Not many star players can relate to being suspended for a full season, as Alex Rodriguez was on Saturday.
Dwight Gooden is one of them, having missed the 1995 season when he was suspended for testing positive for cocaine. Rodriguez learned of his fate when independent arbitrator Fredric Horowitz reduced MLB’s original 211-game ban for his alleged ties to Biogenesis to 162 games and the postseason following Rodriguez’s appeal.
Though the circumstances surrounding the bans are vastly different, the reality of not playing is the same.
“It probably hasn’t hit him yet,” Gooden said by phone Saturday. “That will happen on Opening Day when they announce the lineup and everything starts. That’s when it will hit him.”
Rodriguez couldn’t play last Opening Day, either, and though he showed up at Yankee Stadium, he declined to take the field and be introduced.
This season, barring a long-shot injunction, he won’t be there at all.
“It will probably take him four months to realize he is not going to play this year,” Gooden said. “That’s the way it was for me. I had to get my life back in order then I had to get in baseball shape when I was ready to play.
“A lot of people look at it like it’s a year and the money, but we have been doing this all our lives, never miss a year. It’s tough.’’
Rodriguez and his legal team have vowed to take their fight to federal court, so he may occupy time that way.
Gooden famously resurrected his career in The Bronx after the suspension, pitching a no-hitter and winning a World Series with the Yankees in 1996. With Rodriguez turning 39 in July, a similar comeback won’t be an easy feat.
“I would never count Alex out because of his work ethic,” former Yankee coach Larry Bowa said. “He will work at it.”
Bowa said he sympathized with the third baseman.
“It looks like it is going to get ugly,” Bowa said. “I feel for Alex. A lot of people get the wrong impression about Alex. I have never been around a guy who worked harder and took young players under his arm. Should he have been punished? No questions. But the lengthy of it is surprising.”
For former teammate Johnny Damon, the lack of known information makes the punishment difficult to stomach.
“We don’t know any of the facts,” Damon said. “What we know is what we hear and read, and that stinks as former players. We have no clue.’’
Roberto Alomar said he was “sad” for Rodriguez.
“I feel sad about the situation,” Alomar said. “One year is a long time. I don’t know what happens from here. I’m a friend of his in good times and bad.”