It was a nearly a decade ago when Alex Rodriguez was acquired by the Yankees, weeks after the Red Sox, at the height of the rivals’ hatred for each other, had failed in their attempts to land the coveted Rangers’ star.
It was hailed as a shrewd and shocking move by the Yankees, only made necessary when 2003 postseason hero Aaron Boone tore his ACL playing basketball. Fast forward 10 seasons and Rodriguez is returning to The Bronx tonight as a once-professed cheat now accused of doing much worse, an enemy to the sport he professes to love and perhaps hated by his own team’s fans.
“I know the injury is why Alex landed in New York,” said Boone, now an analyst for ESPN. “I understand the series of events that led to it, but do I dwell on it? Do I think about it? Not really. There are things that happen that affect decisions throughout the course of baseball. In my case it was right before they traded for Alex.”
PHOTOS: POST COVERS A-ROD THROUGH THE YEARS
Boone’s career lasted another six seasons and he has parlayed that into a successful broadcasting career. While he has no reason to dwell on how Rodriguez became a Yankee, Yankees fans sure do. Rodriguez is the primary reason the Yankees won the 2009 World Series, but he struggled in the postseason before then and has since. His massive contract has stifled the Yankees’ ability to add to an aging roster now desperately in need of upgrades.
But it’s his latest PED scandal that will be most on the minds of those on River Avenue tonight when Rodriguez returns to Yankee Stadium for the first time since the 2012 postseason, with the Tigers the opponents again. A-Rod is currently playing while appealing a 211-game suspension for his ties to Biogenesis. He went 3-for-11 at the plate as the Yankees suffered a brutal sweep by the White Sox in Rodriguez’s first three games back after recovering from offseason hip surgery and, more recently, a quad strain.
“The thing about Alex is that even before this happened, he was not beloved in New York,” YES Network play-by-play man Michael Kay said. “There’s going to be boos, but I guess that puts Yankees fans at a crossroads. Do you not like this guy so much that you’d rather see your team lose? Or do you not care that you don’t like him and you just want him to do well, so the Yankees can win? That’s going to be the referendum [tonight].”
Rodriguez returned to an injury-ravaged Yankees team that is desperately trying to keep its postseason hopes alive. They were seven games out of the second wild-card spot heading into last night’s play and need an inspiring 49-game finish to push those above them in the standings.
Can it happen? In a word …
“No,” Boone said.
In 60 words …
“I look at them on paper and say this just isn’t a very good team this year. … That being said, I am shocked they are [over .500] with all the issues they’ve had this year. And that says a lot about the players in the room, about Joe [Girardi] running the show. I don’t think this team has any business [being] where they are,” Boone said.
Would you boo Alex Rodriguez if you were going to Friday’s game?