Just as the Baseball Writers’ Association of America – and perhaps the Baseball Hall of Fame – is almost done with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, an even more complicated figure is about to arrive: Alex Rodriguez.
Rodriguez will be on the ballot for the first time later this year, along with another slugger with a questionable past – David Ortiz, who has denied ever taking steroids.
Rodriguez said two years ago that he was looking for bonds and Clemens to come to Cooperstown.
“Of course I want them to come in because that would mean I have the chance to come in one day,” Rodriguez said on ESPN.
Perhaps.
Bonds and Clemens are two of the most infamous steroid cheats in baseball history, but they have nothing on Rodriguez, who admitted to using PEDs while with the Rangers from 2001-03 and was suspended for the 2014 season for his role in the biogenesis scandal, which included not only steroids, but lawsuits against baseball and the Yankees – which were eventually dropped.
Even before his retirement in 2016, Rodriguez began working on restoring his image and has been so successful that he is still as much a face of baseball as anyone.
And his reputation has improved so much that he can be seen everywhere from ESPN to Fox Business to Joe Biden’s inauguration, where he joined fiancé Jennifer Lopez.
How that translates into votes for the audience is up for debate.
And he clearly hopes that his public disgrace doesn’t disqualify him from entering.
“Look, I pray every day that I have the opportunity to come in,” Rodriguez said in 2019. “The Hall of Fame is the ultimate place. If you think specifically of Roger and Barry … if you quit their careers at aged 33 or 34, they were both first vote [Hall of Famers] and then the sound [about PEDs] started. It’s just a shame for me. I certainly applaud them both. I really like them both. They’re both friends, and I’m in their corner. “
Rodriguez’s credentials on the field are impeccable, with 696 home runs, 3,115 hits, three AL MVP awards and 14 All-Star appearances.
But while his career, which spanned 22 seasons, rivals the best in history, his fouls likely surpass any other player.
“I made my case when I made my mistakes,” Rodriguez said on ESPN. ‘I’ll have to lie in my bed. I still hope I can get in one day. “