The Chase For 600

600 home runs. Only six players in the history of Major League Baseball have achieved this feat (Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr. & Sammy Sosa) 2 of them will have a dreaded asterisk beside their names in regards to their “alleged” involvement as active participants in the steroid era. Sammy Sosa, is one of them and has the least of the 600 club with 609 career homeruns and the other is the all time leader in homeruns, Barry Bonds, who has a total of 762 career homeruns. These 2 players are often called out as cheaters and many baseball fans disregard their homerun totals and many still believe there are only 4 members of the 600 homerun club and that Hank Aaron is the rightful “homerun king”. As baseball records go, joining the 600 Club is a very big deal (it’s much more difficult to achieve than 3,000 hits or 300 wins). Now there is another player on the cusp of making it into this prestigious club and no one seems to care. Why?

Alex Rodriguez is an enigma, he has been, in my opinion, the 2nd best player in the last 35 years (Ken Griffey Jr being the best between 1989-2000) and the best player in the last 10 (mainly ‘cause Griffey’s body broke down with various debilitating injuries). However, instead of being celebrated as one of the greats in the game A-Rod is continually hated by a vast majority of baseball fans despite him wanting everyone to love him. He was one of my favourite players growing up because he played for my home team the Seattle Mariners (even though I grew up in Vancouver) and his departure from the Mariners was the beginning of his vilification.

What’s so different about A-Rod? After all Griffey left the M’s too but instead of being hated Griffey is celebrated as the greatest Mariner of all time. I believe what makes A-Rod different is three things. First, in 2000 A-Rod had become the M’s cornerstone player as they had dealt their 2 biggest established stars in Griffey and Randy Johnson after losing to the Yankees in the ALCS (yea the M’s were THAT good back in the day) in the hope to rebuild around A-Rod. So he was now the face of the franchise. However, it was not meant to be as a bidding war erupted for A-Rod unlike any other player at the time and the M’s simply could not financially compete with the New York Mets and the Texas Rangers. In the end A-Rod spurned the Mets, who were a better team, for the much inferior Rangers and an absurd contract (10 years/$252 million). No one can blame A-Rod for taking the money but it seems everyone does, he was seen as a sell-out and also someone who hampered his team as the Rangers couldn’t field a competitive team simply because they couldn’t pay anyone else (they’re still feeling the effects of that deal as they head into bankruptcy court). Despite all of that A-Rod had 3 of the best seasons of his career (although we now know they are tainted).

The 2nd reason people hate A-Rod is because he is now also tainted with the steroid asterisk. Why is this more significant for him? It’s because when everything surrounding Barry Bonds and steroids was settling down and it was evident Bonds’ record was tainted; the hope was A-Rod (then thought of as a “clean” player) who had vehemently denied steroid use would be the saviour to reclaim the record. Even the biggest A-Rod haters held out for this hope because they could at least respect the record but when he came out last year and admitted to using performance enhancing drugs and lying to baseball fans about his PED use, it was a big blow to baseball and like a punch in the proverbial “balls” (I’m not trying to be sexist ladies) of baseball fans. So now the haters became uber-haters and A-Rod became another example of “cheating the game” for baseball purists.

The 3rd reason why A-Rod’s “chase for 600” has been so irrelevant is because he isn’t the best everyday player on his team right now, that’s Robinson Cano who recently hit his 1000th hit, and he’s not the face of the franchise, that belongs to the much loved and respected Derek Jeter. So much for all that talk about A-Rod finally earning his pinstripes in this past year's playoffs. He’s been the 3rd best 3rd baseman in his division this year, behind Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria and Boston’s Adrian Beltre. Also, A-Rod turned 35 on July 27, and reports have surfaced that his age and his bothersome hip are both starting to eat at his skill. Meanwhile, statisticians and fans have been debating about whether the Yankees will regret the seven years left on A-Rod's 10-year, $275 million contract and whether his power numbers will stay high enough to pass Bonds' all-time home run record of 762.

A-Rod's talent is unquestioned. But it's bizarre, fans don’t see an A-Rod at-bat as a must-see event. You rarely hear talk about how he's about to enter the realm of baseball's all-time gods which is justified by his stats. Maybe it’s been all the off-the-field dramas that surround him or maybe it’s true that he is the most vilified athlete in sports because of his personality, or maybe the game of baseball is changing and instead of seeing homeruns, fans would rather watch someone like Washington Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg, who has taken the league by storm, throw 100 mph fastballs and back breaking curveballs to strike out 10+ batters a game. One thing is certain, A-Rod will hit 600 homeruns and many more, maybe he’ll break the all-time record or maybe he won’t but one thing is clear, nobody outside of New York (and even some in NY) cares if he does. This brings up an even bigger question, what will A-Rod’s legacy be? Will he ascend to be one of the baseball gods as the stats suggest or will he just be remembered as a great player in a very flawed era?

Peace and Much Love to Ya :)