Maybe part of the reason is that A-Rod has this vibe that he wants to be liked, little bit like Giambi...which can provoke a reaction...I mean check out Jeter, maybe even Sheffield, they just play it cool, like they don't care too much...ah, well, just one man's random conjecture from 3000 miles away.

Great site, btw, Alex. There's a touch of eloquent humanity (I'm struggling to find the right word here) in your writing that is awesome. Are you and Jon Weisman the same person ? :)

I have to say that I go up and down with Alex the person, not the baseball player. I want to look up to him like I do with Jetes. Here are the similarities (from my perspective):
1. He and Jetes are great baseball players.
2. Other than Griffey, ARod has been considered a great teammate by many. Other than Chad Curtis, Jeter is considered to be a great teammate by many as well.
3. They both prepare and play the game the way it's suppose to be played. For as talented as ARod may be, he never stays and stares at his homeruns.
4. Whenever I'm at Yankee stadium those are the first two players I try and find: 1. Jeter 1A. ARod 2. Everyone else

Here are two situations where they differ: (note some of this may be perception vs. reality. Btw, I'm not going to post everything that has come out with ARod)
1. ARod says something, if the reaction is not what he expects he starts changing his tune, doesn't stick with his guns. For example, the gambling thing. At first he says it's not gambling on baseball and it's not illegal for him to be there, but it is illegal for those places to be in operation, so back off me already. A couple of days later he says, I never should have been there and I should be smarter about my off field activities. Honestly, it wasn't a big deal with me to hear that he has a life outside of baseball. A lot of great players have been seen in casinos or love to gamble - only one, Pete Rose, actually gambled in the sport he played in. ARod didn't do anything wrong and he shouldn't feel the need to defend himself or even change his tune because it generated a negative reaction. But again, just one of the things he's done to say something then take it all back and say something totally different.
2. In trying to make a parallel to some Jeter controversy I look at '02 spring training with Jeter. Steinbrenner goes off on Jeter's partying ways in a December piece in the news. Jeter says I'm not going to change a thing, I didn't do anything wrong. The back pages of all NY papers come out with the headline, "Party On. Jeter not to Change" (or something like that). The next day Jeter says that's what I said and I'm sticking to that. He knows he didn't say those words so he doesn't feel the need to change his tune to answer what the NY papers interpreted in their tangential reporting. The issue eventually dies.

BTW, the image both players have left us with in the '04 and '05 post season has been exactly the same. Wherein one player leaves us with a favorable opinion of him, another with a not so favorable opinion of him. Tell me if I'm off-base here?

In '04 here's the description from retrosheet in game 6 of the ALCS, 8th inning:
Cairo doubled to right; Jeter singled to left [Cairo scored]; Rodriguez grounded out (pitcher unassisted); Rodriguez swatted at Arroyo's arm to dislodge the ball from his glove; Mientkiewicz blocked Marsh's view of the play who called ARod safe even though he had not touched the bag; the ball rolled down the line into RF; Jeter scored on the play and Arod ended up at 2B; the Red Sox complained about the interference so the umpires huddled for the second time in the game and called ARod out; Torre was very upset; fans threw junk on the field including baseballs; after a long meeting between the umpires, MLB security and NYC police, police in riot gear were placed along the stands on both sides of the field until the bottom of the 9th inning;

In '05 of the ALDS game 5, 9th inning:
Jeter singles to start the inning. ARod steps to the plate and grounds into a 5-4-3.

More than anything, both players keep leaving us with different lasting memories heading into the off-season from the post-season and I think that might be where the negative reaction reaches its boiling point.

scarface, I think you are right. Rodriguez cares about being liked. It's a very human quality but a vulnerable one. There is something about a star seemingly needing to be validated that rubs people the wrong way. Kind of like the A-student in class desperately wanting your approval on top of everything.

Thanks for the compliment too. Jon and I aren't related, but we are pals, I admire his work an awful lot, and am honored that you'd put us in the same sentence.

I don't know... ask the fans in Seattle or even Texas what they think of him. You'll get a very different opinion: selfish, uninterested in the fans, and all about the money. He's certainly in the right place for the latter, but it's hard to have much love for the guy who shows such low-class maneuvers as slapping the ball out of the pitcher's glove. The NY media can spin him all day and all night, but in my mind, he'll always be the guy who helped crater the Rangers.

Sure, the Rangers' worst player wasn't A-Rod -- Chan Ho Park, anyone? -- and so by that rationale you could maybe argue that his contract wasn't the Rangers' biggest problem. But that contract became the reason why they couldn't survive a Chan Ho Park debacle. Whether he's "human" or "vulnerable" or any one of a dozen adjectives induced by someone spinning a P.R. fluff piece, his actions off the field -- in particular, his selection of Scott Boras as an agent, and the manner in which he came to his current contract -- tell a rather different story.

It's not much of a mystery. A-Rod is an excellent player who comes across as an image-obsessed phoney. He always concentrates a little too intently on reporters' questions, he uses the reporters' names in his responses, and each day he declares a different teammate 'the best -whatever- I've ever played with.' He's a ham, and it even shows on the field - how many times did he go to the mound to be seen offering encouragment to a struggling pitcher who already knows damn well that he needs to bear down? And the struggling in the post season despite his talent? Trying too hard.

Someday he probably will have a Sally Fields meltdown.

I guess my question would be do you think he's "hamming" it up, going to the mound, being Mr. Great Teammate, an act, or is it sincere, or a little bit of both?

"- how many times did he go to the mound to be seen offering encouragment to a struggling pitcher who already knows damn well that he needs to bear down?"

Felix, he was only trying to help you.

I think it's nitpicking to go after A-Rod for the way he is on field. So many other "genuine" players are just as guilty of appearing to be really really into the game and great teammates on the field, and no one questions their sincerity. I think when he's on the field he plays it the right way, and, to me, there's no proof otherwise.

The whole $10,000 a plate for private function appearances rubs me the wrong way, but I can't properly articulate why that's different than signing autographs for money at a convention.

I have no idea why I love Reggie Jackson and I am critical of ARod as a person. I guess it's that it appears that he's so deliberate and calculated - it's hard to relate with someone like that for me.

I admired the decision he made to talk about his psychotherapy, but some of his other responses seem like they were written by Scott McClellan, you know? "I don't want to dishonor either country" - please, man. Why not play for the US this year and play for DR next year? Maybe that's the truth, but it sure as hell doesn't seem like it.

He's the type of guy you wouldn't want your girlfriend hanging out with for more than an hour, I guess.

If my girlfriend can get a cool million from him. I'd make the sacrifice, as long as I was guranteed a piece of pot. Just my take....pimps up..*s down!

To Felix Heredia: "A-Rod is an excellent player who comes across as an image-obsessed phoney"

Thats because you've already decided he's an image-obsessed phoney. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

"He's a ham, and it even shows on the field...go to the mound..."

If Jeter does it, he's awesome, If A-rod does it, he's a ham.

Felix, regardless of A-rod or Jeter, or any other ball player, you're an idiot.

4 - "but we are pals, I admire his work an awful lot, and am honored that you'd put us in the same sentence."

The feeling's completely mutual.

Have you ever played pickup basketball in NYC with a european? They play differently - there's a lot of overacting, a lot of drama, etc. I think it's the soccer mentality. It makes them stick out like sore thumbs compared to the regulars.

A-Rod plays baseball the same way.

He's got the substance. He should stop worrying about the style.

To scareduck" "...his selection of Scott Boras as an agent..."

Bernie's agent is Boras, is he scum too?

Its amazing the vitriol spewed in A-rod's direction due to the size of his paycheck. If he made 500k/yr, nobody would notice him. Isn't jealousy a wonderful thing...

How did these Europeans get here anyway? Damn that Mayflower....

Anyhow, this DOOD thinks the Sux will win the AL East this year.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/matthew_waxman/12/29/the.rant/index.html

Hey Alex, you write for SI, who is this cat anyway?

I think ESPNRadio's Colin Cowherd said it best. To paraphase; people hate A-Rod because: a) he makes big piles of money and b) all of our girlfriends/wives think he's hot.

you know, my girlfriend doesn't find either A-Rod or Jeter attractive. But she thinks Nomar is striking.

Mr. Cowhead seems like such a deep thinker.

I'm just saying....

Besides, my wife is more of a Don Zimmer circa 2003 kinda girl.

Honestly though, would we be having this conversation if the same career belonged to a goober making 400K?

That SI article is an amusing read. I love how, according to Sox fans, Damon gets a little older every time they print his name. They haven't been able to wrangle the AL East away from the Bronx, but w/o a leadoff, SS or CF they're a lock. All the injuries will plague the Yanks, not Blister-boy and Cadaver ankle.
The A-Rod scrutiny is totally contract based. All he did was accept what the braintrust in Texas offered. Attendance was booming. Fan interest was extremely high. Steroids were flowing like wine. Wait, scratch that last one. Best player in the game. Coming off of a huge season where he proved he could stand alone.
When Pujols visits the mound you don't hear a word. And he's less of a distraction than Manny. Jealousy rears it's ugly head often when A-Rod's name is mentioned. I think part of it is due to the journalistic sensationalism era we're curently in as well. Add in unprecedented access to people's personal lives and it's easy to portray almost anybody as a "monster" in some way, shape or form. (A-Rod doesn't seperate his colored and clear glass in the recycle bins, let's burn him at the stake). As we all know, it's en vouge to hate any Yankee so that doesn't do him many PR favors either.

You mean a high salary means high expectations? Unfair! We are justified in expecting no more from A-Rod than we expect from Melky Cabrera!

With the exception of the Yankees signing Jesus (and yes, I mean THE Jesus), I don't think anyone could live up to A-Rod's paycheck.

If the Yankees signed Jesus, George would make him shave and get a haircut. Just like Damon.

I saw Jesus in Spanish Harlem, he was copping an 8 ball to celebrate his b-day - which happened 4 days ago, just in case you didn't know. He sure looked like he needed a shave, but I don't think he was worth ARod's salary.

I don't get this stuff with A-Rod. What do people want from the guy? He's a freaking ball player. What exactly is it that people want him to be? So he seems to have a tin ear, big deal. The guy never loafs, he puts up unreal numbers and he cares. It occurs to me that a lot of the ill will directed at him has to do with envy. He's rich, he's young and he's good looking. That's not a recipe that will inspire affection if its not combined with personal magnetism. But the level of ill will he seems to inspire can't be explained by that factor alone. This can't be because of the gambling clubs, it started way before then and I've never heard of the guy so much as littering. Yet you'd think he was some combination of Jack the Ripper and Abe Beame.

Those 3 dingers and 10 rbi against the Angels did it for me. The guy's a player and he's one of ours. I think Alex B. has it right. A-Rod wants to be liked and that is a very human thing. Christ it could be worse, at least he gives a crap.

On a different tack I wouldn't burry the Sawx just yet, Yeah they have problems but they also have the wherewithal to address those problems if they can find a couple of compliant dance partners. I'm sure they'll come up with something that will make us good and nervous in the not to distant future. The only good thing is they'll probably have to pay through the nose for it.

AMEN wsporter

Sour jealous grapes from all these morons. Lets blame AROD because some idiot decided to pay him more than anyone else in sports has ever been paid. Why dont we blame the idiot in Texas?

We can name many lazy effin athletes in every sport for almost every team that are quite overpaid and dont even try to give a damn. Arod, gives 110% every night, wears the best uniform in sports with pride and loves life. All of us would be the same way given the opportunity.

I am just mad that the article about his card playing helped to close down all the poker rooms. Shame on the NYC heat for caring only after it was put in the papers. BTW, almost none of those clubs were the dingy, shady gambling dens as they were made out to be.

Jerome James, Jayson Williams of the Nets, Grant Hill, Mo Vaugn, Chad Pennington, Warren Sapp, anyone else, please feel free to join in to name all the freeloaders in sports yesterday and today....

ARod has a lot of fantastic qualities, many of them that are being mentioned here but the criticism I've been reading and one's I've even posted hardly stem from jealousy and envy. They seem like well thought out criticism of his faults. I want to genuinely like the guy and I root for him when he's in the batter's box or man'ing 3rd for the Yankees, however, his act simply doesn't come across as genuine. I read another post here that it seems the only time he seemed sincere was when he was talking about his psychological problems. I agree, that seemed to come from the heart. Maybe that's the problem, he's just cuckoo for cocoa puffs. "Jeter's great", "Damon's better", "I mean Jeter's a better #2", "Damon is a better #1", "Shut-up, I love to gamble", "I never should have gambled. It was wrong.". Yupper!! I think he's just f'en CRAZY!!!! He's perfect for NY then.

BTW, I envy Jeter. I would love to be him and live his life, though, I'm quite happy with mine but we all agree he has a pretty fantastic one. The envy I have for Jeter is by no means translated as hatred. It seems like a pretty convenient answer by many to say, "oh you only say those things about ARod because you envy and are jealous of him". I don't agree with that statement.

Grant Hill???? Pennington? Those two shouldn't be put in the same sentence as all the others.

why, Grant Hill has played sparingly, at best, yes because of injury, doesnt mean he's earned any of his millions. And CP, he's finished, after doing mainly nothing, with a 63 million dollar contract.

Dimelo, just so you know, I am not saying any of this mean-spirited. I find it a fun conversation.

Dimelo, I agree that the feelings about A-Rod can't be explained solely as envy. What else do you think it is?

What I find interesting about these debates is how people (not so much on here, but elsewhere) seem to confuse a player and his persona off the field. The huge about turn that was done on Giambi is a perfect example. At the beginning of the season, many people hated him not just as a player but as a person as well. Then when he started hitting again he very quickly became this wonderful, noble comeback story. Yet as a person he was saying and doing the exact same things in both time periods.

I think this stuff about ARod goes the same way. He could be a nice person, he could not be, unless I start hanging out with him on a regular basis I'll have no way of knowing and I certainly can't gleam his actual personality from reading some articles in the NY Post or Times, however interesting they may be. That said, he's done nothing truly evil or illegal that I know about and he seems to love the Yankees and want to win. That's enough for me to root for him.

Re: 15

Well at least there's an optimistic Red Sox fan out there. Deluded, yes, but optimistic.

I know none of what's being said mean spirited. Freeloaders are the likes of Mo Vaughn, Kevin Brown, Latrell "I need to feed my family" Sprewell, Jerome James, etc, etc. But Hill and Pennington are one of the good guys who experienced some bad injuries. That's like being a great delivery man for FedEx and you fall down a flight of stairs, this prevents you from ever lifting heavy boxes, etc, and forces you into collecting long term disability. These players aren't packing it in, they have serious conditions that are preventing them from performing their duties. It could all be semantics as far as the word 'freeloader' is concerned. It has a negative connotation in my book. I would never consider ARod to be a freeloader. In contrast, I do have a different opinion of Alyssa "Wish I would've signed with Detroit" Pavano.

wsporter, Hate to make this comparison, but it's like our President. Nobody likes him, not because they are envious, but because he's not honest or truthful. ARod just doesn't seem honest enough and it all starts with the contract - 'it wasn't about the money, but their commitment to winning'. That may have been the one instance where it would be OK for an athlete to say it was about the money, or at least say they were overwhelmed enough by the offer that they had no other choice but to accept that amount of money.

BTW, in my eyes ARod is waaaaayyyyyy more likable than our President. I actually think he'll do a better job running this country and being a better diplomat than Presidente Boosh.

Dimelo, I misspoke, freeloader has a negative connotation, what I really wanted to say is that they are people that get paid way too much money and not producing, good guy/injuries aside. I mean, they arent giving some of the money back because they are injured.

celli23, ok..point taken. I think there's a fine line though between not giving back (based on your salary) because of an injury you experienced going 100% for the team and the game you love vs. "milking" an injury. Nevertheless, I understand what you are trying to say. I thought what Albert Belle did was terrible, even going as far as asking for his road meal money after he "retired".

Dimelo, thanks for pulling back on the Dub/A-Rod comparison. That was down right ugly. When you think about the contract thing though how many athletes ever say they signed because the money was better? None. A-Rod signed for approximately 5 - 10 million more per season than the next closest offer. What the hell was the S.O.B. supposed to do, leave $50 to 100 million on the table. If your point is that if any guy who ever signed a contract had a right to say it was about the benjamins it was A-Rod and that he should have said so and didn't, I can buy that. It had to be about the money. No one would have begrudged him that. That's why I think he has a tin ear or has gotten some really bad advice about handling PR over the years.

tommyl, I think what you say about confusing on and off-field personas is a great point. The thing with Giambi that brought him support though is he played hard and well on the field and kept his yap shut off it. You never once heard him whine or moan about anything this year. That showed some good common sense (because he would have been murdered if he whined) and some internal strength that was admirable, as admirable as his on- field accomplishments. He'll never be rid of the juice mark but he's gone along way towards making the best of an ugly situation.

I seriously question how disliked A-Rod is by baseball fans. No, he is not beloved. And going from Seattle to Texas for $$$ but no post-season success brought him some possibly-deserved derision.

But I think most of the anti-A-Rod feeling comes from sportswriters. Let's face it, they are jealous. A-Rod has everything most of them don't have and never will. Talent, money, and good-looks. So, out of bitterness, they withhold the one thing that they can: their approval.

The irony is that A-Rod is EXACTLY the type of player that most sportswriters endlessly whine about everyone else not being. Yes, he tries too hard and does it in an awkward and obvious manner. But so what? At least he knows what the right things are and tries to do them. In a world of Milton Bradleys you'd think more sportswriters would shut up and appreciate one guy who tries to live up to his talent.

wsporter, I agree that no athlete ever says it's about the money. And I'm not referring to ARod specifically, but the contract, doesn't matter if it was Felix Escalona who signed such a huge contract. The thing is that other athletes have made 25 million/year -- think Jordan in his last few years with the Bulls. BUT, no athlete has ever signed such a lucrative contract for double digit years, totaling a quarter of a billion for the life of the contract. That said, I agree he has gotten some bad PR advice with respect to the contract but he could have fixed that by easily saying it was about the money -- not being so crass about it either, it would take some serious forethought to explain that contract rationally and say it was about the Benjamin's. For everyone, that's where the (negative/positive depends on who you talk to) image of ARod really started to take off and it will always be the same no matter what uniform he's wearing. That was ARod's defining moment, it will never be about his homeruns, or how many records he breaks. Everyone will always remember the contract first, then the player. That's an unfortunate circumstance, but a situation created by him and his handlers and unfortunately he's the one who has to live with that burden of responsibility. The criticism just comes with the territory.

BTW, the other ARod defining moment for many will always be the slap play - not the play itself, which I thought was smart on his part to make something happen - but his reaction afterward. To many that's where ARod the cheater, he's classless, no sportsmanship was born from. Unfortunately, with everything he says he just keeps compounding the problem more and which is the reason why some/most Yankee fans are split down the middle with him (love'em or hate'em). It's funny though, anytime his name is mentioned it does spark some interesting debates. I hope he never takes a B-12 shot, because at this point the haters wouldn't expect anything less. I'm continually on the fence with him, l really wish I wasn't.

Good point, Ramone. We forget they have their own agenda.

Matt Waxman isn't a baseball guy but he does do some baseball columns for SI.com. And yeah, but the tone of his piece, you can plainly see that he's a Red Sox fan.

RSN is making their own version of the popular song "The Roof is On Fire". It's called "Damon's Shirts Are on Fire", remember the song was followed by "...we don't need no water let the mo'fer burn..".
http://bostondirtdogs.boston.com/Headline_Archives/2005/12/burn_baby_burn_1.html

Reggie Sanders signs a 2/10 contract with Kansas City Royals. His stated reason: "He wanted to be piece of the puzzle."

Kevin Millwood, a Boras client, signs with Texas Rangers, 5/60. His stated reason: "I wanted to go somewhere that wanted to win."

Somehow, there is no outrage.

Here is the double standard with A-Rod. If he were defiant and said "I signed for money, winning be damned", he is instantly a greedy person, and rubs his teammates and management the wrong way.

If he says "I came here to win", he is a phony.

Any professional baseball player who is playing the game is playing to be paid. And I do not know of anyone who would disagree to be paid 252 million dollars. I would personally feel stupid not to do so.

And the goal of a baseball game is to try and win. So a baseball player, regardless of where he is, plays to win. Yet, those sentences coming out of Alex Rodriguez's mouth is subjectively perceived to be insincere by many.

As long as Alex Rodriguez produces the way he does, I dont give a rats butt about what he says and how he appears. He is the most valuable player of the MLB and is a New York Yankee. Enough for me to feel proud of him, I dont look upto him for moral guidence on any topic, so all that stuff is irrelevant to me.

Those contracts are a dime a dozen, but why even try and argue and belabor the point anymore. Tell me how many players are being paid 5 million/year, or 12 million/year? I'll be it's more than one. Then compare that to the number of players being paid 25 million/year. There's only one. That's the difference.