Why Alex Rodriguez's complicated legacy doesn't diminish his current production

ANAHEIM, Calif. – "What are you doing?" a friend would ask.

"Pretending," I'd say.

This was back when Barry Bonds was threatening Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron or some other icon in the category of home run accumulation over a lifetime. A bunch of us were tramping around the country recording and expanding upon every grunt, glare, swing and fly ball emanating from Bonds, sometimes for weeks at a time. This was not all that fun, because nobody really wanted us around, least of all the man of the era. Sorry, hour.

So, basically, many of us found ourselves bored with the spectacle (in some ways we were the spectacle), as there was no access, no context and, outside one particular city, very little joy. The rest of the world, it seemed, either didn't believe in Bonds or didn't care. But we wrote daily, because it was, you know, history (or not), and the stories were breathless accounts of long homers or near misses and whatever else that was if not interesting, at least lapped up against interesting.

Bonds did finally reach and pass Aaron and therefore became the game's greatest home run hitter. Ask anyone. We all wrote it big.

What am I doing?

"Pretending," I'd say.

Alex Rodriguez has 665 home runs for his career. (Getty Images)
Alex Rodriguez has 665 home runs for his career. (Getty Images)

Anyway, the same guy texted Thursday morning conversationally about Alex Rodriguez, who by some accounts had driven in as many runs as anyone in American League history. Rodriguez on Wednesday night had tied Lou Gehrig at 1,995 RBI. (Ruth actually leads them both by more than 200, but there apparently wasn't an RBI statistic for the first six years of Ruth's career, so he's not recognized as the AL leader, which is very baseball.)

"What," he asked, "should I make of this?"

I've stopped trying to decide. Whatever's in the box score. Go with that.

The great thing about Rodriguez holding (by some accounts) an RBI record is it combines the two most mysterious and controversial elements of our time: RBIs and performance-enhancing drugs. (If you could throw in pitchers' wins, well, let's not cross those streams.) We can't decide if RBIs are important and we're pretty sure, but not positive, PEDs are, but you could find plenty to argue the reverse. RBIs, it can be said, are the result of the confluence of skill and opportunity. Just like steroids. One does not beget the other, of course, and yet here's Rodriguez and there's a record (sort of) and we have no idea what it means, beyond him being a great hitter in the middle of some good lineups for a very long time. And why was he a great hitter in the middle of some good lineups for a very long time? A not unreasonable question, it would seem.

The New York Yankees have decided what they think of Rodriguez and his numbers – 665 home runs, 1,996 RBI (he added another Thursday night), 2,981 hits – and won't be kicking around the "M" word (milestone) much as a result. Once considered a lock to be retired or kicked out by now, Rodriguez instead has the look of a man who'll one day reach 700-plus home runs and 3,000-plus hits and, like only Hank Aaron, Ruth and Cap Anson before him, 2,000 RBI.

Look at Rodriguez's name beside those he's passed or is coming up on. Pick a statistic, and you'll get Aaron and Ruth and Gehrig and Willie Mays and Stan Musial and Ted Williams and Frank Robinson, on and on. Is he as good as they were? Is he better?

Maybe.

Rodriguez did not give himself a chance to find out. No one will ever know. That's a shame.

Rodriguez will have a complicated legacy. (Getty Images)
Rodriguez will have a complicated legacy. (Getty Images)

What we're left with is a near 40-year-old ballplayer with some skills yet, who has overcome the self-inflicted misfortunes of his past to become a real and productive ballplayer again. And we have 1,996 RBI.

A big deal? I don't really know. So I asked Albert Pujols, who is 374 RBI behind Rodriguez and 4½ years younger.

"Why would people think RBI is overrated?" he asked. "Besides batting average, that is maybe the best stat you can have on the back of your card. I believe that's what I'm here for.

"Bro, to get 2,000 RBI, that's pretty amazing. How do you win games, besides pitching? Driving runs in."

Without intending to, we drifted into a conversation about Rodriguez, the decisions he – Rodriguez – had made along the way, and how those decisions muddle the numbers Rodriguez will leave behind. Should we celebrate moments we can't be sure of? Without knowing what those moments were built on? Do we settle for the box score and leave it at that?

"I'm fine with him accumulating records," Pujols said. "Did the guy do something wrong in this game? Yes he did. He paid for it. He already got suspended for a year. I think everybody deserves a second chance."

He paused and tried not to smile.

"Or third," he went on. "Whatever you want to call it. Inside him he has a really good heart. I'm not one to throw a rock at somebody. He paid the consequences. Now what he's doing in baseball is great. I'm happy for him."

So, we'll leave it at that. We're tired of pretending.

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