Lisa Guerrero: Sources Agree With Torre & A-Rod Is A Jerk…
…but, he should have not written about it. Via Lisa Guerrero’s blog –
While you’d certainly expect some pretty strong reactions to Joe Torre’s tell-all from the baseball community, other sports stars have plenty to say about him dishing the dirt on his former players.
The news of the Yankee Years and the bits of the book that have been released have done wonders to build sympathy for Alex Rodriguez within the fraternity of pro athletes, a group that he is not very popular with to begin with.
A player that I spoke with here who didn’t want to be named told me, “Look, Alex is a jerk. Torre’s insights are probably 100% accurate about how his teammates feel about him, but there’s no reason to air that dirty laundry in a book.”
My husband, Scott Erickson, was in the Yankee locker room in 2006 and acknowledged that many of those stories about Rodriguez are true. He takes issue with the fact that Torre or anyone writing about certain players’ bad behavior, but then chooses not to write about others.
You know, Ty Cobb was a jerk – and that’s being polite. Ditto Rogers Hornsby. And, when he was playing and boozing, Mickey Mantle was a jerk. Further, if you think being surly is someone jerky, then you can say Willie Mays was a jerk. So, if A-Rod is a jerk, does it really matter?
Probably not…at least…probably not as much as, say, not going through in the post-season, right?
See that’s probably what A-Rod’s problem is. He’s not being himself on the field…so I want him to be a jerk on the field too and then maybe he’ll be more comfortable at the plate and won’t be putting pressure on himself to do good AND look good doing it at the same time. A jerk wouldn’t care how he looks on the field and would just go out and play. He needs to embrace the jerk that he is haha
I’d like him more if he really was a jerk. He buys the young guys a suit. He gives advice to his teammates unlike Bonds who feels he can’t because they will soon become his opposition (due to free agency and trades).
I don’t know if he’s a jerk but he’s not caught up in HGH/steroids scandals, he’s not popped for DUIs and he pays his taxes. Works for me.
So this article is really just so that Scott Erickson can get his name back in the limelight for a few minutes…. as though anyone remembers his presence on the 2006 team.
I certainly remember Scott Erickson. I once went to a game that had Jaret Wright starting and Scott Erickson relieving. I don’t think I’ve ever disliked a group of Yankees more than that day.
The fact that people think Alex is a jerk combined with him being as high profile as he is makes him an easy target for Torre to go after the way he has to add sizzle to the book.
For a guy who grew up in an abusive household, he should know that being passive aggressive with someone is emotional abuse.
While what Torre (or rather Verducci) said in the book has been taken out of context, it’s probably not cool to call a player a jerk in a book. Saying it in person to a reporter, however, is obviously a different story!
A-Rod is the Ted Williams of his generation: a problem child with his teammates, a whipping boy for the press, and an all around Class A jerk to fans. Of course today Williams is held in a saintly esteem by players, media and fans alike, so maybe Alex will benefit from the same canonization process.
Tresh Fan – are you saying that Yankees and baseball fans will only start to love A-Rod once his head is cut off and frozen?
Well, Steve, that would depend on who does the cutting, don’t you think?