# Do you know anyone who says their favorite player is Alex Rodriguez? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 10, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445 "2012-05-10T00:19:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/1 "2012-05-10T00:19:25Z")
I have never met anyone who said this. I’m sure they exist, but I haven’t met them. For a sure-fire HOFer whose numbers will end up high in many offensive categories, is it odd, or is it me? I’ve heard people say Bonds, Clemens, heck, even Cobb. Never A-Rod. I would guess if I lived in Seattle or Miami I’d meet someone, but it seems strange that an “all time great” doesn’t have a larger following. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/2 "2012-05-10T00:32:07Z")
I don’t personally know a guy who says Alex Rodriguez is his favorite player, but I know OF him. The guy’s name is Alex Rodriguez. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/3 "2012-05-10T00:43:24Z")
I’ve seen people on TV, at Yankees games, wearing A-Rod Yankee shirts. I think it’s reasonable to assume that he might be their favorite player. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/4 "2012-05-10T00:55:59Z")
Only someone born without a soul could say Rodriguez was his favorite player. Of course, only someone born without a soul could say the Yankees were his favorite team, so … ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/5 "2012-05-10T01:39:08Z")
He used to be my sister’s favorite. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/6 "2012-05-10T01:40:47Z")
I’m not even sure the A-Rod jerseys prove much. Buying a jersey is often a calculated act to figure which jersey is likeliest to be current for the longest period of time. When I bought my Ricky Romero jersey, I wouldn’t say he’s my favourite Blue Jay - that’d be Jose Bautista or Brett Lawrie - but he seemed the lowest risk option at the time. A-Rod’s a Yankee forever, for many years yet. He’s a good bet. It’s funny SY started this thread because the other day, when A-Rod passed Junior on the home run list, the local yokels on the Fan590 were talking about it and the general consensus was that they could muster no emotions at all about it. Rodriguez’s achievements seem no more meaningful than a game of baseball on the PS3. While part of it is his being a cheater, another part is that he seems like an utter and irredeemable douchebag, a person without personality. I have never, ever, heard him say anything that did not sound thoroughly phony. I’m not even talking media-training phony; I mean, the guy sounds like he’s seriously having difficulty acting like a human being. It’s hard to imagine his even having emotions save, perhaps, an absolutely gargantuan helping of narcissitic personality disorder. Barry Bonds was an ass, but he at least seemed HUMAN, good and bad, and you could even trace why he acted the way he did to various things a human might react to. You could actually imagine the guy watching a movie or playing with his kids. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/7 "2012-05-10T13:25:48Z")
There’s the fact that he does lack personality and there’s also the way he plays the game. I don’t think any true baseball fan can admire ARod. From his attempt to slap the ball out of the glove of Bronson Arroyo trying to tag him out in the '03 ALCS to his yelling “MINE!” on a pop up as he’s running the bases, his antics are generally considered bush league. I loathe the Yankees, but I can admit that Derek Jeter seems to be a stand-up guy who respects the game. That’s probably why Jeter and ARod don’t get along famously, too. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/8 "2012-05-10T13:52:00Z")
OTOH, at the end of the 2003 season, the MVP winning, gold glove winning shortstop agreed to both a pay cut (tanked by the MLBPA) and agreed to move to 3rd base, in order to facilitate a trade. Those choices say something to me, those are not choices that many MVP/GG winners will make. Perhaps he needed to get out of the Arlington pressure cooker to friendlier faces in Boston or NY ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/9 "2012-05-10T14:59:24Z")
Uh oh, we may have found what the OP was looking for… If I remember correctly, ARod was traded by Texas because they couldn’t afford him anymore. I don’t remember him trying to get out of the pressure cooker there. True, he was willing to take the paycut that the MLBPA nixed that would have sent him to Boston. And true, he moved to 3B for NY, but I don’t know how much of a choice he had in that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/10 "2012-05-10T15:06:01Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > If I remember correctly, ARod was traded by Texas because they couldn’t afford him anymore. I think it was more a sense that they couldn’t build a decent team around him, partly because of that salary. > [@](#): > > And true, he moved to 3B for NY, but I don’t know how much of a choice he had in that. It was a choice he made because he wanted to be traded. If he’d been unwilling to make that move and go to the Yankees, I’m not sure where the Rangers could have traded him. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/11 "2012-05-10T15:07:08Z")
It’s not that they couldn’t afford him anymore, it’s that they decided they wouldn’t be able to build a successful team with one player making up such a large percentage of their payroll. Maybe that means the same thing to you, but it’s significantly different to me. Edit: Marley23’d ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/12 "2012-05-10T16:05:30Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > I don’t know how much of a choice he had in that. He had a no-trade clause, which means he had all the choice in the world. Instead of using that as a hammer to squeeze value for himself, he was willing to give up something to make the trade happen. It’s unusual, and I don’t think he gets a lick of credit for it. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/13 "2012-05-10T17:19:18Z")
I wouldn’t say he’s my favorite player, but back when he played for my M’s, I liked him more than Jr. The way Jr. left the team left a bad taste in my mouth. He demanded a trade and as a 10 and 5 guy he could influence where he would go. He publicly announced where he wanted to go, limiting any leverage the M’s had to get the most for their superstar (surprisingly they still got a decent deal.) When Jr. returned, he didn’t know when to quit. Arod just couldn’t say no to the obscene amount of money the Rangers threw at him as a free agent and I can’t really blame him for that. Of course, I liked Edgar more than either of them. My favorite M of all-time is either Edgar or Ichiro. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/14 "2012-05-10T20:34:23Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > (W)hen A-Rod passed Junior on the home run list, the local yokels on the Fan590 were talking about it and the general consensus was that they could muster no emotions at all about it. Rodriguez’s achievements seem no more meaningful than a game of baseball on the PS3. A few years ago, some talk radio sports guy made a good point: Every baseball fan knew the HR total Hank Aaron was chasing, and every baseball fan knew the final record that Aaron set–hence they knew the number Bonds was chasing. I’ll bet if you asked 10 baseball fans many of them would be hard pressed to tell you what the record is today. That may say something about the emotional hold of baseball now vs. then, but it also tells me that the thing that makes a record special is the player who attains them. IMO a lot of players today think it’s the other way around. > [@](#): > > Barry Bonds was an ass, but he at least seemed HUMAN, good and bad, and you could even trace why he acted the way he did to various things a human might react to. You could actually imagine the guy watching a movie or playing with his kids. I agree–and if your public persona doesn’t even measure up to Barry frickin’ Bonds, you’ve got serious problems. A-Rod is no more human than a PS3 avatar. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/15 "2012-05-10T21:38:25Z")
> [@CJJ](#): > > I agree–and if your public persona doesn’t even measure up to Barry frickin’ Bonds, you’ve got serious problems. Now we’re climbing Mt. Hyperbole here. I agree about the reasons it’s difficult to really like Rodriguez: he’s vain and self-absorbed, he used PEDs, he has often come off as desperate for attention, and he doesn’t have much personality. Bonds was also vain and self-absorbed and didn’t have much personality beyond being an asshole to everyone at every opportunity and was a blatant PED user. I struggle to see how that puts Bonds at an advantage. Rodriguez is less hated, although he is plenty despised in a lot of places, and Yankees fans are less willfully blind to his faults than Giants were with Bonds, partly because they never warmed to the guy in a deep way. ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/16 "2012-05-10T21:57:50Z")
I disagree. I think, with the right interviewer, Bonds has come across well many times. And if you don’t think well, you can at least admit he’s human. Usually, it would be with former players who joined the media (Joe Morgan comes to mind), or when he was sitting with Willie Mays or his dad for an interview. With ARod, who I _want_ to like, but just can’t warm, it just seems like everything is manufactured to project what he thinks (or his people tell him) the public wants. He had the makings of a superstar and was coming into his own just as Michael Jordan retired. It was as if he wanted to be the MJ of baseball, so he made sure he was always conscious of what he was doing, how he was projected, etc. Except he wasn’t as dominant, and didn’t have the team success to match. He just doesn’t come across as joyful at all, whereas at least Barry could laugh in the dugout with his teammates (except Jeff Kent). That’s my take, anyway. I appreciate the money ARod has given to the University of Miami, though! ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/17 "2012-05-11T00:16:59Z")
A-Rod will be the 2nd player in MLB history to have 700 HR and 3000 hits. You’d think _someone_ would like him… ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/18 "2012-05-11T18:21:39Z")
The obvious answer here is Dan Lozano… at least until Pujols signed with the Angels. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/19 "2012-05-11T20:49:18Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think it was more a sense that they couldn’t build a decent team around him, partly because of that salary. Texas paid more money to the REST of the team than the average American League team paid to their entire squad. In 2002 the Rangers paid more money to A-Rod’s teammates than the Oakland Athletics and Minnesota Twins paid to their entire teams, _combined._ And the A’s and Twins both made the playoffs. The Rangers were not hamstrung by Rodriguez, they were hamstrung by their own incompetence in assembling a pitching staff. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445/20 "2012-05-11T20:58:33Z")
> [@mkecane](#): > > It was as if he wanted to be the MJ of baseball That’s an interesting comparison, because let’s not forget that his $252 million contract was worth twice as much as the $126 million deal Kevin Garnett had recently received from the Minnesota Timberwolves. That did not happen by accident. > [@RickJay](#): > > The Rangers were not hamstrung by Rodriguez, they were hamstrung by their own incompetence in assembling a pitching staff. And nobody made them offer him that much money. OK, to rephrase: they hadn’t assembled a good enough team around him and decided they needed to start over without Rodriguez on the books for $25 million a year. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-who-says-their-favorite-player-is-alex-rodriguez/621445.md?page=2)