JOE Torre was asked yesterday if he thinks Alex Rodriguez has won over Yankee fans.
“I think so,” Torre said at his Safe At Home Foundation Golf Classic. “Yankee fans like to see explosiveness. They’re used to having big boppers.” Now he imagined A-Rod bopping until the age of 40, probably past Barry Bonds, and said: “God only knows where he’s gonna wind up.”
Torre may as well have been referring to A-Rod’s future home. Because the $30 Million Question hanging high over The Bronx is this one:
Have Yankee fans won over Alex Rodriguez?
After three years of crying and moaning about his October failings, after boobirds mocking him at every opportunity because he is not Derek Jeter, Yankee Stadium gets its chance to show A-Rod the love.
Maybe it’s too late now. Maybe A-Rod has made up his mind to opt out of Pinstripes.
But whenever he becomes the youngest man, at 32, to crack his 500th home run, perhaps tonight against the White Sox, Yankee Stadium should stand and cheer long and loud for him, so the ovation is still ringing in his ears when Scott Boras starts showing him the money.
New York knocked him to the ground, and A-Rod got up.
“It’ll be crazy. You get an impact from it when you see, in all these ballparks outside of New York, that they’re taking all these snapshots,” Torre said. “That’s distracting. The flashbulbs go off every time a pitch is thrown to him. But it’s gonna be special.
“Last year was so opposite that I think he had a tough time dealing with it. I know it was very uncomfortable for all of us. We always feel what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I told Alex this spring: ‘The only advice I can give you is to let go. Don’t pretend that something doesn’t bother you if it does. Just talk your mind. Don’t always try to come up with the right answer. Just be what you are.’ I told him just to let go each at bat. Good or bad, just let it go. I just said, ‘It’s unfair, because they go out of their way to find reasons to not like you.’ ”
Torre was asked whether this magic moment might therefore be extra satisfying to A-Rod. “He’ll be very touched by the reaction. He’s a sensitive guy,” Torre said. “A lot of people figure you make a lot of money, you’re very talented, stuff like that doesn’t enter into it. But I guarantee you that it’s gonna mean a lot to him.”
With the ghosts of Babe, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle watching.
“When you do it at Yankee Stadium, it’s always gonna take on a bigger meaning,” Torre said. “As far as how much I don’t know. He may try to pretend it doesn’t mean a lot, but being around him for the last few years . . . this game is his life. A milestone like this, in a Yankee uniform, is gonna mean a lot to him.”
Might a watershed emotional New York moment influence A-Rod’s decision?
“It’s all gonna come down to what he’s comfortable doing,” Torre said. “Whatever the reaction is to his 500th, he should have already known how the people appreciate what he’s doing here this year. It can only add to it.”
If Torre comes back, he wants A-Rod with him. “You can’t replace the statistics that he throws at you,” Torre said. “He hits some balls like Strawberry. Hit a ball in the air and it never comes down. Willie McCovey was that way.”
It’s time to shout Hooray-Rod.