BANTER UP! A-ROD IS IN THE 'SHOW'
Fox hires slugger as on-air analyst
Major League Baseball’s playoff broadcasts are about to get juiced up — Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez has been asked to inject himself into the games as a TV analyst.
The controversial third baseman — who was banned for all of 2014 after being caught taking performanceenhancing drugs — was hired by Fox to be a studio analyst for the playoffs through the World Series.
He is scheduled to get started Monday analyzing Game 3 of the American League Championship Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals.
ARod — who made $21 million while batting .250 last year — missed his chance to reach the playoffs on the field with an 0for4 performance during the Bombers’ onegame wildcard loss to the Houston Astros on Oct. 6.
Fox announced the ARod hire on Sunday during its NFL pregame show — and ARod immediately made as much a mess of the Fox studio set as he has made of his baseball reputation.
With football greats such as Michael Strahan and Terry Bradshaw looking on, ARod — who played some highschool football — threw a pass to reporter Jay Glazer in the Fox NFL studio.
But ARod hurled the ball much too hard and it wildly sailed over the newsman’s head into a wall of HDTV screens, causing a shower of glass and sparks.
The PEDtaking infielder isn’t the only contentious MLB star on the playoffs broadcast. Fox has also called on baseball hit king Pete Rose, who has been banned for life over gambling allegations.
MLB did not have the ability to veto the ARod hire, though the commissioner's office has been pleased with the slugger’s behavior in his postsuspension come back year and did not protest the decision.
Fans had a mixed reaction to the notion of the steroidstained slugger putting his two cents in during the broadcasts.
“It makes me a little nervous,” said Ray Galinski, 43, of Yonkers, who wanted someone “with a less of a checkered past.”
“Of all the former players or current players, they could get somebody else,” he added.
“Wow, I’m shocked! ARod? Did Jeter say no?” snarked base ball fan Arturo Acevedo, 59. “So many choices — why him?”
Some fans, however, seemed to forgive and forget ARod’s past.
“I’d be interested; I’d listen to him,” said Anthony Genna, 18, of Glendale, Queens, who was at Citi Field on Sunday ahead of game 2 of the CubsMets showdown. “He was one of the best in baseball for most of our lives. Sure, I’d be interested in what he had to say.”