Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 1835385, member: 289"] ALEX RODRIGUEZ was lauded as the greatest player of the next generation when he arrived and became the ‘clean’ contender for the all-time rankings because people felt he was so talented he didn’t even need steroids to excel. (He agreed and said as much to Barbara Walters.) He was the #1 draft choice in 1993 and was regarded as the best prospect in years. He was #1 with a bullet going through the Seattle minor league system, playing A, AA, AA and major league ball all in the first year, making his big league debut at the age18. He started the 1995 season in Tacoma where he hit .360 with 15 homers in only 54 games. But he still wasn’t quite ready for the majors: those first two years he hit only .224 with 5 home runs in 65 games. Then, at age 20 in 1996, he was suddenly ready. Boy was he ready: .358, 54 doubles, 36 home runs, 15 steals 123 RBIs and 141 runs scored. Suddenly he was a gold-plated super-star. He missed 21 games the next year and fell to .300BA 40D 23HR 84RBI 100RS but he stole 29 bases. The next year he became a 40-40 man with 42 homers, 46 steals, 124RBI and 123 runs. He hit another 42 homers the next year and 41 the year after that with 132 RBIs and 134 runs. The Mariners should have been a dynasty with Rodriguez, Junior Griffey, Randy Johnson, Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez but they never got to the World Series with those players there. Alex became a free agent in 2000 and opted to go to the last place Texas Rangers. There he went on an amazing home run binge: hitting 156 home runs in three years with a high of 57. At this time the revelations about McGwire, Sosa and Bonds were coming out and Griffey, who went home to Cincinnati, was dealing with the injuries that would limit the second half of his career. Alex became the “clean candidate” who could catch all the steroid users and become the all-time home run leader. Then he went to New York. He didn’t do it as a free agent. He got traded for Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named later, (Joachim Arias). It seems like a paltry return for a superstar. He had some big seasons in New York, hitting 30+ homers another seven seasons in a row with a high of 54. He drove 100+ runs another seven straight times, with a high of 156, (with 143 runs). He finally got a World Series ring in 2009, hitting .365 with 6 home runs and 18 RBIs and 15 runs in 15 post season games. But his image suddenly turned ugly like the picture of Dorian Gray. Wikipedia: “On February 7, 2009, Sports Illustrated reported that Rodriguez tested positive for testosterone and the anabolic steroid Primobolan in 2003. Rodriguez's name appears on a government-sealed list of 104 major-league players (out of 1200 tested) who came up positive for performance-enhancing drugs. The report was compiled as part of Major League Baseball's 2003 survey to see whether mandatory random drug testing program might be necessary. At the time, there was no penalty or punishment for a positive steroid test. Rodriguez did not immediately confirm the allegations, deferring at first to the players' union.[70][72] Two days after the allegations, Rodriguez admitted to steroid use from 2001 until 2003, claiming that he ceased using such substances after spring training that year.” I remember A-Rod saying that it should be obvious that he wasn’t using steroids because he had so much talent he didn’t need it. After he admitted using them, he said that he started taking them when he went to Texas because he felt under pressure to produce big numbers for his new team to justify the big money they were paying him. Let’s look at that- using those home/road numbers that mean so much. Here is what Alex hit with the Mariners and then what he hit on the road with Texas: 1996 Overall: .358-36-123 Home: .336-17-65 Road: .378-19-58 1997 Overall: .300-23-84 Home: .311-16-51 Road: .289-7-33 1998 Overall: .310-42-124 Home: .286-18-54 Road: .335-24-70 1999 Overall: .285-42-111 Home: .284-20-59 Road: .286-22-52 2000 Overall: .316-41-132 Home: .272-13-51 Road: .358-28-81 2001 Overall: .318-52-135 Home: .361-26-65 Road: .276-26-70 2002 Overall: .300-57-142 Home: .323-34-82 Road: .277-23-60 2003 Overall: .298-47-118 Home: .314-26-71 Road: .282-21-47 Comment: Alex did become a more productive player on the road when he moved from Seattle to Texas but just for a single year. Overall, his road numbers were at least as impressive when he was a Mariner. What really went up were his home numbers, because he was in a better hitter’s park. Either he was always talking steroids, (at least from ’96) or what he took had little impact on his abilities. In 2009 ESPN’s Selena Roberts wrote a book stating that A-Rod had been taking steroids since high school. “The allegations were not sourced, and long-standing friends of Rodriguez, such as Doug Mientkiewicz, who knew him when they were both teenagers, went on the record to contradict the book's allegations.” (Baseball Refeernce.com). That same year SI reported that A-Rod had tested positive in 2003. In 2013 he was linked to the Biogenesis and Balco scandals. He was accused of obstructing efforts to test him and of making payoffs to people to remain silent. SI reported that Major League Baseball had itself kept silent and had allowed him to use testosterone “therapeutically” in 2007. MMLB suspe4nded him for a year. Rodriguez stormed out of an arbitration hearing and sued Commissioner Bud Selig. It wasn’t his only problem. He’d been warned about playing in high stakes pokers games as early as 2005. He was seen at one in 2011 “where drugs were present”. He performed poorly in the 2012 ALDS and was benched. “What made things worse was that he had been seen flirting with female fans in the stands during Game 1, which the Yankees lost in extra innings. By then, he was the favorite target of boo-birds at New Yankee Stadium. The benchings and the poor play led to speculation that the Yankees may look to trade him in the off-season.” But it was impossible to unload his huge contract. His performance had progressively declined after 2010. He missed 221 games from 2011-13 due to a right knee injury, a broken left hand, “hip tear” and a left quadriceps injury. There was talk he might retire and the Yankees seemed to want him to so they could collect insurance on his contract. Rodriguez accused them of insurance fraud. It seemed no one wanted A-Rod back- not the league, not his team and not the fans. But he came back anyway in 2015 and surprised everyone by having a productive year at age 39, hitting 33 home runs, passing Willie Mays on the all-time list, passing Lou Gehrig for the most grand slams in history and approaching 700 homers- and Babe Ruth. He would have made the all-star team but the fans wouldn’t vote him in. He’s still playing this year at age 40 but not nearly as well- .206 with 9 home runs. The A-Rod saga might be nearing its end. His reputation as “the clean one” is long gone. Rodriguez, great as he was had two great Rivals for the title of the best shortstop of his generation. DEREK JETER, who turned out to be the real “clean one” became the next face on the Yankee Rushmore. He was not a home run hitter by trade, although that was part of his game. That probably insulated him from the steroid temptation. He wasn’t going to hit 50 home runs with his swing, (although if Brady Anderson could do it….). He was a .300 hitter with extra base power and speed and a great clutch hitter, (yes, Bill James, there are such things). He was a fine fielder and a natural leader who became the captain of some of the best Yankees teams ever and that means some of the best teams in the sport’s history. Jeter was one of several players who came up through the Yankee farm system and played together before they ever got to the major leagues, something that was allowed to happen due to the Steinbrenner suspension. He arrived exactly at the time A-Rod showed up in Seattle and the comparisons began immediately. Jeter wasn’t the home run hitter A-Rod was but he was as good or better in every other aspect of the same: when Alex came to New York, he was the one who moved to third base while Jeter, the five time gold glove winner, remained at shortstop. Jeter got off to a slow start that year. People sensed that he was trying to hit more home runs to compete with A-Rod. He denied it but eventually his performance picked up. Perhaps he realized that being Derek Jeter was plenty. Jeter Hit over .300 12 times, with a high of .349 and a .310 lifetime average. He did hit 260 home runs, going over 20 three times with a high of 24. He stole 358 bases, four times going over 30 with a high of 34. He had 544 doubles and 66 triples for a total of 870 extra base hits, (Mickey Mantle had 952, despite having twice as many home runs.) He only drove in 100+ runs once, (102 in 1999), but he batted 1st or 2nd most of his career. He drove in a healthy 77 runs for every 162 games of his career. His forte was scoring runs. He averaged 113 per every 162 games, going over the 100 mark 13 times. He had 3,465 hits, 204 per 162 games. He was the first Yankee to get 3,000 hits, which shocked a lot of people. But, if you think about it, the number of Yankee stars who have played their entire careers with the team is actually rather small and their sluggers have often walked a lot, reducing their opportunity to get to 3,000 hits. But even those numbers don’t tell the Jeter story. In the post season, he played and incredible 158 games, a full season. His numbers, against above average competition, were almost exactly his regular season numbers: .308 batting average, 20 homers, 57 XBH, 18 steals, 61RBI and 111 runs scored. He never played on a team with a losing record. The Yankees averaged 96 wins a year with him at shortstop. They made the playoffs 16 times, the World Series 7 times and he wound up with 5 rings. Maybe his greatest achievement is that he was a superstar who never got embroiled in a scandal and never turned off the fans with arrogant behavior. To Yankee fans their Rushmore is Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and Jeter. NOMAR GARCIAPARRA was going to be the next face on the Red Sox Rushmore. Ultimately that didn’t happen and these days he seems to have been forgotten. He was the oldest of the three, being born in 1973, (Jeter was 1974 and Rodriguez in 1975), but started his career the latest, coming up late in the 1996 season. He became an immediate star with a huge first full season in 1997: .306BA 209H 44D 11T 30HR 22 steals 98RBI and 122 runs scored. But he topped that in 1998 with .323-195-37-8-35-12-122-111. In 1999 his batting average soared to .357 with 190 hits, 42 doubles, 27 homers 104RBI and 103 runs. In 2000 it soared even more to a league-leading .372 with 51 doubles, 21 homers, 96 RBI and 104 runs scored. He was Wade Boggs with power. There were serious debates as to which of the three great young shortstops was the best, harkening back to the old “Willie, Mickey and the Duke” days. I remember this Sport Illustrated cover espousing Nomar’s, (his father was named Ramon and reversed the spelling for his son), splendid workout routine: [URL]http://thegoldensombrero.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/nomar_si.jpg[/URL] That came out just before the 2001 season, when he suffered the first in a series of injuries that would limit his career. This one was a wrist injury that ended his season after 21 games. He came back well from that to hit .310 with 56 doubles and 24 homers, 120 RBIs and 101 runs scored in 2002. He also had a strong year in .301 with 37 doubles, 13 triples, 28 homers, 19 steals, 105 RBIs and 120 runs scored. But his wrist never fully healed and impacted his fielding ability at shortstop. He walked a total of 80 times in those last two seasons and the new general manager, Theo Epstein, advised by Bill James, decided to emphasize on base percentage and shocked the baseball world by trading his star to the Chicago Cubs. The Red Sox went on to win their first World Series in 86 years without the man who had been regarded as their star player. Injuries limited him to 81 games that year and 62 the next. He shifted to 3rd base but got traded to the Dodgers. He had a decent season in LA in 2006, hitting .303 with 20 homers and 93 RBI, enough to get him a Comeback Player of the Year Award. But now they had him at 1st base. The next year he declined to .283 with 7 homers. In 2008, he broke a hand and sprained a knee and played only 55 games. He hit .264 with 8 homers and was released. The A’s gave him a 1 year contract for 2009 and he hit .281 with 3 home runs in 65 games. And that was it. He wound up his career hitting .313, higher than either Jeter or A-Rod, but with only 229 home runs in only 1,434 games, (Jeter played 2,747 “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.” (Whittier) Here are the three great shortstops per 162 games: Rodriguez .295BA 182H 78W 32D 2T 41HR 19SB 122RBI 118RS 438 bases and 199 runs produced Jeter .310BA 204H 64W 32D 4T 15HR 21SB 77RBI 113RS 374 bases and 175 runs produced Garciaparra .313BA 197H 46W 42D 6T 26HR 11SB 106RBI 105RS 386 bases and 185 runs produced People don’t remember Nomar as well as the other two but he definitely belonged in the group. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?