Frank, Junior and Arod: A Hero, Missed Opportunities, and All That's Wrong with Sports Today

Frank Robinson has dropped another spot on the All Time Home Run list. Forever, in my baseball life, the names and numbers were as familiar as the back of the proverbial hand: The Hammer, 755; The Babe 714; The Say Hey Kid, 660; and Frank Robinson, 586. Frank Robinson didn't have a nickname. He didn't need one. Probably wouldn't put up with one. You see, Frank is the definition of the no-nonsense guy. If Hank Aaron is a "What you see is what you get" person, then Frank would extend that to say, "And if you don't like it, that's your problem." Frank was, and is, tough. He was born in Beaumont, TX, in 1935, and grew up in Oakland, attending High School with basketball's absolute version of himself: Bill Russell. Frank spent his productive years in Cincinnati and Baltimore, two hard-working, blue collar cities with the same work ethic he embodies. He was a black player in the still-early days of black players in both cities. Near the end of his playing days, he landed in Cleveland, another tough town. There, a year after Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record, Frank became the first black manager of a Major League Baseball team. The Indians weren't very good, but under Frank, they played hard and they played the right way. He wouldn't accept anything else. He managed beyond his 70th birthday with the Washington Nationals. He wanted a three year contract after the 2006 season. The new ownership wanted a younger man. How's that working out for you?
Frank Robinson won Rookie of the Year in 1956. He was National League MVP in 1961, and American League MVP in 1966. He remains the only man to win the award in both leagues. He won the Triple Crown in the American League in 1966, and was World Series MVP in that year. A twelve-time All Star, he was MVP of that game in 1971. And was fourth on the Home Run list.
Now, he has been passed by Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey, Jr., but only on the Home Run list. Because on the All Time Quality Human Being list, there may be others there tied with him, but Frank Robinson will always be on top.
Bonds is about the pass Aaron for the most homers. It should have been Junior.
Ken Griffey, Jr. had it all. He grew up in the game, spending his childhood in the clubhouse of The Big Red Machine. Not bad training for a future big leaguer! He looks like a movie star. He arrived in Seattle as one of the genuinely charming people in the game. Always smiling, always having fun playing a kid's game. He was a kid at the start. He played the outfield next to his dad. They homered back to back one night. It was hard to tell who was happier, the father basking in his son's accomplishment, or the son proving to dad he belonged.
He was blessed with that beautifully fluid swing that seems to grace one or two left-handed hitters per generation. Natural power, as though he had memorized Ted Williams' The Science of Hitting with its evangelistic call to practice that slight uppercut to unleash the long ball. And he was, if anything, more spectacular to watch in the outfield than in the batters' box. Speed, agility, that instinct for reading the ball off the bat that mere mortals cannot comprehend. Griffey, like Mays earlier, and Andruw Jones later, seemed to hear the ball strike the bat before it happened, seemed to be in motion as the pitcher released his offering.
He just can't stay healthy. Junior has played in 150 games only six times in his now 19 year long career, and not once since 1999. He has had many seasons cut short, seasons when he has missed 20, 51, 90, 22,51, 92, 109, 79, 34 and 53 games. That's 601. For all intents and purposes, that's four years. And four more full seasons at his level of performance means he shouldn't just now be passing Frank Robinson; he should have been looking back at Aaron, and Bonds, for the last year and a half.
Again, Whittier is appropriate: "For all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these 'It might have been'."
And Mr. Rodriguez. I'll lay aside the MFY issues. How much is enough?
Alex is a great player, probably the one who will ultimately put the Home Run record out of reach for several generations, and by all accounts will do it honestly and legally. But he's already the highest paid player in the game, on the highest paying team in the game. He is in the city that is the center of the sports, and business, universe, on the greatest team in professional sport anywhere on earth. And it doesn't seem to be enough.
It's easy to blame things on the agent. Especially when that agent is Scott Boras. The only faces that make me turn my television quicker than Boras' are those of his fellow destroyer of sport, Drew Rosenhaus, and our dear Moron-in-Chief. Boras is a lousy human being, one who makes Gordon Gecko (Michael Douglas' character in Wall Street) look like a big cuddly teddy bear. But none of those guys make the athletes do anything. All decisions are approved by the client.
Arod should honor the contract. It just ain't like he's suffering. When you are still the highest paid player, years after Tom Hicks' brain fart caused him to outbid everybody else by 8 or 9 million dollars PER YEAR, it just out to be adequate.
Just play the game. You have resented how people-press and fans-have focused on the money. If you opt out, you're going to reveal yourself as even more of a hypocrite. It will declare for all time that the money is all that ever mattered to you, too.
Just play the game. You still have time to make us all forget the contract. I expect that the baseball world will be rooting hard for you to replace Bonds atop the Home Run chart. And you can do it. Barring catastrophic injury, you'll get there with years to spare. You can't spend all the money you've already made. Hell, your great-grandchildren can't spend all the money you've already made. Unless you keep getting photographed with women who do not resemble Mrs. Rodriguez in the least. In that case, you might want the number for Kobe Bryant's jeweler. But let this cash grab go. We know it's not just Boras. If it happens, it is clearly what you want. And for God's sake, you're playing for Steinbrenner. He won't allow anyone to fork over a bigger pile of cash than his. Fulfill your contract. Be the first Yankee, apart from Joe Torre, to show some character since Yogi walked away in the 80's.