New York Yankees: Alex Rodriguez Is a HOF Player

Now that Alex Rodriguez will retire Friday with New York Yankees, attention turns to his legacy. One that, despite major flaws, is worthy of Cooperstown.

The legacy of New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez is complex. Four home runs short of 700 on his career with 3114 hits on the ledger, he is one of the greatest players in Major League Baseball history.

Rodriguez’s checkered past also makes him one of the most complicated players of all-time. What should have been one of the most successful relationships ever ends Friday in New York with some handshakes for the cameras and a mountain of stories wondering what might have been. He will stay with the club as an advisor and instructor.

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The Yankees were gifted Rodriguez when MLB Commissioner Bud Selig cancelled a trade between the Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox. Boston was to get one of the best shortstops ever and Texas had Manny Ramirez. When Rodriguez restructured his contract to take a lower salary, the deal was off. Instead Aaron Boone, hero of the 2003 American League Championship Series, broke a leg playing pickup basketball, and the Yankees pounced sending Alfonso Soriano in the spring of 2004.

With 345 home runs under his belt at 27, Rodriguez expected to become a megastar. He became anything but. Admitting to PED usage once on 60 Minutes, then suspended for the entire 2014 season after a failed test, he leaves the Yankees as a paradox. A player worthy of equal parts praise and contempt.

The press loved to hate him. Whether it was his involvement in the Biogenesis mess, or opting out of a mega-contract during the middle of a World Series clincher, any mistake he made grew.

He feuded with managers Joe Torre and Joe Girardi. He slapped the ball out of Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo’s hand in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS. New York’s infamous tabloids loved him like there was no tomorrow.

For all his faults, Rodriguez is worthy of being in the Hall of Fame. PED’s may allow you to hit a ball farther, but they go not give you talent and intelligence. With the Yankees, he won two MVP awards and was a he part of their 2009 World Series championship. His career WAR of 115.0 is 13th all-time. Those 696 home runs are fourth and 2084 RBI is third. If you think he did that against purely clean pitching then perhaps there is a bridge or two along the East River you can buy.

He stole 329 bases, hit 1840 singles and reached base a whopping 4,628 times. Unlike other bombers such as Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, Rodriguez was never walked regularly. Only in 2000, with the Seattle Mariners, did he draw 100 walks.

It was with Seattle where he broke in at 18 in the strike-shortened season of 1994 as a can’t miss prospect. Twenty-two years and 2781 games later, Rodriguez starts his next chapter.

Never held in New York with the love and admiration of Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera, Rodriguez was a key player for a team making seven postseason runs in his first nine years in the Bronx. By itself, that places him in rare territory.

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He will be judged by his PED usage. As with Bonds and Roger Clemens, forgiveness will not come easy. In the time between when he hangs up the cleats and when the writers vote on his Cooperstown case, the likelihood of a current Hall members admitting to their use increases.

It should not matter—put it on his plaque if you feel the need—Alex Rodriguez is a Hall of Famer.

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