A Childhood Hero Lost

Alright, since its the major sports/news story of the day and its all I've been watching, I'd like to throw my two cents in on ARod and steroids.

Beginning my real love for the Seattle Mariners right before the time when Alex Rodriguez was called up to the big leagues, ARod was one of my favorite players from the moment he stepped on the field. I even have a false memory of him hitting a home run in his first plate appearance as a Mariner (he didn't actually hit his first ML home run until June 12, 1995). I knew he was going to be a star from the first time I saw the lanky kid playing shortstop. He, like my absolute favorite player of all-time Ken Griffey Jr., always seemed to have fun playing the game. They were like kids out there and they made the game fun to watch.

Then he walked away from Seattle, taking Tom Hicks' $252 million to play for the Texas Rangers, a hated division rival. I hated him for it for a long time. I was in attendance at Safeco Field when he returned with the Rangers for the first time and I joined in the choruses of boos and "Pay-Rod" chants. Yet the kid could still mash the ball, play spectacular defense and as long as his teams were still mediocre with no pitching I could still admire him from an objective viewpoint. I never shyed away from picking him or trading for him in fantasy leagues. He was still on a path to being one the greatest of all-time.

Now that he has admitted to steroid use in his three year stint in Texas I am really torn on how to react. If it really was only a three year mistake and nothing else comes out about any other use, we can probably overlook it when evaluating his Hall of Fame credentials right? His numbers really weren't that much better in Texas and he was cheating in an era where many, many other players were. With theoretically nine more years in his career, he has ample time to show that the drugs weren't really all that "performance enhancing".

I was surprised that he was so forthcoming in todays interview with Peter Gammons. He didn't really need to be, he could have just said it was a couple time thing or that he "thought it was flaxseed oil" (thank you Barry). But he was contrite (something we haven't seen from ARod recently) and seemed pretty genuinely sorry.

While I don't necessarily buy all of the story (he quit because he had an epiphany in a hotel room during spring training of the year he tested positive even though he didn't know he had tested positive until 2004? Um, really?) I tend to only believe the timeline because he seemed to admit to much more than he had to, maybe that's just good PR but I can appreciate that.