Before he was A-rod (1)

[allwin (紅襪愛國者)]

來源：USA TODAY Sports Weekly           Feb.16-22,2005

Alex Rodriguez's road to stardom was paved with strong influences

THE HYPE WAS NOTHING NEW to Rich Hofman. The man who would become the
winningest baseball coach in Florida high school history said what he
always said:“He may be good but he has to be able to do it on my team.”

  The skinny kid who showed up at Westminster Christian School in Miami
in 1990 for his sophomore year showed enough to make the team. Alex Rodriguez
became the starting shortstop. He even hit a respectable .270.
  “He was kind of in awe of the tradition,”says Hofman, who has won 10
state championships coaching there and now at Westminster Academy in Fort
Lauderdale.“He didn't say much. He took it all in. The second year he just
exploded.”
  Hofman ran into a similar case just last year.
The coach was at Fenway Park, visiting Rodriguez and then-Boston first
baseman Doug Mientkiewicz,who were teammates on Hofman's 1992 high school
national champions.
  “No matter what they tell you,”Hofman insists about Rodriguez's first
year in New York,“he wasn't really relaxed. It's just like between his
sophomore and junior years. I predict he will do the same thing this year
with the Yankees.”
  For a 16-year-old, showing you belong on a high powerhouse is like a
superstar proving he can cut it in New Youk. Westminster's elite program
wasn't for everyone.
  Hofman's explanation of why starts with a rhetorical question.
  “What's the difference with the New York Yankees？”he says. “There's
an aura there, a pressure there, a level of expectations. But the guy who
can handle it will thrive, get better and get to the top of the game.”
  Back in high school, Rodriguez exploded in more ways than one.
  “The summer between his sophomore and junior years he improved a
tremendous amount,”Hofman says.“He gained 30 pounds, went up 100 pounds
(in weight he could lift) on the bench.”
  Rodriguez says that junior year was the first time in his life he was
the best player on his team.
  It was also the first time he heard someone tell him what Hofman did,
that he would be the No.1 draft pick in the country the next year.
  “I meant it,”Hofman says. “He gave me this incredulous look and said,
‘for real？’”

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