A-Rod Hits 600, Who Cares?
http://www.musclesportmag.com
Alex Rodriguez hit his 600th career home run today against the Toronto Blue Jays. He becomes the 7th member of the 600 Home Run Club behind Barry Bonds, Henry Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willy Mays, Ken Griffy Jr., and Sammy Sosa. This is a milestone achievement in baseball, but the fact is, no one really cares. Alex Rodriguez and two others in the 600 club are known steroid users. So as A-Rod puts his name on that list, put a big fat asterisk right next to it. Who knows how many of those bombs came from the juice?
When playing in Seattle as a part of the Mariners, Alex Rodriguez was considered one of the young and upcoming players in the league. His upside was tremendous. Many experts claimed that he would retire a Hall of Famer and possibly the greatest player in Major League history. When he moved to Texas, he signed the most lucrative contract in sports at the time, a 10 year $252 million contract. The contract was worth more than the stadium the Rangers played in. In his stint with the Rangers, Rodriguez began using steroids, but he was never able to lead his team into the playoffs. He did win his first AL MVP award in 2003 though. As great of a player he was, he was not a winner, similar to the current Lebron James situation. Just like Lebron moved to Miami this season, A-Rod made his move to the New York Yankees in 2004. And just like the Heat are Dwayne Wade’s team, the Yankees were/are Derek Jeter’s team. Rodriguez was forced to move out of his natural position of short stop to 3rd base. He has always played second fiddle to Jeter, and gained the reputation of not being able to perform well in the post season. A-Rod was being made out to be overpaid and underachieving. He grew to be one of the most hated players in sports.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk
In February 2009, a report was released by Selena Roberts and David Epstein of Sports Illustrated that would change Rodriguez’s career forever. The report said that in 2003 as a member of the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez had tested positive for two anabolic steroids, testosterone, and Primobolan. This was the same season that A-Rod won his first AL MVP and hit his 300th career home run. Rodriguez came clean and confessed to his cheating, unlike fellow 600 club sluggers Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds. He cited his reasoning as, “an enormous amount of pressure to perform.” He claimed that he used banned substances from 2001 to 2003. He said, “[he] was young, [he] was stupid, [he] was naïve.” That’s no excuse A-Rod. As a professional athlete, with the emphasis on professional, you must perform in a professional and ethical manner. That means no cheating, period.
The steroids admission has also taken Alex Rodriguez out of contention for the Hall of Fame in many voters’ minds. Terrance Moore of AOL Fanhouse, a Hall of Fame voter, has come out and said that A-Rod has lost his and many of his colleagues’ votes. Induction to the Hall of Fame has very few requirements, but one of them is integrity and character. Any known steroid user should be left out of the Hall of Fame because he breached the integrity of the game. If that keeps out many of the great players of this era, so be it. Every player from this era will forever be associated with steroids, which is unfortunate, but this is what happens when a few bad eggs ruin the whole batch. Pete Rose was caught gambling on the sport, which also questions the integrity and his character. He was left out of the Hall, and so should all players associated with steroids.
A-Rod plays for the most popular and successful sports franchise in America located in the biggest media outlet in the world, but he still can’t muster up enough positive spin in joining baseball’s most elite club. More people are interested in A-Rod’s personal life and who he is currently dating than his personal achievements on the field. He is one of the most hated athletes in sports, and people no longer care. The glamour of the home run has been destroyed by A-Rod and other players involved in the steroid era. In this case, the old cliché comes to mind; cheaters never prosper.
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