Alex Rodriguez hit his 35th home run and drove in his 100th RBI the other day, making it the 12th straight season he’d done so. In accomplishing this feat, A-Rod passed Babe Ruth as the only player to ever do such a thing. “Passed Babe Ruth”…Now there’s a phrase that cements an accomplishment as legendary. So where do you rank Alex Rodriguez in the history books? Exactly how great is this guy considering his accomplishments and his post season failures?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
If A-Rod wasn’t so awful in October, I don’t think the whole “no rings” thing would be as big of a deal as it is. But I still think people put too much stock into it. Are Trent Dilfer, Eli Manning and Brad Johnson better quarterbacks than Dan Marino because they have rings and Dan doesn’t? Absolutely not.
A-Rod is an interesting case because I can’t remember someone THIS good that’s THIS bad in clutch situations. .250 with RISP and 2 outs… .254 in close and late situations. There’s some really ugly numbers this year to support the “unclutch” argument, even though I think A-Rod gets more blame than he deserves for the Yankees’ losses.
Funny thing is, if he has just one post-season like he did with the Mariners, his post-season numbers look like his career numbers and it’s a moot point. It’s gotten so much press because he was atrocious in the collapse against the Red Sox, and he struggled in his subsequent performances.
He’s been terrible this year in the clutch, but that sorta balances out his ridiculous 2007. I just don’t see why he would go from extremely clutch as a Mariner to super choker as a Yankee. Or why he would go from extremely clutch in 2007 to super choker in 2008.
Unless, of course, “clutch” isn’t a learned skill and therefore doesn’t really apply to everybody, and it’s just something people cling to so they can jerk off Derek Jeter and David Eckstein.
:o
I don’t care what people have to say about his “lack of clutch hitting”. When its all said and done, A-Rod will go down as the best hitter all time.
Ted Williams is the greatest hitter of all-time. If A-Rod had to go to war in the middle of his “prime” we wouldn’t even be talking about him. If Ted didn’t defend his country for those years, there wouldn’t even be an arguement for anyone else. Average his career numbers and plug them into the years he missed and see what happens.
A-Rod is great but not Ted Williams great.
I’ll take Pujols at the plate over A-Rod, especially with the game on the line.
Well yeah, I think Pujols is a better hitter than A-Rod is. :o