ALEX RODRIGUEZ IS “for real.”So real that his first season with the
Yankees-.286 batting average, 36 home runs, 106 runs batted in, 28 stolen
bases- was considered sub-per. It was certainly below expectations, from
the Yankees and their fans, to Rodriguez, to those closest to him.
Players who perform at that level and to those expectations don't just
happen. Real-life superstars aren't two-demensional comic book figures.
Rodriguez is no accident, but neither is he a creation of an overbearing
parent or a maniacal workout guru.
If any of those elements have existed in his life, they came from inside
Rodriguez. Ask anyone who are supposed to help him physically prepare who
really pushes whom. If there is one single, remarkable element in the creation
of Rodriguez, it's that he decided on the do-more, do-it-harder,
do-it-longer approach. He pushed himself.
“I always thought if I was Nomar Garciaparra or one of those guys, I
would worry about Alex,”says Gui Socarras, one of Rodriguez's closest
friend since childhood.“I compare it to Ivan Drago and Rocky(from Rocky IV).
If you're in a club or no matter what you're doing, you know he's working
out.”
Rodriguez will reluctantly admit to particularly liking a quote he once
heard:“It's better to fine-tune a Mercedes-Benz rather than major work
on an old Ford.”His revulsion to having the quote linked to him is as
strong as his appreciation for what it means because he wants no part of the
arrogance that it might imply.
That's OK, Alex. The line long ago formed for others willing to label you
top of the line. But if this indeed is the smooth, High-performance
Mercedes of baseball, the real marvel is that he came from a place where
he just as easily could have become the human equivalent of a '75 Plymouth
Duster that ends up on blocks in somebody's driveway.
RODRIGUEZ MIGHT HAVE BEEN dumbfounded when Hofman correctly predicted his
draft position. That was only the beginning of an unlikely saga.
He is the product of a hard-working mother who took on a second job as a
waitress to scrape together the tuition to send him to Westminster. Born in
New York City in '75, he moved to the Dominican Republic at age 4, then to
Miami at 7. When he was 10, his father left the family, which also included
older brother Joe and sister Susy, the people Alex credits with holding
toghther under the tight-knit group under the firm hand of their mom, Lourdes.
He's arguably the most talented all-around player in baseball and, oh by
the way, he could have been an NFL quarterback or NBA point guard, Hofman
insists.
He's a husband and father now: Wife Cynthia gave birth to daughter Natasha
in November.
He's pretty much a corporation now. He owns a real estate company and has
a marketing operation that handles commercials, endorsements and frequent
charitable contributions which center on the people and places of his youth.
Not bad for the kid who regularly dragged a giant duffel bag of sports
gear along on the bus to spend another day at the Hank Kline Boys and Girls
Club.
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手好酸
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