Days after my son was born, I received a package on my porch from my father. It was a gift for my first born child.
A black, kid-sized Rawlings baseball glove. The Players Series. “Signed” by Alex Rodriguez.
A-Rod had just signed to the Yankees a couple of years earlier, which was pretty big news when we were living in New York City. My father, a lifelong baseball fan, hoped to bestow a gift to my son that he would be proud to use as he got older. Maybe even play catch together with that glove someday.
While I would have been more enamored with a Derek Jeter version, A-Rod seemed like a great choice. My dad recognized a player who had power. Who had longevity. An All-Star. An MVP. Great qualities that a small baseball fan might look up to as a role model.
Say what you will about Rodriguez’s salary (and I agree, it’s cray-cray), he was exciting to watch for a while. Being the youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs and 600 home runs are pretty impressive stats. Ladies love the long ball, and I was no exception. Yankee Stadium after an A-Rod home run was nothing short of ear splitting.
And yet, all that has been contaminated by his poor choices.
My son received this glove before A-Rod tarnished his reputation with performance-enhancing drug admission. Before his stats deserved as asterisk. All my son knew about Alex Rodriguez was that he was a good baseball player with a cool nickname.
He wore that glove to his first t-ball practice a few years ago with pride. And why shouldn’t he have felt that way? He was using a future Hall Of Famer glove, hoping it would give him some luck in actually catching a ball that day.
Collecting baseball cards has been a habit of my son’s for the past year, and he has his favorites separated in to their own pile. Troy Tulowitzki. Carlos Gonzalez. Buster Posey. Robinson Cano. Mariano Rivera.
And Alex Rodriguez.
Monday my son found out that Alex Rodriguez was suspended for 211 games for using steroids. While it’s not the first time I’ve ever associated A-Rod with drugs, it was the first time I had to have a drug discussion surrounding sports with my kid. Lance Armstrong went under his radar, but this one hit way too close to home. Pun intended.
In the days after the suspension, my son has been asking for a new baseball glove. He knows the name stamped on his glove is tainted in fraud. That the name doesn’t mean the same as it used to. He doesn’t want to be associated with Alex Rodriguez, even by leather goods.
Rather than shunning a player and judging, we’ve started talking about what the suspension means. What lesson we can learn from Alex Rodriguez.
What A-Rod taught my son was that getting accolades by way of cheating isn’t worth it. That achieving goals and breaking records with good old fashioned Hard Work is difficult but extremely rewarding. That respect is more important than money. Lose that, and you’re toast.
He’s taken this to heart and come away with the knowledge that he’d much rather be a good player with honesty than an phenomenal player by cheating.
We’ll go shopping soon for a new glove. Maybe one with a player’s name on it. Or plain. Will my son be a Major League player one day? Probably not.
But if he does? I’d hope some kid would be honored to have my son’s name on their glove.
An amazing opportunity to teach a child your values. Thank you fr sharing this inspiring story. I’m sure other parents have had to deal with these issues & could benefit from the clarity with which you understand it.
It’s truly heartbreaking to see your child realize that even power players have faults. But if we can’t learn from mistakes, then what are we teaching, right?
That’s too bad that major sports stars, actors and singers have to let people down. So many people that play sports do drugs. That doesn’t make it ok. If you don’t do drugs than it’s harder to compete with those that do.
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You’re so right. And it’s not like my son had huge aspirations of becoming Alex Rodriguez someday. But it’s also interesting to see how quickly he picked up on the drama, how quickly he wanted to get rid of his glove, so as not to be guilty by association. Let’s hope that integrity continues as he gets older.
Your son is very astute. I wish athletes would think more about their actions and the impact they have on young people. I think Texans player J.J. Watt sets an amazing example, but at the end of the day we also need to teach out kids that athletes like Watt, and ARod are still people and people make mistakes.
Kristin Barclay recently posted…Countdown to College Football Season Is On
He has a good head on his shoulders, that’s for sure. At least, now he does. Let’s hope he stays that way in his teen years. I’m sure at that level of play, it’s so easy to get sucked in to the lure of steroids when money and stats are a powerful driving force. And I agree with you that there are plenty of other players out there who are doing the right thing and using their clout for good.