With HR No. 661 in Tow, the A-Rod Milestone Train Rolls Uneasily Near 3,000 Hits
May 7, 2015 · Jacob Shafer · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Mark it down in the history books: On May 7, 2015, on a pleasant spring evening at Yankee Stadium, Alex Rodriguez passed Willie Mays on the all-time home run list.
Whatever your reaction—anger, excitement, indifference—it happened, another milestone in the rearview mirror.
Let’s give credit where it’s due: A-Rod’s home run wasn’t merely historic; it broke a 2-2 tie in the third inning. He also drove in a run in the first with a deep sacrifice fly, in a game the Yankees ultimately won 4-3 over the division-rival Baltimore Orioles.
And it was no cheap shot; according to Statcast data cited by MLB.com‘s Bryan Hoch, Rodriguez sent Baltimore starter Chris Tillman’s fateful pitch 441 feet over the left center field wall.
The crowd stood, cheered and demanded a curtain call, and A-Rod obliged.
“I certainly thought the days of curtain calls for me were long gone,” Rodriguez said after the game, per Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media. Not quite, as it turns out.
Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer already gave you the definitive take on the Rodriguez vs. Mays debate, if such a debate exists. (Spoiler alert: Mays wins.)
Instead, let’s look ahead to the next stop on the controversial slugger’s uneasy journey: 3,000 hits.
With two knocks Thursday, Rodriguez is now sitting at 2,962 for his career. Thirty-eight more and he’ll join an elite fraternity of 28 hitters who’ve achieved the feat.
All but three are in the Hall of Fame, and one of them, Rodriguez’s former teammate Derek Jeter, will get there as soon as he’s eligible.
The other two carry tarnished legacies: Pete Rose, long shunned for his gambling sins, and Rafael Palmeiro, who, like Rodriguez, wears the stain of the steroid era.
Cooperstown discussions can wait for another day, though it’s a safe bet A-Rod will languish in HOF purgatory along with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and other stars linked to PEDs.
For now, we have to decide how to respond, or not respond, to Rodriguez’s accomplishments.
There’s an obvious, unavoidable parallel in Bonds, who was as reviled away from his home park as Rodriguez is today (maybe more).
Writing for ESPN The Magazine in 2006, Chuck Klosterman summed up the dilemma:
The reason we keep statistics—and the reason we care about statistical milestones—is that we assume some sort of emotional experience will accompany their creation and obliteration. These moments are supposed to embody ideas that transcend the notion of grown men playing children’s games; these moments are supposed to be a positive amalgamation of awe, evolution, inspiration, admiration and the macrobiotic potential of man. But the recent success of Bonds contains only two of those qualities, and maybe only the first.
It’s hard to feel good about that. Bonds is a self-absorbed, unlikable person who has an adversarial relationship with the world at large, and he has (almost certainly) used unethical, unnatural means to accomplish feats that actively hurt baseball. His statistical destruction of Ruth is metaphoric, but not in a good way. It’s an indictment of modernity, even for people who don’t give a damn about the past or the present.
Here we are again, at the same moral crossroads. Do we raise our fists, grit our teeth and clap politely or simply look away?
Here’s a suggestion: Detach from it, and soak in the spectacle. Every story needs a villain, an antagonist whose exploits are often more interesting than the heroes with whom they clash.
Right now, A-Rod is that villain. Unless you root unblinkingly for the Pinstripes, you’re possibly hoping he never hits another home run. But he will.
If everything breaks right (for him), he might end up hitting more home runs than George Herman Ruth himself. And there’s nothing any of us can do about it.
In a way, it’s good No. 661 came in the Bronx, A-Rod’s lone safe haven. The only thing more uncomfortable than watching him eclipse one of baseball’s most beloved, unassailable figures would have been listening to the boos rain down.
We didn’t ask for Alex Rodriguez, but we’ve got him. And now so do the history books—for better or worse.
All statistics current as of May 7 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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