Recently, there was a bit of controversy surrounding Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, and Rick Sutcliffe:
Upset with an accusation made by ESPN’s Rick Sutcliffe two weeks ago, the two players approached the former Cy Young winner to discuss the situation.
Sutcliffe said on the air that A-Rod had been feeding Teixeira verbal signs from the on-deck circle, giving his teammate a heads-up on the catcher’s location before the pitch was delivered. Teixeira and A-Rod pulled Sutcliffe aside when they saw him in the clubhouse last night, expressing their displeasure with his charges.
The BBTF thread on this issue took an interesting turn when someone brought up A-Rod and his intense competitiveness. Commenters mentioned that A-Rod has been noted for peeking back at the catcher to pick up location, is now being accused of tipping location to a teammate, attempted to slap the ball out of Arroyo’s hand in 2004 (a play that would have been called smart had David Eckstein done it), and had the HA! play against Toronto. Say what you will about Alex, but he will do everything possible to win. People say he plays for the numbers and the accolades rather than for team glory, but the facts do not support that assertion. Alex desperately wants to win, and sometimes that drive manifests itself in ways that opponents view as inappropriate or even cheating. As a Yankee fan, I love it. I am not sure if the most recent allegations are true. If they are, I have absolutely no problem with what Alex was doing. I am not going to vilify a player for trying to do everything possible to get the team a victory. If the opponents do not like it, they can always put a ball in his ear the next time he comes to the plate.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
3 Responses to The Competitiveness Of Alex Rodriguez
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
I think its sad no one commented on this thread, because it is dead accurate Moshe. Especially the part about the slap play, I thought that was exactly what you called it, a gritty beat you anyway, Ty cobb spikes in ur ass play. Did it look kind of flamboyant yes, but who cares the motivation behind it was exactly what you called it, win at all cost competitive effort. And Yankee fans should be chastized for their treatment of him in his tenure here. He’s on your team, he busts his ass for you,he comes back from an injury Chase Utley testified he believed he had no chance of doing, for christs sake show him some love. Instead we’ll here boos when he fails to get a hit in the first inning tonight, despite the fact he got the huge one last night….just sad. Its about time we appreciate the best player in baseball for what he does on the diamond.
A-Rod is one of the hardest workers I have ever heard of, in baseball. The guy stays in shape all year, works his ass off to stay at the top of his game.
With that said, I am not an A-Rod fan and never have been. He is one of the best players I have ever seen (except for Mickey) play in my 60+ years of watching the Yanks. He plays hard (hell, players should be happy he doesn’t pitch, they’d get one in their ear), nothing wrong with that…that time he yelled rounding 3rd, ok by me, I’ve done worse. Slapping at the ball…all of them well within the rules of the game…the name of the game is…….WIN.
The way he is treated around the league and at the stadium is ridiculous…the guy is the best player we have, give the guy a break!
Jus wondering with all that you said why aren’t you an arod fan?