Alex Rodriguez: A Look Back at A-Rod’s Most Cringe-Worthy Moments
By Manny Gómez
The Slap Heard ‘Round the World
Luckily for Alex Rodriguez, the 2004 ALCS will forever be remembered as the greatest collapse in postseason history. After taking the first three games against the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees would go on to lost the next four consecutively. This resulted in the Red Sox winning the World Series for the first time since 1918.
If not for that, 2004 would go down in history as “the year of the slap.”
It all happened in game 6 of the ALCS between the Yanks and the Sox. Desperate to keep the 8th inning alive against Bronson Arroyo who had put a runner on before him, A-Rod slapped the ball out of Arroyo’s hand as he attempted to tag him out on the way to first (below).
It’s not so much that A-Rod did everything he could to get on base, it’s how obvious he was about it. Watch the video again in slo-mo (1:53) and all you see is his giant, white-gloved hand slap the ball out of Arroyo’s glove.
Recently, A-Rod spoke about the incident in Barstool’s Pardon my Take Podcast, saying,
"“It was worth the try. How’s that?” Rodriguez said. “I was trying to go for his glove, and Arroyo’s a very good athlete. He got off the mound very quickly. “I was trying to go for his glove and the karate chop went a little too far and I got his forearm.”"
But wait, there’s more!