A-ROD’S PENANCE TOUR
Repaired relationship with Commish on display at MLB ‘Play Ball’ outreach
The repairing of relationships took place during the winter, and Alex Rodriguez has been in good standing with Major League Baseball since then. But if ever there was a visual that captured the once-unthinkable transformation, it took place here on Thursday afternoon.
In Macombs Dam Park across from the Stadium, hours before he collected two singles to move withing one hit of 3,000 for his career, A Rod was playing catch with kids of all ages as part of MLB’s new “Play Ball” initiative.
What made it especially remarkable was that he was doing so practically side-by-side with first-year commissioner Rob Manfred, the same man who once headed up the no-holds-barred Biogenesis investigation that got the Yankee star suspended.
From exiled drug cheat to Ambassador A-Rod. Who’d have thought?
“Today was a dream day for these kids,” he said at the park. “I’m flattered that I was asked to be here. It meant a lot to me.”
Manfred was equally gracious when asked about A-Rod, in particular all the animosity of a couple of years ago that made them mortal enemies.
“As I’ve said before, I think Alex has tried really hard to make a smooth and successful re-entry into the game,” Manfred said. “We appreciate that he showed up today.”
And so A-Rod’s redemption story continues to gain steam, as he has hit his way back into the hearts of fans and teammates.
Along the way he has said and done all the right things since his return, but his history of misdeeds makes you wonder about his motivation.
Is he a changed man who regrets the “mistakes” to which he often refers, or is this is a calculated attempt to avoid winding up like Jose Canseco as an outcast with no connection to baseball when his career ends?
MLB-TV broadcaster and former player Harold Reynolds, who invited A-Rod to Thursday’s event on behalf of the commissioner’s office, made the case that it could be both.
“I think he wants to be involved in the game moving forward,” said Reynolds. “But I think he also realizes that his life is about baseball. I’ve known him for 20-some years and he’s a gym rat at heart.
“I’m sure (his PED suspension) was a major wake-up call — probably nothing hurt him more than to sit out a full year. It may be the best thing that ever happened to him.”
Reynolds doesn’t try to defend A-Rod’s PED-related past or rationalize its impact on offensive milestones, but he seemed to feel sure Rodriguez was sincere in taking part in Thursday’s program.
“His accomplishments are not going to stand as if he’s Hank Aaron,” Reynolds said. “That stain will always be there. But as far as getting involved with kids, he’s got kids of his own. He’s got a great heart.
“He got caught up in whatever he got caught up in, I can’t explain that. But I do know for years he’s always been a guy that’s contributed time, effort and money to kids’ events.
“So for me it wasn’t a tough phone call. I said, ‘Al, here’s what we’re doing.’ And he was in. The kids told you what it meant for him to be here. He stole the show. The minute he walked in they were yelling, ‘A-Rod.’ As adults we judge people but kids don’t care. They want to see their heroes. He’s one of their heroes, whether we like it or not. He just is.”
A-Rod was joined at the event by teammates Dellin Betances and Chris Young, and Marlins stars Giancarlo Stanton and Dee Gordon. All of the players made it fun for the kids, throwing Wiffle-ball batting practice to younger kids and playing catch with the older ones.
A-Rod said it was important to him because of his connection to the Boys and Girls Club, where he was introduced to baseball as a kid in Miami.
“I owe my entire career to an organization like this, the Boys and Girls Club,” he said. “But it’s for all kids: the lessons you learn with baseball, the discipline, hard work, dedication. The falling back and having to get up again. That’s what our kids are going to have to do, and I think baseball is a great teacher of that.”
Years of chronicling A Rod’s transgressions tend to make you roll your eyes at such talk, yet Reynolds cites a moment this winter when he was convinced he saw real change in his old friend.
“We had lunch during the winter,” Reynolds said. “It was the first time I saw Alex — not A-Rod — in probably 20 years. He didn’t come in with an entourage. He didn’t come riding in with a group of people in an Escalade. He just showed up. It was nice.”
On Thursday Manfred didn’t wax quite that poetic about his former enemy. Then again, the fact that he welcomed the Yankee star, big smile and all, in such a public setting, said it all.
Ambassador A-Rod and The Commissioner. How times have changed.