Earlier this season the Orioles entertained the New York Yankees for a three game series. Like every other time when the Yankees come to town the bandwagon rolls through depositing brand new Yankees hats and shirts, still with the stickers on them, at Camden Yards and Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The Inner Harbor is the tourist magnet of the city. You have to have an away teams jersey and or fanny pack to gain admission to the comfort restaurants of home (Chipotle, Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's, Hard Rock, etc.). The Yankees complained that it feels like they're in a fish bowl while in Baltimore. They just can't go out and have a quiet evening without being harassed by the throngs of annoying fans that have worshiped them since like 2007, yo. It must be difficult for players like Derek Jeter go out and run into a 100 guys that all claim that he's their "boy." Then you find out the $252 million man went to the Inner Harbor for some fine dining.
Apparently the Inner Harbor is also a stop for P.F. Chang connoisseurs like Alex Rodriguez and girlfriend Cameron Diaz. According to ESPN New York Rodriguez said Baltimore's P.F. Chang's was the worst one he's visited and he loves P.F. Chang's. I guess the upscale, overpriced, mediocre Chinese food just wasn't up to par late at night after the restaurant was under siege with tourists all day. Something that wasn't news became news and it made my newly adopted hometown look like an uncultured hick town.
After reading that it all came coming back to me as to why I cannot stand Alex Rodriguez. A player that started out with so much promise has turned into a pretentious snot that has soured numerous baseball fans, like myself, on his talents. I want nothing more for Rodriguez to fail. His passive aggressive antics, and total lack of respect for the game, has made him one of the most unlikable players in Major League Baseball today.
Between 1996 and 2000 he could do no wrong.
Alex Rodriguez, along with Ken Griffey Jr. and the Seattle Mariners, played a big part in post-strike baseball. The mid 90's Mariners teams made Seattle a relative baseball market for Major League Baseball. Playing in the God forsaken King Dome the team entertained the masses and fans across the U.S. happily purchased Mariners hats, jerseys and various other Nike products. The fan base rivaled the bandwagon fan bases of Boston and New York today. However, the Mariners were a small market you could root for that had two players you wanted to be like. Rodriguez and Griffey were going to break all the MLB hitting records. Then things happened.
In 2000, Griffey was traded to Cincinnati where he went on to have nine injury plagued seasons. He did manage to hit 630 home runs but never made a serious challenge for Hank Aaron's home run record.
In 2001, Alex Rodriguez departed for the Texas Rangers and a $252 million contract. By going to the last place Rangers it seemed like Rodriguez wanted to avoid the ring factories and make a name for himself in Texas. In 2001 and 2002 Rodriguez had the best two seasons of his year. He even paid tribute to Cal Ripken Jr. in the 2001 all-star game by stepping aside and letting Ripken play shortstop. In 2003 he was named the American League's Most Valuable Player even though he played for a last place team. Then the bottom fell out.
In 2004, Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees in a much publicized move during game 4 of the World Series. Year after year he would have outstanding regular seasons, but would fail to produce in the post season. He was the source of much angst and grief for Yankees "fans" all across the U.S. It would take the Yankees five, long, expensive seasons to finally win another World Series.
But there's one hing that trumps everything he's accomplished and that thing is steroids. In 2009, it was leaked that Rodriguez used anabolic steroids during his 2003 MVP season. Rodriguez admitted to using steroids because he wanted to get over injury and well you know, help his team. It's as if the "get over injury" and "help the team" became the golden reasoning to make it okay that he was shooting up with two different kinds of anabolic steroids. Andy Pettitte liked it so much that he decided to use it as well. Pettitte also wanted to get over injury and "help" his team a whole lot. Hey, at least Pettitte pulled Roger Clemens down with him.
I'm sorry but that reasoning is flawed. Of all people Rodriguez should be aware of the two people who had every reason to use steroids but didn't: Mickey Mantle and Ken Griffey Jr.
Now I admit Mantle is a bit far fetched. But I'm sure wandering through the halls of Yankee Stadium Rodriguez had to of picked up on a few things about the Mick's life. Most notably chronic pain that plagued him his entire career. The Mick promptly blew out his knee during his rookie season and continue to play through pain and injuries for 17 seasons.
For 8 seasons Reds fans watched Griffey limp around Cincinnati during the prime of his career. Injury after injury cost him chance after chance to break the home run records. Instead the records went to one dimensional, chemically enhanced, sluggers that robbed baseball fans of true celebrations.
One could argue that not cheating cost Griffey some of the most hallowed records in all of Major League Baseball. How big are those records? Four of the top 10 home run hitters and 6 of the top fifteen all time home run leaders have been accused of steroid use. If you remove Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Rodriguez from the list the top 5 consists of Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Griffey Jr., and Jim Thome. The only thing you can find in each of those 5 players are natural ability and strong work ethics. No enhancements needed.
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