With Alex Rodriguez looking to hit home run number 600 sometime in the next couple of days, an interesting question was brought up on the Yankees’ broadcast on Friday. The question by one of the analysts was, “What game would you rather have the ticket for: The ticket to see Alex Rodriguez’s 763rd home-run that would break the home-run record set by Barry Bonds or the ticket to see Derek Jeter get hit number 3000?”
I heard the question and thought quickly to myself that I would want to see Jeter’s 3000th hit because Alex Rodriguez has proven to be a cheater through his confessed use of steroids between 2001-2003 while with the Texas Rangers, but then I started to think about it more and more. I don’t know why I debated this in my mind either ‘cause I actually try to ignore most baseball analysts on MLB broadcasts due to their blatant homer comments or overall lack of analysis as analysts.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had to see Alex Rodriguez get number 763 instead. I know Yankee fans would all choose to see Jeter instead because of the kind of respect he’s earned by what he’s done for the club for so many years and that Rodriguez will never have the same kind of love from Yankees fans because he’ll always be in the shadow of Jeter.
But Rodriguez would be attempting to do something that no one has ever done before by hitting 763. Meanwhile, Jeter would become the 28th person to get 3000 hits. It’s still a great accomplishment, but it’s not as special when 28 others have already done it before. Just imagine that you would get to see something that no one has ever seen before by A-Rod hitting 763.
Plus, the long-ball is still something that gives you such a wide-range of emotions in just a few seconds. From the crack of the bat, you hear the power in which the ball has just been hit. Then you see the beginning of the flight path and you start to anticipate that this isn’t any ordinary hit. As the ball gets closer and closer to being over the fence, it’s like time stands still as everyone in the stadium stops what they’re doing to watch this ball come to its final resting place. Once it does, the stadium either all groans or cheers in unison and then you finally relive the home run in your mind about 5-10 times as the next batter steps up for his at-bat.
I get that people may be jaded about the home-run because of the steroid era ruining the game of baseball. I know that my heart was ripped out after finding out that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were both accused to have been juicing during that magical run, but in doing the tour of baseball parks last year, my love for the home-run was re-kindled as I got to see the "big fly" countless number of times.
And I bet you anything that if A-Rod got close to Barry Bonds’ all-time home run record, your love for it would be re-kindled as well.