The Babe, Sammy & A-Rod
Posted by Steve L. on August 4th, 2010 · Comments (3)
They’re the top three in terms of most HRs in their first 2,267 games.
So, in the end, what do you think – will A-Rod’s legacy be more like that of the Babe, or, more like that of Sammy Sosa?
The Babe was on his own level, nothing Rodriguez does or will do will come close.
“In the end”, what’s your interpretation of “the end”? If you believe the world will end in 2012 then I guess a lot of scribes would most likely lean to paint him like Sosa – a PED user.
If that is not your view of “the end”, then I think in time it will probably be 50/50 – but that’s all dependent on where A-Rod stands in the final overall homerun list. I think even Bonds will be considered more great than people currently view him.
Basically I’m taking the Bill James approach, as we learn more about PEDs then PEDs will not be thought of as “cheating”. It’s just something a really talented person does to assist them and make them better at honing their craft.
I think the PED angle is a convenient excuse to use if you want to marginalize a player’s talents. I have no way of knowing when anyone else cheated, how they cheated, or who conspired to cheat with them, I don’t care because even if I cheated, I would still not be anywhere near as good as them.
For all of A-Rod’s negative/positive energy, depending on where you stand, he’s still a crazy talented baseball player. That, however, doesn’t mean he’s a player that I would want over some others on my team, but I do recognize that he’s still great.
Raf wrote:
Yep. No sense comparing anyone to Ruth, really, in my opinion.