How Will Yankees Fans Deal with Alex Rodriguez?

Over the course of this off-season, Yankee fans are going to need to answer an important question: Do I root for Alex Rodriguez?

In Phil Mushnick’s article, he explains, as a New York sports fan, that:

"“To remain an active, pay-attention, pay-up sports fan, you’ve got to rationalize, excuse, explain, compromise, take a bath, then shower it all off and start again the next day.”"

Certainly Rodriguez, who has now admitted (for the second time) that he has cheated, is a polarizing figure in Yankeeland. For every MVP award he’s won in pinstripes, there’s a PED confession. For the World Series championship run that he spearheaded, there’s an extended suspension that scuttled what little credibility he had and left a gaping hole on the left side of the infield. His $61 million contract will almost certainly return the worst contract value in the history of the game. Before the Biogenesis scandal, he had suffered labrum tears in both hips – robbing him of his prodigious hitting power and his defensive flexibility – now after the scandals and lies, unless he suddenly discovers his conscience and retires, Rodriguez will end his checkered career as a part-time DH, sometime 3B, and full-time tabloid villain.

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Yankee fans have faced this dilemma before. When the once-hated Roger Clemens was traded to the Yanks for fan-favorite David Wells in February 1999, Buster Olney, then of the New York Times, quoted Yankee Owner George Steinbrenner stating that the deal, “equate(s) this with getting a Michael Jordan.” (Of course, Steinbrenner didn’t realize how much Knick fans hated Jordan.) Clemens had dominated the Yankees for two division contenders for over a decade and had even thrown at Yankee idol Derek Jeter. Wells, a character in the true sense of the word, was one of the leaders of a pitching staff that recorded a major-league all-time record of 125 wins in a season. It took fans quite a while to warm up to The Rocket, not really accepting him until the 2000 postseason, after which, he became a beloved figure (until his own scandals led to his downfall).

Rodriguez can compare his results (and even some of his personality traits) to another Yankee legend, Reggie Jackson. Jackson polarized the fans by adding the phrase “straw that stirs the drink” to the lexicon of American sports. The supposed quote drove a wedge between Reggie and Yankee Captain Thurman Munson, which polarized the team and fan base. It wasn’t until his 3-homer performance in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series that fans adopted Reggie as a “true Yankee.” However, Jackson, still a Yankee employee, remains a well-liked figure and his leaving in 1982 was the beginning of the dark age of playoff-less baseball in the Bronx (1982-1994).

At this point of his career, coming off a year-long suspension, with additional admissions being investigated, on-field failures and injuries fresh in our minds, Rodriguez could easily be the most hated man in New York sports history.

The Yankee fans are just going to have to figure out how to deal with it.