John E. Sokolowski – USA TODAY sports
Considering Alex Rodriguez was entering Friday night’s game caught in a 1-21 slump, you’d think the New York Yankees would give the infamous “A-Roid” a day off, right? Well, Yankees manager Joe Girardi decided to give Rodriguez the start and it ended with an MLB record being broken.
After 75 years of reign, Lou Gehrig‘s grand slams record of 23 was broken by none other than Rodriguez on Friday night. The record-breaking blast came against the San Francisco Giants, a team that is currently pulling up the rear with a 71-83 record. Either way, this marks 14 career grand slams with the Yankees for Rodriguez, who is still highly revered by most New York fans…at least until his 211-game suspension is served. Maybe.
Gehrig, however, is on a totally different level of legend than Rodriguez, so there are probably a few Yankees and non-Yankees fans that are promising to never call A-Roid the “Grand Slam King.” Similar to the Barry Bonds situation, the record books will now state that Rodriguez has more grand slams than anyone who has ever stepped onto the diamond.
Deal with it.
Obviously, Rodriguez’s dominance was steroid-aided, but keep in mind that the slugger’s first grand slam came way back in 1996 when A-Rod was still a member of the Seattle Mariners. Say what you will, but playing at a high level for that long can’t be easy and the handsomely-paid Rodriguez should be commended for his longevity if nothing else.
At the end of the day; the 38-year old Rodriguez will only continue to shatter MLB records like Gehrig’s, so prepare yourselves — baseball purists.
Devin O’Barr is the Content Commentator for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DevinOBarrRS, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
