Sweeny: Say Hey, How Should We Feel About A-Rod's Pursuit Of Mays?
By Sweeny Murti
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It's a big deal because it's Willie Mays. And because it's Alex Rodriguez. And because it's never been done before. Not like this, anyway.
Yes, Mays is "only" fourth on the all-time home run list. But ask almost anyone whose memory goes back that far and they will tell you Mays is the best player they ever saw. They don't even have to think about it. He represents the best player from the most storied era--post-integration and the early days of television. The When-It-Was-A-Game generation.
And the number is one of those beautiful sports numbers: 660. We don't just love it because we work at WFAN. We love it because it speaks perfectly to the player attached to it. For a long time Mays was the only resident on that block, with two guys ahead of him--Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth--in the 700 club. Mays was in a league all his own.
And no one ever really touched him. Ruth was Ruth, we all know. Aaron passed Mays at the 648 marker in 1972 on his way to the top. So when Mays called it quits after the '73 season he stood at that perfect number, 660. No one came close.
And then 30 years later came Barry Bonds. When he passed Mays in April 2004, the PED angle was in play but not to the same degree it would be a few years later, when Bonds passed Ruth and Aaron. That April, we were still eight months away from Bonds' BALCO grand jury testimony and 11 months from the congressional hearing that put PED users both proven and accused on notice.
And did we forget to mention that Bonds played for the Giants, where his father was Mays' teammate and Mays was his godfather? It was a love-in, San Francisco style, where Bonds was a hero and could do no wrong. Passing Mays was historic and celebrated as such. It was a milestone. And it was kept all in the family.
Now here's A-Rod. He hasn't simply been accused of taking PEDs. He admitted to it once and later served the longest PED-related suspension in baseball history. When everyone outside of San Francisco was looking at Bonds with raised eyebrows, they also looked at a younger A-Rod as the one who would one day set a record scandal-free. We know better now.
And unfortunately for A-Rod, he has no safe haven like Bonds in San Fran. Fans here are divided, although it is hard to hear anything but cheers when he helps the Yankees win games at this point of the season. But while the Giants as an organization rolled out the red carpet for Bonds, the Yankees are planning to take their home run hero to litigation. Maybe if there was a $6 million bonus check attached to Bonds the Giants may have felt differently.
Anyway, we are here now... and as I see it, it's almost as if a player is pushing Mays down the pecking order for the first time. As controversial as Bonds may have been, it couldn't have been that bad when Mays was watching his godson turn the trick. And did we mention the $6 million thing? It's a whole other level to this drama only A-Rod could deliver.
The greatest player from the greatest era will be equaled, then passed by the most tainted player from the most tainted era. And the perfect player with that cool number will be pushed out of the Home Run Mount Rushmore.
How are we supposed to feel? Joe Girardi summed it up perfectly Monday: "I don't know what you say, but when you look in the record books his name's gonna be there."
Follow Sweeny Murti on Twitter: @YankeesWFAN
