Assignment 2: A Case Study Of Alex Rodriguez

The Major League Baseball organization is one of many sport organizations that takes a strong stance on athletes that use performance enhancing drugs. Mark McGwire played for the Cardinals in 1998. He had an amazing career as he broke the homerun record with 70 homeruns. Through his accomplishments, there was speculation that he took steroids. He was questioned about it in Federal Court and at first, he denied it. Later on, he admitted using Andro, which is a form of anabolic steroids. Another baseball player had a very similar story. Barry Bonds played for the San Francisco Giants. He likewise had very notable achievements, such as beating McGuire for the homeroom record and he passed Hank Aaron as the career all-time home run hitter.

     Do you prefer a bases loaded double that clears the bases and involves an exciting play at home plate? Or a boring three-run homerun where the base runners trot around the bases, while the defense stands around with dazed looks on their faces? Do you prefer stolen bases, squeeze plays, and trying to move the base runners to make something happen; as opposed to a team waiting for someone to hit a homerun? If you answered “yes” then consider yourself a fan of “small ball.” The characteristic of a Designated Hitter is the major difference between Major League Baseball’s two leagues: The American League and the National League.

That was the year he became a superstar, he batted .358, hit 36 home runs, and had 123 RBI’s (Runs Batted In). His stats for that season were good enough for him to finish second in the MVP race (Alex Rodriguez Biography). Furthermore Rodriguez proved himself to be the best all-around player over roughly the next decade (Alex Rodriguez Biography). He gained many fans over these years, however they didn’t know what was going on behind the locker room doors.

The star third-baseman, the man with the incredible swing, and the quarter billion dollar man. All these things can be used to describe Alex Rodriguez but now you can add cheater, liar, and drug abuser. Alex Rodriguez, also known as A-Rod, has been involved in an investigation going on for over a year about his use of performance-enhancing steroids.

There are many question about how the great game of baseball originally started and how it has grown to become Americas game that so many of us enjoy so much as little kids until till we die. Baseball is one of the only games today where the rules of the game have stayed the same since a guy named Abner Doubleday first evolved the game in 1845. Then he went on to be a Civil War hero shortly after as the game of Baseball became Americas beloved national pastime.

The game of baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday, in 1839- 177 years ago from today. Baseball has been, and is still today, known as America’s favorite pastime; additionally, due to its extensive history and partaking it monumental events, it can as well serve as a great topic to use in a story or poem. Poet Dale Ritterbusch, uses the game of baseball along with metaphors in his poem as a vehicle to write about a more substantial subject in poetry, the Vietnam War. His poem, “Behind the Plate”, can be simply over-looked to one as just a poem about an overweight catcher; nonetheless, when closely examined, it has a deeper meaning. Authors Michael Cocchiarale and Scott Emmert, both agree with the statement that baseball is a great outlet for further analysis of a more important subject: “Writers have seen sports, particularly baseball, as a useful vehicle for cultural and epistemological analysis” (Cocchiarale).

Alex Rodriguez is the third baseman for the New York Yankees. He has been playing for the Yankees since 2004, but has been playing professional baseball since 1994. Alex Rodriguez can be considered to be one of the greatest baseball players of Hispanic descent and has broken records previously set Sammy Sosa, who is also one of baseball's greatest players of Hispanic descent.

David Ortiz is one of the greatest hitters of all time. He was born in the Dominican Republic and was able to hit 503 career home runs in a period of twenty two years. It is an exceptional feat when one considers the humble beginnings of a foreign born athlete from one of the poorest countries in Latin America. David Ortiz shows leadership through his relentless work ethic. “I don’t know when I’m going to be back in a world series I have to give everything have now.” Not only is David Ortiz

Rose had his best offensive season in 1969, leading the league in batting for the second straight season (.348) and leading the league in runs with 120. As the team's lead-off man he was a catalyst, rapping 218 hits and walking 88 times. He hit 33 doubles, 11 triples, and tied a career-best with 16 home runs. He drove in 82 runs, slugged (also known as a slugging percentage; is a measure of the power of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.) .512 (by far the highest mark of his long career), and had another career best .432 OBP (on base percentage) (Sports Reference, Inc). But the Reds finished four games out of first, and Rose lost the MVP to Willie McCovey. Rose and Roberto Clemente were tied for the batting title going into the final game; Rose bunted for a base hit in his last at-bat of the season to beat out Clemente.

1. Briefly, what are the major developments in the history of the labor-management relationship within Major League Baseball?

Mike trout has a better than .300 batting average. This is a main key to becoming a great baseball player. One thing good baseball players have is constancy; you need consistency to keep a better than .300 batting average. Mike Trout has a very similar batting average to the great Barry Bonds, Barry Bonds batted just under .300 and Mike Trout bats .306, Barry bonds is considered to be one of the greatest hitters of all time. This shows that Mike Trout can be compared to many players in the hall of fame, such as Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Pete Rose and many more. Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb had better batting averages then him but not by much, though he has a better batting average than Pete Rose. Jackie Robinson batted .311, Babe Ruth batted around the mid .300’s, and Ty cobb batted way up in the .300,

Rodriguez took on tremendous amount of responsibility for these changes. He took more responsibility than he probably should have; due to circumstances beyond his control he reached the stage he was in. Rodriguez portrayed this feeling when he mentioned, “I felt that I had shattered the intimate bond that had once held the family close. This original sin against my family told whenever anyone addressed me in Spanish and I responded confounded.” (231) His family members and his Americanization had taken that bond away. He felt that losing his ability to speak Spanish removed his ability to communicate with his family on an intimate level. Spanish used to be a secret bond between them and what tied them together.

The beginning of baseball has had it twist on who started the game and who made the rules to the game. The sport we know as baseball was original name stickball before it became an organized sport. Baseball was a game that many just played as part of their moderate exercise for recreational purpose or time and they used the game to stay in shape. It was usually a middle class white -collar worker who played the game.

Professional sports are a competition between the greatest athletes in the world. And when I go to a game, that’s exactly what I expect to see. Sports are entertainment. There is no room for purity and respecting the limits that athletes had in the past. Modern athletes should utilize all the resources that they have available to them. This includes steroids, which enhance an athlete’s performance. After all, performance is what really matters.

Giancarlo Stanton is the richest man in major league baseball after signing a $325 million contract this off-season. He has definitely earned that money this season he is hitting .265 with 27 home runs and 67 runs batted in a pretty stout start to that contract and proving that he is worth every penny. In his five-year career he is hitting 270 with 181 home runs most of them moon shots and 466 runs batted in. This guy has stupid power it doesn't matter where you pitch him he can take you deep no matter who you are. It's really mind-boggling to me how he slipped to the second round 76 overall in the 2007 draft trust me every single one of those teams that passed on him would love to redo that decision.