I Know It's Hard To Feel Bad For This Guy, BUT...
"Heavy is the head that wears the crown," they say.
Much has been made of the extent to which Alex Rodriguez has fallen out of favor with Yankee fans ever since that fateful 2004 American League Championship Series versus the Boston Red Sox. Since then, the man has had to endure a barrage of insults and charges against his offensive "clutchness," his defense, and even his manliness!
Whether you like him as a player or not, people cannot dispute the fact that A-Rod is a good guy. He never gets in trouble with the law (although that underground gambling thing was fun to laugh at), he has put his money to good use through philanthropy, and he is a solid, though unanimated, teammate. The latter point is probably one of the biggest reasons why Rodriguez is such a polarizing personality. We like our stars to have dynamic personalities, but it clearly isn't in his nature to be a rah-rah, in-your-face type guy--as a result, he tends to come off as aloof, even though it couldn't be further than the truth. Of course, it's a damned-if-he-does, damned-if-he-doesn't situation for the man: If he's not hootin' and hollerin', he only cares about himself; when he is, it's not authentic enough.
Furthermore, A-Rod doesn't get nearly enough credit for making the switch to 3rd base when he arrived in town. This guy was the Rolls-Royce of shortstops, and the unquestioned best player in baseball. He could have won Gold Gloves for the next 10 years at the position, yet he sacrificed his best interest for the good of the team and has nevertheless had to deal with a ridiculous degree of criticism over his play at 3rd base, his hitting in so-called "clutch" situations (btw, he's hitting .312 with RISP this year), and his quality of leadership.
A fatal flaw that many Yankees fans make when they bitch and moan about A-Rod is overstating Derek Jeter's "clutchness." Jeter, just like the rest of the Yankees organization, hasn't won a World Series since 2000. He hit .148 in the World Series the next year. He struggled mightily in the 2003 and 2004 ALCS against Boston. The difference between Jeter and A-Rod is that Jeter is gradually becoming one of the last remaining links to past glory that is quickly fading in the rear view mirror. When Yankees fans think of Jeter, they think of the Jeffrey Maier home run, the Jeremy Giambi flip-throw at home plate, and the extra-innings face plant into the stands against the Red Sox in '04. They don't share the same indelible memories with the $252 Million Man, and as the years between titles in a sports-rabid city increase, the more that salary appears to be a Scarlet Letter of sorts emblazoned on his uniform.
Meanwhile, he'll continue to pile up .300 seasons with 40 HR, 130 RBI, and 20-30 steals. One can only hope that people will begin to appreciate just how great his career was 20 years from now, as opposed to lamenting his few flaws.
