• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Alex Rodriguez was drafted in 1993 by the Seattle Mariners, and made his major league debut on July 8th, 1994 at the age of eighteen. He then went on to play for the Texas Rangers for three seasons. After his three years with the Rangers he was traded to the New York Yankees prior to the 2004 season.

Playing in New York is like playing under a microscope, where every move you make will be judged by the fans, and all of your teammates. A-ROD did not shy away from the spotlight.

Since joining the Yankees he’s had many achievements, and became a fan favorite in New York. One of his biggest achievements was when he hit his (500th) career Homerun on August 4th, 2007 becoming the youngest player to reach (500) Home runs at the age of 32. In 2007 A-Rod opted out of his contract and received a new contract for (10 years, 275 million dollars.)

In 2009 the Yankees won a World Series Championship, Things went downhill from there; as he was accused of performance enhancing drugs (PED’S) twice. The first time he was accused he was suspended (50) games, he was accused a second time in the middle of the (2013) season, then  MLB announced he will be suspended for (162) games; which was the length of a regular season.  The suspension will include post-season games as well.

There has been a lot of discussion about what Yankees officials were going to do with A-Rod.He ended up being the team’s opening day designated hitter.

Now what the issue is this season, is part of his contract has milestone bonus; A-ROD was nearing second place on the All-Time Home Run list and the Yankees front office was refusing to pay the bonus due to the off the field circumstances. The second question was, what are the fans going to do when he gets his milestone hits? And so far he has gone back to being a fan favorite. A-Rod is now in second place on the All-Time Home Run list. After achieving the Home Run milestone earlier in the season, on

Friday June 19th Alex Rodriguez hit a home run into the right field bleachers which recorded his (3,000th) career hit off of Detroit Tigers right-handed pitcher Justin Verlander.  18,000 men have played Major League Baseball, and only 29 players have hit for 3000 hits and now A-Rod has joined the list. It was a great scene on the field while the entire Yankee team came on to the field and gave A-Rod hugs, and the Yankee fans gave him a standing ovation; and A-Rod responded with a curtain call to the fans.

While A-Rod is getting milestone hits, and the Yankee front office is taking care of the legal issues; the Yankees as a team is managing to go out there and winning as they currently hold a record of (36-30) which is good enough for second place in the American League East Division and trails the Tampa Bay Rays by (1.0) games.

By Vernon McKenzie

Graduate of New Institute Of Technology with a BA in Communications with a focus on Television Radio. Owner and Executive Producer of PureSportsNY

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