There was the disappointment of the appeal of his suspension, which turned out to be 162 games-or the equivalent of the 2014 seasonand the loss of $25 million in salary. “I’m a pretty optimistic person but I don’t think the most optimistic person in the world could have predicted that I would have had these incredible opportunities in front of me.” ![]() Even in a society that revels in redemption stories and loves to bestow second, third, even fourth chances, could anyone possibly have foreseen such a rebrand? His climb from the depths of that steroid scandal to the prestige of the SNB booth might rank among the greatest comebacks in baseball history and recent pop culture history. Suddenly, the world is safe for A-Rod again. I think he started to see that it was still possible for him to make good.”īut neither Rodriguez nor Berkowitz-nor Rob Manfred, who had run baseball’s prosecution of A-Rod and succeeded Selig as commissioner, nor Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees owner who still had $64 million worth of checks to write for a player who had accused his team doctor of malpractice, nor Brian Cashman, the GM who a few months earlier admitted he was afraid to talk to his own DH for fear of getting sued-could ever have predicted how good. “And I think it was an eye-opener for Alex, too. “At that moment I thought, ‘Maybe this isn’t going to be as bad as we thought,’’’ Berkowitz says. “Sitting with us, hanging out and wearing a ’Canes shirt. “But I give you all the credit in the world for coming up here into enemy territory,’’ the kid proclaimed. “I hate the Yankees and I hate the ’Canes,’’ he said, as Berkowitz, and presumably Rodriguez, inhaled and braced for the worst. And his speech did not start out promisingly. Somehow, the kid made his way to Rodriguez’s table, and got right into A-Rod’s face. This is going to be a fucking disaster.’ It was like the culmination of how bad all this was going to be.” I mean, our two biggest enemies, so to speak. “He’s wearing a Florida State jersey and a Red Sox hat. “All of a sudden this kid starts walking over to us,’’ Berkowitz says. And of course, to spend some time pre-game among hard-drinking ’Noles fans in a bar across from Doak Campbell Stadium. A-Rod, being A-Rod, chose to attend the game in full ’Canes regalia. That weekend, the two decided to travel north to Tallahassee, for a football game between Rodriguez’ beloved Miami Hurricanes and the archrival Florida State Seminoles. “I wanted him to go to a place where people wouldn’t be as angry,” recalls Ron Berkowitz, who had signed on as Rodriguez’s publicist earlier that year and quickly became a friend and confidant. He was whacked with an unprecedented 211-game suspension by then commissioner Bud Selig.įor A-Rod, who was born in New York City but grew up in Miami, there was only one sane thing to do: head to South Florida, where the climate would presumably be warmer toward him. ![]() The Yankees third baseman had been implicated in the Biogenesis scandal, found guilty of taking performance enhancing drugs-again!-without having officially failed a drug test. The baseball season had been over for a month but, for Alex Rodriguez, the drama was only beginning.
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