Has beleaguered New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez finally run out of people and groups to alienate? According to Rodriguez, he’s been mistreated by Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees and the Major League Baseball Players Association. He claims they’re all out to get him. And you know what, I believe him about that. That is, if “they’re out to get me,” means that everyone is sick of your lies and wants you to go away.
The MLBPA is just the latest group to feel the wrath of Rodriguez. The players are furious, and who can blame them? All the other Boys of Biogenesis, even Ryan Braun, eventually confessed and accepted their punishments. Rodriguez, on the other hand, is contesting the decision of arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, a course of action considered by legal experts to be without merit.
Rodriguez admitted in 2009 to PED use from 2001-2003 when he played for the Texas Rangers. His “confession” is not universally accepted as the whole truth and nothing but, yet nonetheless it was a start. The problem for Rodriguez is that even though we are a very forgiving society when it comes to fallen athletic heroes, at some point the fallen athlete has to at least fake remorse somewhat convincingly in order to get back in the good graces of the public. Even Braun, who set a high (or low) standard in baseball for in-your-face lies and denials (with a nod to Rafael Palmeiro’s performance at a US Congressional hearing) ultimately acknowledged his Biogenesis relationship and accepted his punishment. Of course, a strong argument can be made on behalf of Lance Armstrong as the most threatening, bullying liar in all of sports, but if we limit the discussion to baseball, I think Rodriguez deserves that award.
What, then, is the end-game strategy employed by Rodriguez, and why? Perhaps, as has been suggested by some fellow players, his entire career has been a lie. Perhaps the constraints imposed on most of us by ethical considerations never factored into his view of the baseball world and his perceived role as the king of that world. Perhaps at a relatively young age Rodriguez realized that ethical considerations could significantly limit his efforts to go down as the greatest baseball player ever. At this time, we’re all just guessing.
It could be that in his life apart from baseball Rodriguez is an ethical person who tries to do right by other people. I don’t know the man so I can’t comment on that. I can only guess at the extraordinary pressures that come with being identified as the future of baseball while still a teenager (as happened with Rodriguez), and I have no idea how I would respond to such expectations. If, as some have suggested, Rodriguez turned to PED use even earlier than his days with the Rangers, would that really surprise us?
Is there a message to young athletes from the career decisions made by Alex Rodriguez? Certainly, Rodriguez worked hard. That has never been in doubt. Certainly, Rodriguez was tremendously gifted as an athlete. Again, his immense raw talent as a baseball player has never been questioned. His hard work and innate athletic gifts have combined to earn him a fortune. So if the Alex Rodriguez story could be that neatly written, he would be a great role model for young players.
The problem is that there is another scenario that could appear to define Rodriguez as a person devoid of ethics, at least when it comes to baseball. Sadly, the message young players could take away from the career of Alex Rodriguez is that their chances of achieving fame and fortune are helped tremendously by PEDs, and their default position when accused of PED use should be to deny, deny and deny. After all, even though things are falling apart for him now, Rodriguez had a long run at the top of baseball and made a ton of money.
I have no idea if baseball is in fact a cleaner game today than it has been in the past, say, two decades, but the seemingly never-ending saga of Alex Rodriguez serves to further impede baseball’s efforts to put the Steroid Era behind it. Say this for Rodriguez – he’s definitely not going down without a fight.
Thoughts? Please contact me at mgilleran@scu.edu. Thanks.
