An Open Letter to Alex Rodriguez

Dear Mr. Rodriguez  Just weeks ago you, Alex Rodriguez, were a god.  But now you “A-Rod” have plunged from your lofty seat on the throne in baseball

Dear Mr. Rodriguez

 

Just weeks ago you, Alex Rodriguez, were a god.

 

But now you “A-Rod” have plunged from your lofty seat on the throne in baseball heaven to the deepest parts of 10th circle of baseball hell.

 

In my mind, you have gone from Hall of Fame Shoo-in to, outside of Barry Bonds, the player with the most tainted career in Baseball history. You Mr. Rodriguez have committed the most atrocious crime in all of baseball…you cheated.

 

You are a cheater Mr. Rodriguez, or should I say “A-Roid” and for that you will never be forgiven, not by me, not by your fans and not by baseball.

 

You were the brightest star, in the biggest city, with the biggest contract in the history of America’s National Pastime. I have always been an outspoken anti-Yankee fan, but even when I found out you were going the Big Apple I remained firmly on the front seat of your bandwagon and thought nothing about it. That is the kind of baseball idol status you had reached, you turned a die-hard Tigers fan a little pinstriped on the inside and probably would have thought nothing of it. But now you are nothing and quite frankly sir you have no one to blame but the man in the mirror.

 

I never thought much about the fact that you were a bit of a choke artist; I chalked it up to pressure and your opponents overall game-planning. I never thought about the fact that you were walking around with Madonna while you were married; I chalked it up to a weird celebrity friendship. But most importantly, I never thought about the fact that your stats went through the roof during that three year span you took steroids, I chalked it up to living up to a monster deal and playing in The Great American “Small-park” in Texas.

 

But now I know that it was all a lie. Every hit, every interview and every home run, everything was a lie.

 

I understand that you were great from day one in the league, it’s the reason why you were so beloved by the baseball world, and I understand that you claim to only have used the banned substances from 2001-2003. But during that time you “earned” yourself the largest contract in MLB history; a contract it is now clear you did not deserve.

 

 Now that you have come clean about one thing I, along with the rest of the baseball world, cannot ever believe you about even one thing ever again.

 

You claim to only have used PED’s during that three-year span, but you already lied to the entire nation when you were asked by Katie Couric "For the record, have you ever used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance?" and you responded with a stone cold "No" and a stare that could have made the devil shake in his little red boots. I had worried about it before but that look made me and the rest of the nation comfortable that Baseball’s Golden Child was clean and unlike so many others cared more about he game of baseball than his own selfish pride.

 

We were wrong, and now you must suffer the consequences.

 

In my mind, there is no foreseeable circumstance in which you should be admitted to the Hall of Fame. Your stats may be eye-popping but so are Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire’s Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmiero’s. Now no matter how many records you break, home runs you send to the moon or how many Brooks Robinson-esque throws you make from the hot corner, you should never see Cooperstown.

 

You have hurt me Mr. Rodriguez and you have made everyone in baseball look foolish for believing you.

 

You have taken away what little credibility the players of your era still had and left all of your compatriots out to dry, all because you did something you knew was not only illegal but immoral.

 

You compromised the integrity of one of the greatest games on earth and for that there should be no forgiveness.

 

Sincerely,

Austin DALLAS Smith