By the by, the regular phalanx in the Yankees broadcast booth for that game was joined by Alex Rodriguez, looking splendiferous as usual in one of his sparkling new suits.
A-Rod, always excited to be accepted as a real boy, was going on and on about how wonderful Aaron Judge was, with all his skills, his splendid body, "and less than 10 percent body fat!"
He felt that MLB was foolish not to "spend tens of millions" to make Judge the face of baseball, "the face of all American sports!" He also predicted Aaron would hit "500 or 600" home runs.
Enough.
There's been far too much pressure placed on Judge already, what with the "Judge's Chambers" section and all that. He's handled it very, very well, and you know me, I love Aaron Judge more than the sweet, dark mystery of life its own self.
But he's only human. We've seen the limits of Judge's splendid body, and we had already by the time A-Rod was gushing on. We'll be very, very lucky if he gives us 5-6 good years before breaking down completely—and that should suffice.
He's not going to hit 500-600 home runs. He's not going to be anything more—if we're lucky—than a perfectly fine outfielder who works hard at his game, has a lot of field smarts, seems to be an upstanding citizen, and maybe, in just the right year, helps his team to a world championship.
That's all ye can ask for in this game today, and all ye need to have.
Isn't it enough for Alex Rodriguez that he drove himself to distraction—and his body and reputation over the brink of destruction—in trying to live up to impossible expectations? Why try to torment others?
Given his natural abilities and hard work, A-Rod might have spent his whole career as a Gold-Glove shortstop with a mere 300-400 home runs and a plaque already in Cooperstown. That only thing that stopped that from coming true was his own demons.
"Less than 10 percent body fat!" Sheesh!
Yeah, Alex, keep on fetishizing the body athletic. Learn nothing, know nothing about what the gods, JuJu and otherwise, allow us to attain and what they do not.
Friday, April 17, 2020
How Not to Learn From History.
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3 comments:
I had a little back-and-forth with Bronx Pinstripes on Twitter. His point was that when Judge actually plays, he's an elite player. Another guy pointed out that Judge has a 5.4 WAR. My point was just that he's injured so much, he'll never be one of the "greats." An excellent part-time player. But, unless he suddenly starts playing 140-150 games a year and hitting a consistent 40 or more HRs, not going to Cooperstown. Too bad. He coulda been a contender.
Exactly, JM! That's my point, and that's the tragedy of Judge, and so many ballplayers.
Apropos of Jackie Jensen leading off for the Yankees in that 1951 game, the guy they traded Jensen for—Irv Noren—was a pretty fair hitter and made an all-star team early on, but he had bad knees that kept him from being more than a part-time player.
In Judge's case, it's all the more tragic because he DOES seem to have that limitless upside. And, unlike so many juicers of recent years, he SEEMS all-natural (though maybe A-Rod, in his perverse way, was trying to suggest otherwise).
But yes, the sad fact of the matter is that he's unlikely to be more than a part-time player (particularly with the Yankees' wonderful medical staff), and in case it's detrimental and unfair to pile such ridiculous expectations upon him.
Really, the only people in baseball history who got up to the levels A-Rod is talking about without the use of PEDs were Ruth, Aaron, Mays, Mantle, Williams, etc.—the pantheon.
Alex saying he thinks he can be that, now, is just destructive.
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