No one else is the baseball world is such a lightning rod for the love and lately the hatred of his fans like Alex Rodriguez. Alex may well be the best regular season player of his era, but his continual failures in the post season make him a mark for ridicule by his fans and teammates alike.

There are a lot of reasons for baseball purists to dislike Alex. Twice now he has signed the largest contract in baseball history. In his career he has made more than 230 million dollars in baseball salary alone. On top of that though a lot of baseball purists were looking to Alex to break the cheater Barry Bonds Home Run record and return that most sacred baseball stat back to something that could be respected and really trusted.

Since Alex was the youngest baseball player to accumulate 500 home runs it seemed a virtual lock that he would one day take down Bond’s career mark. All of that changed earlier this year when he finally admitted to steroid use. Of course even his admission wasn’t really an admission since his story seemed to make little logical sense.

It now seems that Alex’s career, once a virtual lock from election to the Hall of Fame, will simply join the wreckage of the others brought to shame by their cheating in the steroids era. Things looked a whole lot different for Alex and baseball fans way back in 1993.

Alex had signed a letter of intent to play College baseball at the University of Miami. The school was also interested in Alex to Quarter back it’s highly successful football team as well, however that summer at the young ago of 17 in he first round of the MLB entry draft by the Seattle Mariners. Alex declined to play at Miami and embarked immediately on his pro career.

It should be noted that Alex remains a big fan of the University and can be regularly seen in attendance of its sporting events. On top of that when the University needed money to renovate its baseball facility Alex donated 3.9 million dollars to aid the University in that pursuit.

Once Alex had graduated from High school he was signed by the mariners and placed with their Triple A affiliate the Calgary Cannons. In 32 games he hit .311 with 6 home runs and 21 RBI’s. Those stats earned him a shot with the Major League club and Alex made his MLB debut at Boston’s Fenway Park on July 8,, 1994. Of course Alex may have had a breakout year right then and there had the 1994 strike not cancelled the rest of the season.

He spent the 1995 season between the mariners and their new Triple A affiliate the Tacoma Rainers finally earning his full promotion to the mariners on June 12th of that year.

Alex spent the next five years in Seattle becoming the best short stop o his generation and a perennial all star. At this point he was one of the most popular players not only in Seattle but in all of baseball, unfortunately all of that was about to change.

Tom Hicks who had bought the Texas Rangers in 1998 for 250 million dollars offered Alex a 10 year 252 million dollar deal, the largest deal in MLB history by some 63 million dollars. For the fans it meant Alex was a sell out.

While all of that money helped Alex put up a huge amount of numbers eventually winning the AL MVP in 2003, Alex’s time in Texas may have been where he learned about steroids. However with all the stats and accolades the Rangers had amassed no significant accomplishments as a team and following the 2003 season Alex was traded to the New York Yankees for Alfonso Soriano, a player to be named later, and with Texas agreeing to pay 67 million dollars of the 179 million left on his deal.

Alex’s time in New York has been more defined by arguments with teammates, or his philandering with women more that it has been about his playing ability. While a member of the Yankees Alex won the AL MVP for the second time in 2005, but his struggles in the post season continued.

For a guy who has made some 230 million dollars his career stats are not all that impressive his career BA is .305, with 567 home runs, 2,446 hits, and 1,649 RBI. His record in the post season is a whole lot worse, career post season BA is .279 with 7 home runs, 41 hits, and 17 RBI.

Alex is recently divorced, and has been romantically linked to famous people such as Madonna and such other non famous people as strip club dancers from Scores.

His recent behavior in public, following his steroids admission has been fairly narcissistic and it continues to turn the fans of baseball off.

Tags:

AL MVP, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano, MLB, New York Yankees, RBI, Tacoma Rainers, Texas Rangers, University of Miami

The biggest star on the game’s highest profile team is on the bench. Alex Rodriquez, A-Rod, walked into manager Joe Girardi’s office and declared fatigue as a reason to rest on the bench for a few days. With 100 family and personal guests in the stands, the locals were disappointed.

In the wake of the worst batting slump of his career, Yankee pilot Girardi may have considered the move a blessing. A-Rod is in the midst of an 0-15 slump and is batting a measly .212. These are not zillionaire numbers, not all-star numbers and are numbers that would have had lesser players on the bench weeks ago.

In his defense, the Yankee third baseman and cleanup hitter has returned from early season hip surgery. He cited the extra rehabilitation workouts as cause for the fatigue. His batting coach, Kevin Long, indicated that in his eagerness to make contact, Rodriquez has been “reaching” for pitches.

Girardi added; “We just felt that he needs a couple days physically. Is he sore? No, he’s not sore. But, we think he’s a little bit run down and he could recharge his batteries.” Perhaps, A-Rod was summoned into the office rather than volunteered.

In his absence, the Yankees rode Andy Pettite’s strong seven inning pitching to cruise to an easy 5-1 win over the home standing Florida Marlins. A-Rod’s replacement, Angel Berroa, played flawlessly in the field and had a clutch RBI double. In addition to his batting woes, Rodriquez’s defense has also come under recent scrutiny.

With the win, the up-and-down Yankees moved within two games of first place Boston.

In a solid performance from all the Yankees, Pettite received the loudest accolades. The left-hander lowered his ERA to a miniscule 2.35 in another masterful performance. Pettite seemed most proud of his RBI double.

Catcher Jorge Posada and left fielder Johnny Damon also drove in runs.

Tonight’s matchup pits former Marlin A.J Burnett (5-3) against hard-throwing Josh Johnson (6-1). Burnett has had control issues of late and looks to get himself back in form. Johnson has used a dominating fastball to surprise for the Marlins.

In an oddity, there seemed as many Yankee fans as Marlin fans at the game. Miami sports many NY retirees and they show up when the New York teams come to town. This quirk bears testimony to the Yankees status as America’s Baseball Team.

Tags:

Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettite, Angel Berroa, Florida Marlins, Joe Girardi, Jorge Posada, Josh Johnson, Kevin Long, Marlin A.J Burnett