. If I like Alex at all this year, it's because he's not filled with the self pity you ridiculously think he should have.

"Rodriguez is the only true star the Yankees have?" You might have noticed that along with A-Roid, teixeira, Sabathia and Tanaka are all being paid over $20 million per year, and Ellsbury, Beltran and McCann not much further behind. Those are ALL superstar salaries. It's 7 games into the season. Let's see how all these older players hold up over a long grind. Could be a long season in store. And aren't the Yankee$ NOT promoting A-Roid passing Willie Mays? Hmm...

Mr. Rhoden makes some valuable points about how everyone in the game turned a blind eye to players juicing, as it was fun(not to mention good for business!) to watch balls fly out of the park at a preposterous rate, or in the case of Clemens to see balls blowing by the batters at an equally insane rate.

And yeah so we've moved on and forgiven ourselves and A-Rod and we're as happy as ever to ogle his private life - and 'more importantly' to see what he'll do at the plate this year.

But my question is how can we be sure that whatever numbers he puts up this year aren't narcotically inspired as well? What truth do we have to go on? How many times can we shrug off a multi-million-dollar liar? After all the steroid market is alive and well, with new drugs coming out that can further evade testing detection.

I'd like to believe that A-Rod isn't stupid enough to use them yet again, though he hasn't exactly earned that trust.

Great column, Mr. Rhoden. I'm thrilled to read a sportswriter who knows how much easier it is to judge the guys on the field than it is to be one of them. A-Rod is a treasure. Baseball's hypocrisy - in both owners & fans - is boundless. Self-righteous greats like Frank Robinson throw rocks (Mays doesn't), though readers of Ball Four have known for 45 years that Robinson's was the era of "greenies" - amphetamines gobbled like candy. When Barry Bonds used steroids there was no rule against it. Also, his statistical edge over other users was as enormous as Babe Ruth's when he stopped pitching. Was that better steroids? Nope; it was baseball genius. And what's more egregious: unleashing superballs in 1920 after Ruth woke owners to the fiscal joys of the home run; or owners' happily encouraging juicing around 1995 with full knowledge (if unacknowledged knowledge). In 1918 Ruth led the majors in home runs with, um, 11. In 1919 his at-bats rose from 317 to 432 and he again led the majors, with, um, 29. In 1920 his at-bats barely rose (432 to 458) yet he hit, um...54. From 29 to 54?? And the next year he hit didn't drop back down but again went up - to 59. Now Bonds: his 73 dingers in 2001 were absurd, and his next 3 seasons were greater - but NOT because of home runs which PLUMMETED, by an average of 28 - that's 28 (46, 45 and 45) to numbers he'd hit before steroids. It was his walks that did it; his mastery. Now: where is Ruth's asterisk? And why isn't Bonds in the Hall?

Often do not agree with Mr Rhoden, but this case could not agree more. So many ways to go at this. Baseball players are just baseball players. Ruth no angle nor Mantle nor many other great ones— but they were entertaining. Baseball records, that monument that sports writers are so sanctimonious about... name one sport that every field is a different dimension, that changes its strike zone and mound height and dead ball and live ball etc. Its part of the charm of the game, but how can records be so important? Steroids in, steroids out. Do amphetamines count? A-Rod may have been foolish or naive for taking on the MLB beast, but he is definitely talented and definitely driven to succeed. He is also, like other great players entertaining, something baseball can use more of in this new era of pitching dominance. Maybe we can bring the fences in on a few more ball parks... ?

If A-Rod keeps his ego in check, behaves himself of the field and stays relatively healthy, while having a productive season, he will win back the respect of the majority of fans. But that is a lot to expect of an ex-druggie. There is a bit of truth to Rhoden's drawing of parallels to the flaws of athletes from 50 years ago, but you can't take it too far. Those guys were not taking performance enhancing substances (quite the opposite) to give them a competitive advantage. I don't care, though about A-Rod's lying. What do you expect a guy to do, really, when caught at something this embarrassing?

Great article. You're right - management wanted the steroid era after the MLB player's strike, as much as they wanted the "live ball" era that made Babe Ruth a superstar after the "Black Sox" scandal. A-Rod is being a class act in handling his return publicly and on the field, and that needs to be acknowledged.

Have to tell you how amusing it is to fans across the country to see Yankee fans, including "everything is about race" Rhoden, start to gush about A Fraud, now that he's hitting .300.

Always nice to be reminded just how truly pathetic the team and their die hard fans are at this point. Rodriguez lied for years to you, but now he doesn't have to anymore because you're lying to yourselves. "He's a victim!" Oh, brother...

Get back to me in July when you're booing him because, well, there'll be nothing else to do at the stadium.

Its not what Rodriguez can do for the team that is at issue. Sure he is a good athlete. There are a lot of good 39 year old pro athletes. It is what he represents that is the issue. I do not understand how fans can glorify cheats. It is not unlike how fans glorified Lance Armstrong, some even after his serial fraud. It is a mistake to make a hero out of any athlete. The fawning is unbearable!

The question now is how Alex Rodriquez himself from here. Another mistake will never be forgiven by fans.

"Race" ?

I realize it's a familiar Rhoden trope but he's just flat out wrong to say race will determine Rodriguez's legacy. What he does on and off the field will determine what the game and its historians think about him. All the other lightweight journalistic good guy/bad guy themes that you like to present to hang a column on mean little to the rest of us. I'm not one of those who think A-Rod is the devil but he's hardly the Second Coming and his use of forbidden steroids is a fact that must be considered.

We are naïve to think that many players of the "bygone" era of baseball did NOT seek every edge they could get. Booze, pills, marijuana. It was all available. Fans went to the game to be entertained an be a part of something big, like a community. The writer is correct - the 24/7 sports-news cycle is like the Terminator. It can't be stopped.

The crowd chanted, "Let's go, A-Rod" when he came to bat with the bases loaded. A few innings later, again with the bases full,the crowd cheered him on. When he worked a full count into an RBI Base on Balls, the crowd again roared with approval. A-Rod is a great player, a lover of the game, and a knowledgeable baseball man. Fans want him to contribute. Just as it was with Pettitte, Giambi, Melky (elsewhere) and others, when players are productive, the fans accept and embrace them. Warts and all. The ast is the past. And the point you make is correct: the owners, GMs, and MLB need to own up to their part in the steroid heyday. Selig's swan song doling out of this mammoth punishment, making an example of A-Rod, serves only to darken his record as a tool of the owners (from whence he came), and not a man committed to serve the best interests of the game.

What a pile. Can you imagine Jeter or Cal Ripken behaving the way Rodriguez did? Not only to cheat, but to repeatedly lie about it. Then the writer has the gall to blame us, the fans. Please!

I agree that the juiced up players are getting most of the blame and that it needs to be shared with the owners and MLB brass. However, your article totally misses the bigger issue. Hank Aaron and Roger Maris (and others) got their records long before the steroid era and at a time when player conditioning was no where near what it is today. Is it fair to them and other pre-steroid era players to diminish their records by allowing the records of juiced up players to stand? What about players who play or played during the steroid era and did not cheat - don't we owe them something?

"My argument is that baseball will never have closure on this issue until former baseball commissioners, the current commissioner, team presidents and officials, as well as team owners past and present, testify under oath about who knew what and when."

While I appreciate the sentiment, it doesn't take into account (and cannot ultimately address) the possibility that various MLB officials willfully ignored warnings and chose not to inform themselves about the extent to which steroids had penetrated the sport.

Cheer the doper - it's your best 2015 Yankee bet !

Oh how the mighty Yankees have fallen into both a moral and baseball cesspool of total ineptitude.

Hang your heads in shame, Yankee fans, Yankee management and Yankee 'tradition'.

You have no honor left with A-Fraud besmirching your baseball diamond.

Mr. Rhoden says: "My argument is that baseball will never have closure on this issue until former baseball commissioners, the current commissioner, team presidents and officials, as well as team owners past and present, testify under oath about who knew what and when." I'm sorry, but that strikes me as a "when did you stop beating your wife?" argument. If you know something, or if you even have a hypothesis, say it out loud: but don't tell us that a dark, vague innuendo is an argument.

Oh, and I also think A-Rod is a cheatin' putz, if anyone cares about my opinion...

Was it really necessary to interject race in this article about A-Rod ("overwhelmingly white, male baseball establishment sits in judgment")? Virtually everything in the Times is always about race, gender and sexuality. That's the liberal script. That's the Democratic party's lifeblood. Their race-baiting, gender war-politicking hucksters preach it non-stop. It's tiresome, it's a perversion of reality, and it's disgusting.

The Times seems determined to churn this "story" as much as it can...

How about some actual reporting on the games--remember that quaint aspect of sports reporting? Or are the current Yankees too terrible--or boring--to merit attention?

Great article, as a Yankee's fan I wish Arod all the success in the world, knowing that the better he performs the better the team performs. Almost age 40 and is playing better than most on their 20's. Just shows the pure talent Arod has. Incredible.

Dopers R Us

Yankee Tradition 2015

"Who writes the history? Who determines which legacies are “ruined” and which are not? An overwhelmingly white, male baseball establishment that sits in judgment, that’s who."

Why is it appropriate to criticize decision makers by their race? By their sex? Are they wrong simply because they are white men? What kind of reasoning is this? It is argument from prejudice.

Given the lackluster hitting so far, this line up can use an injection of Alex Rodriguez.

Rhoden gets it right again. Bottom line: Let the Boys of Summer do what they do. And enjoy it. A-Rod is a heck of a baseball player, not a god. Relax. Let him play. Watch the game. Exult in memories of Mays. Watch the game. Enjoy it.

If it were my vote, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens would be in the Hall of Fame effective immediately.
Roger Clemens was found not guilt in a court of Law. What's the problem.
Barry Bonds, meet him on a bike ride,nice guy.
Voters for the Hall of Fame, let it go.

The bottom line for most Yankees fans is: WIN! If A-Rod will help the Yankees win, then he will be embraced by the fans. If he doesn't help the Yanks win, then "he's a bum!" But that's how it goes for almost every player who's ever played for the Yankees. I think most real Yankees fans would agree.

Alex has an incredible work ethic and it is no surprise that he is making a serious contribution to the team. I believe he is contrite and has paid his debt. He will always be fun to watch - an imposing figure at the plate.

Alex Rodriguez is just a baseball player and a very good player. It's only baseball and it's only a game. Players come and go. Please don't make too much of Alex Rodriguez's faults, in the long run it's just a game.