Baseball is better off because of Alex Rodriguez

NEW YORK — As soon as Alex Rodriguez awoke Friday, there was stress.

With a logjam at his position forcing him to the bench, Rodriguez needed a good stretch before playing, but couldn’t get one in due to time constraints. On the way to the game, driving up Broadway toward the Bronx for the final time, he tried to formulate a plan to solve an opposing pitcher that had owned him in the past. As he arrived at Yankee Stadium, he faced the harsh reality that his diminishing batspeed could hold him hitless in front of thousands of fans.

“I haven’t played a lot of baseball lately, and Chris Archer’s not a guy that I’m racing to go face,” said Rodriguez. “I saw him before the game, and I told him to take it easy on the old man. I gave him a hug.”

What Rodriguez didn’t know, however, was that without him there might be no Mark Teixeira to restrict his playing time. Without him, Chris Archer might not have been there to stare him down, in front of thousands watching from the stands.

Make no mistake, Rodriguez has acted in a selfish manner in his career too many times to count. For the majority of his time in baseball, he generally valued his own personal success and reputation over just about anything, making threats to doctors and family members and even peeing on his cousin’s floor once to prove a point.

But Rodriguez, even through the period of his career filled with deceit, left a positive impact on the game. As manager Joe Girardi has said, is a “teacher at heart.” He’s never been too big to walk up to a twenty-something who’s never stepped in a big-league locker room, and invest his time in them.

“I was a 21-year-old player the first time I met Alex, and he took me out to dinner when I was drafted with the Rangers,” Teixeira, a longtime teammate, said after the game. “He was already the best player in baseball. So, here I am, this kid from Maryland, going out to eat with the greatest baseball player of his time. That was a special thing for me. I’ll remember that.”

Rodriguez helped, and continues to help, the lives of rising stars in the major leagues. Most of his time these days during batting practice is spent talking to the Yankees’ youth, or dapping up young players on opposing teams, like Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, and enjoying a brief pregame chat.

For players like Correa, and the aforementioned Archer, Rodriguez was the guy growing up. He was finished second in MVP voting at the age of 20 in 1996. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He had titanic home run seasons with the Rangers. He was traded to the Yankees and nearly won a World Series in his first year. Rodriguez was better than everyone, and he made young ballplayers want to mash and make diving stops in the field just like him.

“Growing up, I wore No. 13 in Little League. I played shortstop and wore big Oakleys, I’m kind of getting chills thinking about it,” Archer said after his outing, in which he became the last pitcher to strike out Rodriguez in a Yankee uniform. “He’s had some trivial things go on throughout his career, but he’s always treated me with respect. My parents have always taught me to judge somebody based off how they treat you, personally.

“That’s going to mean something to me and my parents and my closest friends, because we all admired A-Rod growing up.”

Rodriguez will, in all likelihood, walk away from baseball after playing on Friday, and the legacy he will leave behind is a point of great contention. To most of the public, Rodriguez is a cheat, and a disgrace to the game. But on the game itself, A-Rod has left a lasting, positive impact with the players he’s helped create. Friday night was a reminder.

During an era in which taking amphetamines, HGH and anabolic steroids was as common as cracking a beer, Rodriguez’s PED-use does not stand out all that much. His inspiring scores of young kids like Correa and Archer to play the game of baseball, and fall in love with it, is his greatest impact. He is the face of a graying group of players that the next generation of stars idolized as children. It is now up to Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado to follow in Rodriguez’s footsteps, influencing the players that will take their places in 15 years, and coaching them along the way.

Though they might want to refrain from “acting like an ass,” as Rodriguez put it.

Photo: Andy Marlin / USA Today Sports