A REAL ‘HOMER’
JUST like the very inevitability of No. 500, there was little doubt upon its launch that it had the distance. The question only was whether the ball ever would come down.
It towered toward left field like Alex Rodriguez’s stats over everybody in history at this stage of a career, challenged even the high that Rodriguez felt standing at home plate watching it go. Over the seats, it floated down as if tied to a parachute even more heaven-sent than an opt-out clause written into a contract by Scott Boras.
When the ball landed, A-Rod‘s hands were up even higher than The Boss will reach to keep the best player in baseball in New York to chase 600, 700 and the last home run that Barry Bonds ever hits. Presuming Rodriguez is willing to continue to pay the price of tabloid scrutiny, and of the win-it-all-or-fail mentality of the Yankees and their fans, Steinbrenner, or whoever authorizes the checks these days, will pay up, too.
Moments like yesterday’s are priceless in any park, especially so when they make tingle the spine of the most famous baseball stadium there ever was.
“You wish you could shake every fan’s hand, but the only way you can is to hit the home run at home and do it in a winning situation,” Rodriguez said. “The energy of the fans put it in perspective; I think they cared about it more than I did.”
He embraced teammates at home plate, took his curtain call, and sat down in the dugout with enough relief on his face to send Bonds into another jealous rage. Approaching huge milestones, they all lie about not feeling the pressure. And considering Rodriguez’s 2006, when he screwed himself into the ground for lack of big hits all the way through a 1-for-14 postseason, this had ordeal potential.
“He has handled all this great,” Joe Torre said. “The attention is going to be all on him, of course, and he’s been a good teammate for everybody, quite a credit to him.”
Not only did the 29 homerless at-bats between Nos. 499 and 500 turn out to be not long to wait, they became symbolic of Rodriguez’s growth within his own skin. And with fans rising in ovations, snapping pictures, groaning without malice at every out, the 17 Yankee Stadium plate appearances became a passed referendum on Rodriguez’s ability to live happily-ever-after in New York.
“He’s going to stand tall with other guys who have worn the pinstripes,” Torre said. “Everybody’s opinion will vary on what he needs to do to stand out as a great Yankee, but to me it’s his ability to endure last year, come back and have the kind of year he’s having.”
A-Rod‘s feet are out of the fans’ fire. And if this warm August day retained the potential to become a distant memory with another cold October, the more opportunities a player who yesterday also became the first ever to hit 35 homers, plus score and drive in 100 runs in 10 consecutive seasons gets to perform in the postseason, the more inevitable his success becomes.
Rodriguez needs that superior postseason to validate him a winner, whether the Yankees ever go all the way with him or not. But despite the obvious retooling awaiting, whether the Yankees makes the postseason or not, this still is the franchise with the greatest wherewithal, likely translating into the most opportunities for the best player of the generation.
That includes regular-season chances, too. Before 2007 ends, long before Rodriguez reaches the age of 33, he will pass at least five of the 21 members whose club he joined yesterday. Approaching No. 536 next season, he will become reason to remember Mickey Mantle; at 563 to recall Reggie Jackson; at 714 to again exhume Babe Ruth.
These would not be grand celebrations appropriate to Anaheim or anyplace other than where yesterday’s magic took place.
