Alex Rodriguez
Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALE : Alex Rodriguez
- "A-Rod" redirects here. For , see .
Background
Rodriguez was born in the Washington Heights section of New York City. When he was four, Rodríguez moved with his parents to their native Dominican Republic. After moving to Miami, Florida four years later, Rodriguez's father announced his intention to return to New York for a short time. His father left without his family and never returned. Rodríguez has said in interviews he can forgive his father for abandoning the family, but that he will never forget [ESPN.com].Rodríguez was a star player at Miami's Westminster Christian High School. Rodriguez signed a letter of intent to play baseball for the University of Miami and was also recruited by the university to play quarterback for its football team. Rodriguez turned down Miami's baseball scholarship and never played college baseball, opting instead to become eligible for the amateur draft at the age of 17.
He was drafted first overall by the Seattle Mariners in 1993. Rodríguez rose rapidly through the Mariners organization, and made his major league debut in July of 1994 at the age of 18.
Seattle Mariners
Alex Rodríguez's first major league campaign lasted just one month; the season was cut short by the 1994 baseball strike. Rodríguez then split most of 1995 between the Mariners and their AAA club, the Tacoma Rainiers. Rodriguez joined the major league roster permanently in August, where he got his first taste of postseason play, albeit in just two at-bats.
The following year, Rodríguez took over as the Mariners' regular shortstop and emerged as a star player, hitting 36 HR (home runs), driving in 123 RBI (Runs Batted In), and pacing the AL (American League) with a .358 batting average. He also led the AL in runs, total bases, and doubles. Rodríguez came close to becoming the youngest MVP (Most Valuable Player) in baseball history, finishing second to Juan González in the voting by three points, 290-287.
In 1997, Rodríguez's numbers fell somewhat, hitting 23 HR with 84 RBI and a .300 batting average that year. Rodríguez rebounded in 1998, however, becoming just the third member of the 40 HR/40 SB (Stolen bases) club, with 42 HR and 46 SB. In 1999 he again hit 42 HR, despite missing over 30 games with an injury and playing the second half of the season at Safeco Field, a considerably less hitter-friendly ballpark than the Kingdome.
Rodríguez entered 2000 as the cornerstone player of the Mariners franchise, which had recently dealt superstars Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey, Jr.. Rodríguez put up great numbers as the team's remaining superstar; he hit 41 more HR with 132 RBI and batted a .316 batting average. He hit well in the playoffs too, but Seattle lost to the New York Yankees in the ALCS (American League Championship Series) despite Rodríguez's .409 batting average and .773 slugging percentage.
Texas Rangers
Rodriguez became a free agent after the 2000 season. After several playoff disappointments with the Mariners, he declared his intention to go to a World Series-caliber team. During his free agency, Rodríguez's agent Scott Boras made extravagant contract demands, reportedly including the use of a private jet [ESPN.com]". After entertaining several offers, Rodríguez signed with the Texas Rangers, who were last in their division in 2000, but had won three of the previous four AL Western division titles. The contract he signed was then the most lucrative contract in sports history: a 10-year deal worth $252 million. (The record for largest sports contract has since been surpassed by British footballer David Beckham.)
Rodríguez's contract is still the most lucrative in American sports history. The deal is worth $63 million more than the second richest baseball deal, the $189 million contract Derek Jeter signed in February 2001.
Rodríguez's power hitting numbers improved with his move to Texas. He hit 52 HR in 2001, and followed that with a major league-best 57 HR in 2002 (the most ever for a shortstop), while also winning his first Gold Glove Award, awarded for outstanding defense. However, the Rangers finished last in the AL Western division in both years, a showing that likely cost Rodríguez the MVP award in 2002 when he finished second to fellow shortstop Miguel Tejada, whose 103-win Oakland A's won the same division.
Rodriguez's last season with Texas, 2003, was another productive year. He hit .298 with 47 HR, led the AL in slugging and runs scored, and won his second consecutive Gold Glove Award. Following five top-10 finishes in the AL Most Valuable Player voting between 1996 and 2002, Rodríguez won his first MVP trophy.
The Rangers, however, remained mired in last place. Some laid the blame on Rodríguez's contract, which allegedly monopolized the team's resources, leaving them with little chance to pay other quality players. Others attributed that same criticism to Ranger owner Tom Hicks' "buyer's remorse," and general jealousy of the record-setting contract.
Following the 2003 season, Texas set out to move Rodríguez and his expensive contract. The Rangers agreed to a trade with the Boston Red Sox, but the MLBPA (Major League Baseball Players Association) vetoed the deal because it called for a voluntary reduction in salary by Rodríguez. Despite the failed deal with the Red Sox, the Rangers named him team captain during that off-season. The situation with Boston also caught the attention of the New York Yankees.
New York Yankees
On February 15, 2004 Rodriguez was successfully traded to the New York Yankees for second baseman Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named later (eventually Joaquin Arias). The Rangers were obliged to pay $67 million of the $179 million left on Rodriguez's contract. Although the richest team in the sport, the Yankees had not been assumed to be players in the Rodríguez sweepstakes, since New York already had a star shortstop in team captain Derek Jeter. However, New York's third baseman, Aaron Boone, suffered a knee injury while playing a game of pickup basketball which sidelined him for the entire 2004 season. Rodríguez agreed to switch positions from shortstop to third base, paving the way for the trade. Rodríguez also had to switch uniform numbers, from 3 to 13; he had worn 3 his entire career but the number is retired by the Yankees in honor of Babe Ruth.
In his first season with the Yankees, Rodríguez's numbers dipped slightly from his numbers with Texas. He hit .286 with 36 HR and 106 RBI, his seventh consecutive season with at least 100 RBI. He finished 14th in balloting for the MLB MVP Award. Near the end of the season, Yankees manager Joe Torre moved Rodriguez to the No. 2 spot in the batting order.
In July of 2004, after being hit by a pitch, Rodriguez and Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek scuffled, leading to a brawl between both teams. Many later interpreted the event as the turning point of the Boston Red Sox' season. Boston won that game with a 3-run rally in the bottom of the 9th inning, and their fortunes improved from that date.
In the 2004 ALDS, Rodríguez was a dominant hitter against the Minnesota Twins, batting .421 and slugging .737. Following the series win, Rodríguez's first season with the Yankees had culminated in a dramatic playoff series against the team he had almost ended up playing for: the Yankees' bitter rival, the Boston Red Sox.
One of the most talked-about plays of Rodriguez's career caused controversy late in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS (American League Championship Series). With one out and Derek Jeter on first base in the bottom of the 8th inning, Rodríguez hit a slow roller between the pitcher's mound and the first base bag. Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo fielded the ball and ran towards Rodríguez to apply a tag. As Arroyo reached towards him, Rodriguez slapped the ball out of Arroyo's glove. As the ball rolled loose, Jeter scored all the way from first as Rodríguez reached second on the play, which was initially ruled an error on Arroyo. However, the other umpires quickly huddled, then ruled that Rodríguez was out for interference. Jeter was sent back to first base, his run nullified. The Red Sox were able to escape the inning with no further damage and eventually won the game 4-2, tying the series at 3 games apiece. Rodriguez's supposedly "unmanly" slap would inspire much humor among Red Sox fans, including photoshopped depictions of the event.
In 2005, his second season with the Yankees, Rodríguez's numbers improved, as he hit .321 with 48 HR and 130 RBI. An offensive highlight of his season came on April 26, when Rodríguez hit 3 HR off Angels' pitcher Bartolo Colon and drove in 10 RBI. Rodríguez also set several marks for power during the 2005 season. On June 8, he hit his 400th career home run, becoming the youngest player in major league baseball history to do so. (Rodríguez was 29 years and 316 days old; Ken Griffey, Jr., the previous record holder, reached 400 home runs at 30 years, 141 days). Rodríguez also became the Yankee righthanded hitter with the most home runs in a season, supplanting Joe DiMaggio and Gary Sheffield. His 48th and final home run tied him for the most homers by a third baseman (along with Mike Schmidt and Adrian Beltre). Rodríguez now holds the records for most HRs in a single season at two positions, shortstop and third base, becoming the only major leaguer ever to accomplish this feat. 2005 also marked the tenth straight season that Rodríguez scored at least 100 runs.
Rodríguez beat out Boston's David Ortiz for his second AL MVP Award in three seasons. He became the fifth player to win an MVP awards with two different teams, joining Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, Frank Robinson and Barry Bonds. Rodríguez was also named the shortstop on the Major League Baseball Latino Legends Team. However, Rodríguez hit .133 without an RBI as the Yankees lost in the Division Series to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
On July 27, 2005, Rodríguez turned 30 years old. Through age 29, Rodriguez had more home runs, more runs batted in, more runs scored, and more base hits than all-time leaders Hank Aaron (HR and RBI), Rickey Henderson (runs), and Pete Rose (hits) did in their twenties.
Criticisms
| The [Neutral point of view>neutrality] of this section is [NPOV disputedisputed]. Please see the discussion on the [clutch player". Several factors have played a role in this perception. The Mariners' team record improved from 91 wins to an AL-record 116 the year following his departure. The Rangers also moved up 18 games in the standings one year after trading away Rodríguez. Following the Yankees' historic loss in the 2004 ALCS, Rodríguez-- touted as a candidate for the series MVP when New York led Boston 3-0-- was then among those who were blamed for the subsequent collapse. In the voting for the 2005 MVP Award, Rodríguez beat out Boston's David Ortiz. Although Rodríguez's statistical performance was superior, Ortiz recorded several game-tying or game-winning hits that season. The drama of Ortiz's performances was frequently contrasted with Rodríguez's statistics, and some critics claimed Rodríguez put up his best offensive numbers when they were needed least. In his first season with the Yankees, Rodríguez hit poorly with runners in scoring position; although those numbers have since improved, even the 2005 MVP Award has failed to shake the negative impression for some. Others judge Rodríguez personally, and accuse him of pretention, or showing false humility. As a focal point of any offense, Rodríguez's slumps or failures are intensely debated, and any effort to explain them with an alibi (such as a stomach virus, or the death of an uncle) only sparks further criticism. Others believe that the criticism is disproportionate, and entirely due to the record-setting contract. Rodríguez has been more susceptible than his teammates to such criticism, because he has never played for a championship team. Derek Jeter, for example, also has one of the largest contracts in baseball, and has hit poorly against the Red Sox in both the 2003 and 2004 ALCS. He also batted .148 in the seven-game World Series loss to the Diamondbacks. Jeter, however, has escaped criticism, in part due to the sizeable reservoir of goodwill he accrued when his Yankee teams won four World Series. Rodríguez, the team's highest-profile new addition prior to the 2004 season, has no such winning history with New York. In the bitter aftermath of the loss to Boston, Rodríguez's performance in the previous playoff series against Minnesota, which included a go-ahead home run and a game-tying double in the bottom of the 12th in one game http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B10060NYA2004.htm, and an 11th inning double, steal, and series-winning run in another http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B10090MIN2004.htm, was forgotten. Some of Rodríguez's detractors took to calling the third baseman "A-Fraud." Over his career, Rodríguez's postseason numbers are statistically indistinguishable from his regular-season record.http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rodrial01.shtml In May 2006, Rodríguez finally responded to the criticism: "I couldn't care less. In my career, I've been hearing it for a long time. It will never stop until you win five or six World Series in a row, and hit a Joe Carter home run. I've done a lot of special things in this game, and for none of that to be considered clutch, it's an injustice. I don't take anything personally; I enjoy it, it motivates me and I think it's comical. I think (for) anyone that drives in over 130 runs numerous times in his career, it's impossible not to be clutch." [1] Rodríguez's "big spot" reputation, or lack thereof, continues to be the subject of extensive back-and-forth media debate. Some writers like the New York Post's Joel Sherman ask "how do you disregard your eyes completely? How do you ignore that at the most intense moments Rodríguez seems to be carrying his 32-ounce bat and the weight of the world into each at-bat?" http://www.nypost.com/sports/yankees/time_to_face_facts__a_rod_simply_doesnt_have_it_yankees_joel_sherman.htm Others like ESPN's D.J. Gallo openly mock Rodríguez's harshest critics while discussing an off-day in the Yankee schedule: "Typical A-Fraud -- the Yankees manage to win back-to-back games against the Red Sox and he needs a day off. Pathetic." http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=gallo/060530&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1 Miscellaneous
See alsoNotes and References
External links
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