When Alex Rodriguez sat out the entire 2014 season serving his PED suspension, there was a part of me that thought we would never see him on a major league baseball field again.
Reoccurring hip injuries caused ARod to miss a combined 284 games between 2009 and 2013. Despite leading the Yankees to a championship as a 33-year-old, injuries took a toll on ARod’s body and his performance suffered the following seasons. That, combined with his PED scandal and off-field antics, caused him to be the most hated man in baseball and a real distraction for the Yankees.
A year ago in spring training ARod was the biggest question-mark facing the Yankees. In a Jeter-less world, ARod was the focal point. Nobody, including Alex, knew what kind of season he would have. He was turning 40 in July and had not seen live major league action in over a year. He and the team were in dispute over home run bonuses and his public image was in disarray.
Typically, if you listened to sports radio at the time, Yankees fans had one of two opinions when it came to Alex; they either wished the Yankees would pay him to go away or they backed him whole-heartedly – some even did so sarcastically. I fell into that sarcastic second group.
Fast forward to today and Alex has done a complete 180. You’d be hard-pressed to find a Yankees fan who does not support ARod and he is arguably the face of the franchise. He is also no longer hated around baseball – outside of Boston, Queens, and Texas. So, how exactly has he accomplish this renaissance (errr ARodissance) in just one year?
First and foremost, Alex produced in 2015. Had he been hitting .205 in May of last year, I don’t think Yankees fans would have been giving him standing ovations every time he walked to the plate. His instant and positive impact to the Yankees winning in 2015 quickly gave the Bronx faithful amnesia to his past, but the production on-field only goes so far.
Alex has also become a person again. In the past ARod has pulled some ridiculous, almost unbelievable stunts. We have seen him sunbathe shirtless in central park. He attempted to grab headlines when he opted-out of his contract in the middle of the 2007 World Series. Cameron Diaz fed him popcorn on live TV at the Super Bowl. He stormed into Mike Francesa’s radio show after storming out of court while in dispute with MLB over his suspension. He allegedly urinated on cousin Yuri’s house, prompting Yuri’s wife to call ARod “the devil.” These are not normal human behaviors, but the worst part was that he seemed fake. He never seemed comfortable in his own skin (see picture below).
That is the ARod of the past though. At some point during his 2014 suspension he was humbled. He points to being away from the game he’s loved his entire life as the main reason why, but I think he had some time to self reflect and realized he had some major, major regrets.
One of my favorite clips of ARod from this past season came from this SportsCenter spot:
ARod gets it now pic.twitter.com/qlR7OVrGBA
— Andrew (@Yankees_talk) July 22, 2015
I’ve used this clip before, but it really points to what Alex figured out in his time away from baseball. He had spent his entire career trying be a person he was not, and he never had somebody in his life to keep him grounded. The true ARod is a baseball nerd who has some social anxiety – that was abundantly evident in Joe Torre’s book The Yankee Years.
In 2015 ARod finally had a chance to be himself, perhaps because there were no expectations for him. He has always been a brilliant baseball mind but he became a leader in the clubhouse. Brian Cashman has talked about how ARod worked with Didi last year and helped him through his early season struggles. Alex has also been a mentor for the up-and-coming talent in the Yankees system – a crop that he called the best he’s seen in his tenure as a Yankee.
After ARod’s Cinderella year that ended with an abrupt playoff exit, Alex took his talents to TV. The realness he showed and analysis he brought to the table won a lot of people over. ARod (and Pete Rose) were the stars of FOX’s playoff broadcast. He showed a personality, which up until that point, many did not know existed.
The tactful PR continued into the offseason thanks to his 11-year-old daughter. Natasha, in my opinion, deserves a raise for being the only competent PR person ARod has had throughout his career.
Now ARod is on the precipice of 700 home runs and has set himself up for an honorable ending to his career. The prospect of that seemed impossible a year ago and I can honestly say – sincerely, not sarcastically – that I am an ARod fan for the first time in my life.
