As quite possibly the most dominant and feared hitter in Major League Baseball today, he has officially cemented himself as one of the best players to ever play the game and ranked up there with the likes of other New York Yankees hitters Mickey Mantle and the immortal Babe Ruth.
Although he still has some ways to go to reach the all-time greats at only 33 years of age, A-Rod as he has been nicknamed is slowly, but surely making his way to the homerun record held by Barry Bonds (762) with 545 homeruns to date. Not only is A-Rod headed to homerun greatest, but he has also set some other records along the way as he continues to destroy opposing pitchers in his campaign with the New York Yankees.
Before becoming the highest paid baseball player in the MLB at $275 million over ten years ($30 million more if he breaks Bonds’ homerun record) with the Yankees, A-Rod began his career as a major leaguer with the Seattle Mariners alongside another future hall of famer in Ken Griffey Jr. in 1994.
As one of the most promising young shortstops in Major League Baseball, A-Rod had his first taste of success in the back in 1996 where he officially took over the Mariners shortstop position full time and excelled not only with his glove, but also with his bat by putting up monsters numbers like 36 homeruns, 123 RBIs and a very impressive batting average of .358 which was the highest by a right handed player since way back in 1939 when Joe DiMaggio hit .381 for the Yankees.
Although A-Rod’s performance in the 1996 season was one of the best in history and was widely considered the favorite for the AL MVP, Juan Gonzalez won the award with A-Rod a close second at only three points behind which was the 2nd closest MVP race in MLB history.
Needless to say, A-Rod had become a superstar attraction in the league which made the Seattle Mariners who along with two other superstars in Ken Griffey Jr. and pitcher Randy Johnson one of the most exciting teams in baseball in the late 90s.
Unfortunately, these awesome trio of Griffey, Johnson and A-Rod didn’t last very long as the Mariners started dealing all of the stars to other teams. After both Griffey and Johnson were gone, A-Rod faith in the franchise and hopes of a World Series started to disappear which resulted in the superstar bolting to the Texas Rangers in 2000 when he became a free agent. Although the Rangers were in just as bad shape as the Mariners in terms of playoff hopes, he was offered a deal he just couldn’t refuse, $252 million over ten years which was the highest in baseball history, until he went to the Yankees a few years later of course.
Even though A-Rod made a name for himself as one of the best homerun hitters in baseball while with the Rangers by hitting multiple 50+ homeruns seasons, 57 dingers in 2002, the Rangers were going nowhere as they failed like many a franchise in the past to surround their superstar with talent to make it to the Fall Classic.
As a result of the Rangers being unsuccessful, A-Rod was traded to the Boston Red Sox to get rid of his huge contract burden on the Texas team. With the Boston deal looking to be a big team move, the MLBPA or Major League Baseball Players Association vetoed the trade which resulted in the 3 time AL MVP eventually ending up in New York with the arch rivals of the Boston Red Sox in a New York Yankees uniform.
Even though A-Rod was a golden glove winner at the shortstop position the Yankees had a golden glover and future hall of famer of their own in Derek Jeter playing the position which resulted in A-Rod moving to third base and switching to now one of the most famous Yankees Jerseys number 13 out of respect of Yankees legend Babe Ruth who wore the number 3 Yankees jersey.
Although A-Rod hasn’t been able to get the New York Yankees back to their World Series winning ways of old, he has been able to make a name for himself as one of the most dominant hitters ever to wear a New York Yankees jersey by consistently being one of the best hitters in baseball.
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