Only three men in Major League Baseball history have hit more home runs than Alex Rodriguez. On Thursday night A-Rod passed Willie Mays, who for my money is the greatest all-around baseball player who ever lived, with his 661st career HR.
The reaction around the nation was a resounding, “Huh? Oh, OK. Thanks for telling me.”
We’ve all seen the way milestone home runs are usually handled. When Barry Bonds was on the brink of passing Hank Aaron every one of his at-bats was carried live on some network. Same thing for Mark McGwire when he was tracking down Roger Maris and that was way back in 1998.
Heck, MLB Network even carried every at-bat of Kris Bryant’s DEBUT, hoping to capture the first dinger of what may be a Hall of Fame career.
All those at-bats were like major events. People were waiting excitedly for it. Every plate appearance carried an extra level of excitement because baseball, unlike any other sport, sees greatness in spurts and you never have any idea when it’s going to happen. When Kobe Bryant passed Michael Jordan for third place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list it was no surprise. Kobe only needed nine points to do it and that’s nothing for him. We just needed to know which quarter it happened in.
But who saw Craig Biggio getting his 3000th hit in a game where he needed three knocks and ended up with just the second 5-hit game of his career? It’s completely unpredictable but we watched anyway. We watched because we wanted to see history. We wanted to see an amazing player do something amazing.
There has been none of that anticipation for Rodriguez. Zero. Even the Yankees weren’t all that thrilled that he passed an all-time great who used to play in New York. Just look at the tweet the team sent when 661 left the ballpark:
Now look at a sample of another tweet from that game, a double to give them the lead:
No #PinstripePride for A-Rod. It’s like the Yankees didn’t even want to recognize one of the most prolific home run hitters of all time wears their uniform.
The big question here is: Why? Why no national network cut-ins to commemorate the moment? Why no collective holding of breath for a milestone only 3 people ever to walk the planet have ever reached?
The best explanation I can come up with is Alex Rodriguez is infinitely unlikeable. Not just because of all the performance-enhancing drug stuff and the mountain of lies he’s told about it, although that plays a big part. He messed around on his wife and young kids with (at least) Madonna. He yells at infielders trying to catch pop-ups. He stomps on the mound running across the infield right in front of opposing pitchers. Pick one of baseball’s “unwritten rules” and this guy has probably broken it.
The aura of A-Rod is that of an obscenely talented, petulant child who thinks he can get away with anything because he’s better than everybody else. He’s right about the talent part. Even without the PED’s, Rodriguez could have gone to the Hall of Fame.
But his actions have put him in his own place. Rodriguez and his ego did not just want to be the best of all time; he wanted to be ADORED as the best of all time. So, in a way, this is the biggest punishment Rodriguez could have received.
Being overlooked, if not completely forgotten, will hurt Alex Rodriguez a whole lot more than being fined or suspended ever could.
