All of his oddness aside, he is one of the lucky in life who gets to do for a living exactly what he wants to do in the top echelon of ability and talent while making boat loads of dough. I’m glad he’s doing all that for the Yankees. It makes for good theater.

He was a great player… but a hired gun for sure….
and not what I’d call a true Yankee.

Whatever. This topic comes up again and again, and a few of us debate it in circles. Maybe PEds didn’t help him much. But then, the all-time HR list is now littered with PEd-associated guys. Coincidence? I don’t think so, even if I can’t prove it.

But in the end, so what? HRs have been flying out of the park at historic rates over the last decade or so. Whatever the reasons, it’s a bore. I have to admit, I don’t really care about A-Rod’s pursuit of the (sort of) historic 600 HRs. He’ll be the fourth guy to do it in the last few years.

An impressive career total, yes. A meaningful milestone for me to get worked up about? Nope.

4 years later, at age 32, hitting in unfriendly Yankee stadium LF, he hit 54 HRs.

So yeah… his 52 HR avg in Texas was better then his 42 HR avg as a Yankee… but considering age and ballpark, his Texas numbers are hardly out of line. I mean, does he have an extra 20 PED assisted HRs? I doubt that.

While you can’t believe anything a player says when explaining how they got their hand stuck in the PED cookie jar, ARod did say he doesn’t know if he even did them correctly. Since he didn’t seem terribly bulked up, and he numbers seem in line… I almost believe him. I mean, he had his COUSIN get them for him and didn’t seem to have much of a plan.

So the media can cry foul and shame ARod for his PED usage, but realistically, I don’t think his career numbers have much assistance built in.

Posada: 16 seasons, 14 “real” seasons, 13 as the starter (12, if you take out injury-plagued 2008), ALL with the Yankees, 0 seasons with another team.

Pettitte: 16 seasons, 16 “real” seasons (14 real seasons is you take out injury plagued 2002 and 2004), 13 with the Yankees (or 12 “real” seasons, if you take out injury-plagued 2002), 3 with another team.

If I’m gonna play this game, Pettitte definitely slots behind Posada.

For me he slots in behind Jeter and Mo, but ahead of Po. Whaddya know -

I only wish Andy hadn’t gone to Houston for those 3 seasons, but I won’t fret …

The Yanks have room for at least two echelons of memorable players. A-rod, Moose, Reggie are in one. Even Paulie O. True yankees, to me, are rare because they must be great players, have had great careers and played most, in not all their games as Yankees. Amazingly we have 3 (4, Petite?) that fit that criteria now.

A Rod’s been here seven years now, that’s true enough for me. If true means being embraced by a majority of the fans, then no, he’s not a true one. He’ll never be Randolph or Guidry or Mantle or Jeter.

I don’t know if Reggie was ever truly embraced by more than half of Yankee fans, though he had the incredible advantage of winning the first two years he was here. But some Yankee fans never cottened to Reggie. Just as they’ll never like Rodriguez. I get that, and think you are right. For some he’ll never be true. But that’s a narrow way to categorize someone and misses out on what the guy does offer (instead of being fixated on what he’s not–clutch, sincere, likable, whatever).

But give me the guy, clown or not, who drives in 100 RBI 7-years straight and he’s a true Yankee to me. Guy works hard. Always plays hard. Don’t care if he’s a phony or neurotic, I’ll take that guy.

Alex … let me ask you this … would you consider Swisher a true Yankee? I think his personality is not Yankee-centric … he’s been a “let’s have fun” free-spirit wherever he’s played. But I would suggest he’s already been “accepted” by the Yankee fans as a “true Yankee” …. as in … plays the game right … shows that he cares … appreciates the fans … appreciates the Pinstripes (and the history therein).

A friend of mine, when I mentioned my hesitancy towards A-Rod, pointed out that Paul O’Neill was traded to the Yanks, and everyone considers him to be a “true Yankee”, so how do you define “acceptance” and/or “true Yankee”.

I still can’t wrap my head around him being a “true Yankee” (whatever that means). I still see his connection/manipulation with Boras, and his dalliances off the field, and the need to use PEDs, and it prevents me from fully “accepting” him. He’s a hired gun, the most expensive one in the shop.

Now, I will give him props for not causing a fuss in moving to 3B when he got to NY, but beyond that …. he doesn’t seem to have a truly soulful presence to me … its all artifact and aire and image.

APPROVED RULING: (2) If a base is dislodged from its position during a play, any following runner on the same play shall be considered as touching or occupying the base if, in the umpire’s judgment, he touches or occupies the point marked by the dislodged bag.

Too bad. couldve redefined the term ‘stole second’

Would some daring and adept (perhaps stupid) baserunner be able to use this “base removal” to his advantage in somehow being able to slide later/harder and take the base with him?

He’s totally won me over now. Clown? Diva? Headcase? Maybe. But he’s family now. You know, in that millionaire who I watch on tv kind of family way.