ESPN star to appear on first show of comeback

Alex Rodriguez was once labeled a “24-plus-one” player, because he was thought to be more about himself than the team. Now, A-Rod has entered the Mike Francesa comeback tour and, perhaps unwittingly, made himself look as if it is more about A-Rod than the company he is being paid millions by, ESPN.

WFAN announced that A-Rod, the new face of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” team, will be on Francesa’s return show at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Francesa’s competition in the afternoon sports-talk landscape is ESPN New York’s “Michael Kay Show.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything more from Alex,” Kay told The Post before moving on to Francesa. “Wouldn’t you want your first guest to be someone who lied to your face? It is perfect for the climate.”

ESPN could still back Kay and tell Rodriguez not to appear with Francesa. As of Monday evening, ESPN was not going to try to stand in the way of A-Rod’s FAN spot. Sources said A-Rod was unaware of ESPN’s policy about ma- jor-market rival stations.

During the Biogenesis case, which eventually led to A-Rod being banned for a full season for performance-enhancing drug use, ARod repeatedly went on Francesa and lied about most everything. Francesa largely didn’t forcefully challenge A-Rod. Even Rodriguez has admitted the Francesa interviews were a farce.

“I made mistakes, and then doubled down and became a bigger jerk and then went on sports radio and made an ass of myself,” A-Rod said last year, according to CBS.

When Rodriguez became an analyst on ESPN’s Sunday night team, he and his agent, Jon Rosen, made play-by-play man Matt Vasgersian a package deal. Kay was one of the voices being considered for that role.

While ESPN may peg itself — and rightfully so, in many cases — as “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” — in New York radio, it has always been Pepsi to WFAN’s Coke.

ESPN even has had a policy for years that forbids its on-air personalities from going on rival stations. At times, it would make exceptions for employees promoting books or some other special occasions.

But it would be odd that ESPN would want its new baseball star, A-Rod, on Francesa to promote his comeback. Francesa’s rival, Kay, certainly is not in favor — but not surprised.

Francesa’s producer, Brian Monzo, first tweeted out that Rodriguez would be a guest. The station’s vice president, Mark Chernoff, confirmed it and added that Eli Manning and Jay Wright also will be guests.