Alex Rodriguez’ Antics Reminiscent of Jose Canseco
August 3, 2011 · Jason Tabrys · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The days of domination are now fading, the pleading “love me” antics dialed back. Alex Rodriguez is still a phony, still an image-obsessed diva and yet he’s more easily accepted in New York now than ever before, his World Series ring capably deflecting the scorn that plagued him in his early years as a Yankee.
At age 36 and with a contract that runs through 2017, Alex Rodriguez should be a part of any success the Yankees attain in the near future, a very good player when he’s healthy. But therein lies the rub; Rodriguez signed a contract to be great, not a mere part of the Yankees’ success but the reason for it.
That contract, a decade-long pact for $275 million dollars, bought the Yankees what was to be a player possessing ageless greatness, one who was pure as the un-driven snow. In short, baseball’s greatest star, not an admitted PED user with bad legs and an apparent proclivity for illegal poker games.
Major League Baseball is now investigating Rodriguez with an eye towards possibly suspending him for his participation in those poker games, which have been reportedly filled with violence and drug use.
From the initial report on ESPNNewYork.com by Wallace Mathews:
Major League Baseball is taking “very seriously” the allegations that Alex Rodriguez took part in some illegal, underground poker games, one of which reportedly turned violent, and he could face suspension if his participation in the games is confirmed.
“We’re talking to people involved in the investigation and we’re taking this very seriously,” said an MLB executive who spoke to ESPNNewYork.com on condition of anonymity. “Because he had been warned about this before, I would say a possible suspension would be very much in play.”
The allegations, first reported by Star Magazine, are that the New York Yankees third baseman played in at least two of the games, one of which took place at the Beverly Hills mansion of a record executive at which “cocaine was openly used and a fight nearly broke out when one of the players refused to pay after losing “more than a half-million dollars.”
According to the story, details of which were reportedly provided by another player at the games, Rodriguez “tried to distance himself from the game,” once the violence broke out.
“He just shook his head, not knowing what the hell happened,” the whistle-blower revealed. “He didn’t want to deal with it at all. He was like, ‘OK, whatever. It’s your game.’ I would estimate A-Rod lost, like, a few thousand dollars that night. After everything that happened, he paid up and left.”
This is how Alex Rodriguez becomes Jose Canseco.
Canseco used to be Alex Rodriguez. Young, handsome, the face of a dynasty and the best player in the game. Both were products of Miami, each over-confident and ensnared by the glisten of fame. Hell, they even both went out with Madonna, played for the Rangers and then the Yankees and share an affinity for certain chemicals.
So how did Canseco become a tattletale author, reality TV fixture and celebrity boxer who continues to court a career in baseball out in the wilderness, a player-manager for the Yuma Scorpions at the age of 47?
Well, he stopped being a major league baseball player.
Now the reasons for that are contested to say the least. Canseco assumes that he was blackballed, portraying himself as some sort of Buck Weaver-esque victim. For a player who hit 16 home runs with an OPS of .843 in 256 at bats in his final season, it feels like he has a point for a moment. Consider that Canseco hit .172 in AAA the next year at age 37 and proper perspective returns.
No one in baseball makes it a habit to sign sluggers who no longer slug. With Canseco’s over-sized personality and the whispers about PEDs, his exile from the game feels more like the natural evolution of a career.
Rodriguez, like Canseco, has that over-sized personality, one that demands attention, turning petulant in its absence. It’s the kind of personality that doesn’t move around well in the dark and the dark is where fading sluggers, guys with baggage and the truly exiled wind up once the game is done with them.
Right now Alex Rodriguez still has the game; he has the spotlight and he still has those addictive moments of brilliance propelled by the adulation of the fans. He also apparently has a hazardous taste for the truly stupid.
There isn’t any question, there has never been any question which one of those things A-Rod needs to lose, the only question is, is he out of last chances?
If he is, there’s always Yuma.
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