AROD: FROM HERO TO ZERO

It’s fascinating to me that Alex Rodriguez has fallen as low as he has.  This is a guy that had enormous promise with the Seattle Mariners.  When he went to the Texas Rangers, the hating began.  “What team in their right mind would pay that much money for a player?” Well, the Rangers did, and for a few years, he made a splash.  Then, it was February 2004 and news broke that the Yankees had traded Alfonso Soriano for ARod.  I was in the car coming home from a Bucky Dent signing.  We heard it on the radio.  My wife looked at me and said something to the affect of, “That doesn’t sound like a good deal.”  Now, in fairness, this is a woman who watched Derek Jeter come through the Yankees system with me.  In her eyes, there was no one better, as a Yankee, as a role model than Derek, and I got that, so it didn’t surprise me. 

The celebration of ARod coming to the Yankees was brief. After all, we netted the biggest fish in baseball at the time and we were on our way to a few more championships, right? Nope. Then a lot of heartbreak and ego mania followed.  The hating was stronger too. Sure, the Yankees intent was to get Alex in pinstripes and eventually, the Yankees would have the all-time home run crown back and the hitter would be Alex Rodrigeuz… a Yankee. It never happened that way and after Selena Roberts tried smearing him in her book that no one read, Alex came clean and we won a championship in 2009.  OK… so far we got something back on that broken down investment.  

When Biogenesis happened… many Yankee fans tuned Alex out.  It was clear then he was a liar and a cheat and his reputation was severely damaged.  He’s suspended for an entire season and at his age, you need to wonder if after the suspension is over… is it really worth it to return?

I’ve talked a lot of about reputation here at BYB and I base it on a conversation I had with my dad one morning in college after I pulled an all-nighter partying with a friend of mine, Danny.  My dad told me that morning that I stumbled in around 6 or 7: “You can be a champion all your life, but you miss 1 commitment, you lose trust in 1 person… and the rest of your life, you lose.”

Mind you, I come from an Italian home, so let’s just say the words didn’t come out as eloquently as that, but the point was clear; I messed up and if I had people in my life that trusted me and depended on me to be responsible and I let them down... well, what’s the chances they would ever trust me again? You know what I mean? I understood it loud and clear.

No one trusts Alex Rodriguez anymore. His reputation is mud. You know how I know that?

This is a shelf in a Toys'R'us that I visited this past weekend.  We went in for a video game, but I like to cruise the toys and see what's new.  There sat brand new Alex Rodriguez McFarlane figures. Untouched. Unopened and ignored. None were sold... no one cares about Alex Rodriguez.  But it get’s better…

This is Kohl's Department store. You can now buy an Alex Rodriguez shirt for $4.40 these days, down from $22 bucks… a huge drop in price.  Why you ask? Reputation.

Reputation is a valuable thing… Alex never learned that I guess. See you next year… maybe.

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