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A-Rod? More like Fey-Rod

In writing Friday's Post column I found myself more interested in Alex Rodriguez's weird personality than in his all-too-understandable offence against baseball. This probably cost me some of the hits I would have received from plunging into the supposed controversy over performing-enhancing drugs. A few idiot sportswriters have subscribed to the view that what A-Rod did is worse than what the Black Sox did; taken literally, this implies that bending the rules to be a better competitor, which baseball players have been doing since the Knickerbocker Rules were in force, is more outrageous than conspiring not to compete at all.

I regard the illicit use of PEDs as no worse than defacing a ball with an emery board, and probably much less effective. The tarnished A-Rod points out himself that there is really no visible performance peak in his career statistics. Although we have to take him at his word that his years in Texas were the only "dirty" ones, he has yet to fail a high-stakes drug test since he was traded to New York, and there is nothing at all unusual about his career trajectory since the age of 20.

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Comments (6)

Anonymous:

Still though Colby, you couldn't resist a little flamebait could you?

"A-Rod certainly didn't help matters by dropping unsavoury hints about the motives of SI's female lead reporter while confirming her story; this was exactly the sort of thing a well-bred person is prevented from doing by the remembered sting of a parent's avenging hand on the ear or cheek."

Practically defies us to engage in psychological diagnosis...

Geoff:

That's me up there. Accidental anonymous.

ebt:

Your title has got me singing: "They was A-Rods, Fey-Rods, revenooers too, lookin' for the ghost of Harmon Killebrew..."

ebt:

"... he was hoppin', tried to stop 'em, but Rodriguez kept on poppin': Whoo! White steroids!"

How often have shortstops hit 40 homers, much less 50?

Ernie Banks several times in Wrigley Field.
Rico Petrocelli once in Fenway Park.
Vern Stephens came close to 40 in Fenway, but didn't make it.

I can't think of other pre-steroid examples.

Ripken peaked at 34 homers, Larkin at 33, Yount at 29, Jeter at 24. ARod had three straight 40 homer seasons in Seattle from age 22-24.

I'd say the odds are that ARod was mildly juicing as far back as his spectacular rookie year when he hit 36 homers at age 20.

I'm sure he was never a Ken Caminiti crash and burn juicer -- his career has been too long and consistent. I suspect that clean he would have been a Hall of Famer, but when a Greatest Of All Time candidate comes along during a steroid era, you've got to be suspicious.

Ben Capoeman:

I regard the illicit use of PEDs as no worse than defacing a ball with an emery board, and probably much less effective.

After reading Gaylord Perry's autobiography (after seeing his twilight years in Seattle) I sanded the fingertips of my right hand and wore a windbreaker under my uniform shirt. Sweat would run down to the palm of my hand, and I would rub my fingertips in that to deliver a spitball. Did it make me a better pitcher? As I could never throw the ball anywhere near the plate without giving up an extra base hit no matter what I did the answer to that question is "statistically, no."

But it's more than twenty five years later and I still have fully functional testicles, unlike Mr. Caminiti in the years prior to his tragic death.

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