February 21, 2001

A-Rod ready to make an impact

By Pete Williams
USA TODAY Baseball Weekly

MIAMI — THE BANYAN TREES SOAR over the baseball fields at the Hank Kline Boys and Girls Club, shading the infields and sheltering the children from the streets and other outside influences.

Everywhere there are kids, running, screaming and playing. For more than six decades, underprivileged children have scurried around the massive trees, hiding behind their multiple trunks and skipping around their looping roots. Here, among the banyans, youngsters have a place to dream.

It was here that Alex Rodriguez developed his skills. It was here that he came in December to ponder his future on the morning that agent Scott Boras and Rangers owner Tom Hicks applied the finishing touches on the landmark contract that will pay the shortstop $252 million over the next decade.

It is here that Rodriguez returned most afternoons during the offseason. On days like today, a week before the start of spring training, he again is playing beneath the sprawling branches of the banyans. The trees and the club still provide him shelter, just as they did back when $252 seemed like $252 million to him. Now they give shelter from expectations and questions about money. Elsewhere, friends and acquaintances bring up the contract and half-jokingly ask for loans. Strangers flood his foundation with requests for cash. Here, among needy children, no one ever mentions money, let alone asks for it.

Pressure? Rodriguez remembers the stress his mother, Lourdes, endured working two or three jobs to support three kids on her own after their father, Victor, left when he was 9.

"You can put any pressure on me that you want and it's nothing compared to that," Rodriguez says. "As far as baseball, I want these kind of expectations and pressures. My expectations are always going to be higher than everyone else's."

As Rodriguez talks, Eddie Rodriguez nods. They are not related, although they might as well be. Since he was 9, Alex has turned to Eddie for advice. It was here, in Eddie's cramped, cluttered office at the Boys and Girls Club, that they sat on the morning of Alex's decision to sign with the Rangers, weighing the pros and cons.

Eddie, 47, has spent his entire adult life working at the club except for the three years he played in the minors as an outfielder for the Cubs, once rooming with Lee Smith. He's coached and mentored Danny Tartabull, Jose Canseco and Rafael Palmeiro, among others. Pictures of them as kids hang on his office wall. There is a large painting of Eddie and Alex above the couch, commemorating the renaming of one diamond as "Alex Rodriguez 40/40 Field."

Outside the office, in a clubhouse that includes pool tables, an art room and a computer center, there is a hand-painted banner. Produced in late September in anticipation of Rodriguez returning from Seattle, it reads, "Welcome Back A-Rod."

It is the only sign that Rodriguez is treated any differently here. Kids say hello, but the only autograph hounds are the memorabilia dealers that sometimes stake out the parking lot. Inside, it seems almost silly to ask for a signature from someone present most every day.

"He never forgets this place," Eddie says. "What he does better than any other athlete is he takes time to be here. The money will never change him."

Alex was not the most gifted player Eddie has seen through the years. But he was the hardest worker. Still is, in fact. All winter, after three hours of running and lifting weights at the University of Miami, Alex would arrive at the club around noon to practice baseball with Eddie, new Rangers teammate Ivan Rodriguez, Edgar Renteria and Eli Marrero of the Cardinals, and a group of minor leaguers and college players.

Rodriguez continues to come here, not just because of Eddie or because it's conveniently located or because the fields are immaculate — part of a $1 million facility upgrade he has financed. He comes because it reminds him of what it was like to play when nothing was guaranteed, when a lot of money was the $50 or so in tips his mother would let him count after a good night waiting tables.

"I hang out here because it's still doing the same things for me at 25 as it did when I was 10," Rodriguez says. "It seems natural."

He travels in other circles now, of course. He spent New Year's Eve at the same posh resort in the Bahamas as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Not long after signing his contract, he ran into Gabrielle Reece in Las Vegas and spent an evening gambling with the recently separated volleyball player. His future Dallas neighbors could include actress Angie Harmon and her fiance, New York Giants cornerback Jason Sehorn.

But his inner circle remains tight, the same circle of friends he met at the Boys and Girls Club. Soon he will leave for spring training and Port Charlotte, Fla., to begin the second act of his career. He will do so more prepared than ever.

This winter, he added flexibility training to his marathon workout sessions and says he's in the best shape of his career. Without taking anything more than multivitamins, he's added 6 pounds to his 6-3 frame, but he appears much bigger. Taking the advice of Rudy Jaramillo, the Rangers hitting coach, he has tweaked his swing so he can react better to pitches.

He's handled things off the field as well. Boras established a marketing firm two years ago in anticipation of the additional offers and charitable requests. Rodriguez figures this year's media spotlight can be no worse than last season, when he faced a constant barrage of queries about where he might sign.

But things will be different, and not just because people such as late night talk show host Jay Leno are calling now.

Rodriguez once was one of the game's more candid players, even asking writers to grade his quotes. Now his guard is up, and he's more prone to lean on baseball clichés. He seems to have taken a cue from his buddy Derek Jeter, who from his Mariah Carey days has managed to be pleasant and available to the media while refusing to offer even the slightest glimpse into his personal life. Oddly, Rodriguez doesn't just talk like Jeter, but what he says often sounds like it could have come from Jeter.

How is Rodriguez's love life? "No comment," A-Rod says.

Did he vote for Bush or Gore? "That's personal."

Has he spoken to his father recently? "Let's just say we've been in contact."

How about Gabrielle Reece? "Good person. Just friends. But I can't even be friends with someone now without ..."

Without it becoming a major story. He shakes his head. It's difficult to be forthcoming now, he says. Anything can be misconstrued. When he suggested to ESPN Radio in December that Jeter might not receive a contract equal to his because the Yankee shortstop hits for less power, he seemed to be stating the obvious. Instead, the comments were plastered in the New York tabloids and he apologized to Jeter, who thought nothing of it.

Upon signing with Texas, Rodriguez said he hoped to be remembered as a Ranger when he retired. And why not? If he spends the next decade in Arlington, his accomplishments there should dwarf those of his six years in Seattle. Besides, does anyone think of Greg Maddux as a Cub? Mark McGwire as an Athletic? Barry Bonds as a Pirate?

But Rodriguez was ripped in Seattle, as if he wanted to dismiss his time there. He apologized on his Web site and phoned in to a radio talk show.

"You have to be more guarded," he says. "This was the first time in my entire career I had been burned by the media and it woke me up a bit. The last thing I want to do is lose friends or people I care about because of being a little forthright or misinterpreted. If you're political, you're bad. If you're honest, you're bad. It's a hard line to walk."

Rodriguez has sought advice from Jordan in the past, mostly on how to make the most of endorsement opportunities. Jordan has taken criticism for not being more political, for not using his global celebrity as a platform to call for change like the late Arthur Ashe, but Rodriguez says his own apolitical stance is not by design.

He says he will get involved. He plans to pour more money into the Boys and Girls Club and plans to be active in the Dallas chapter of the charity. He will promote literacy. "I'm blessed in that I now have a larger stage to help a lot of people because of this contract," he says. "From a financial standpoint, I can do a whole lot more."

Indeed, he'll need no reminders of how much more he can do on or off the field because of the deal. While the contract averages $25.2 million per season, Hicks pegs the deal at closer to $22 million in present-day value when adjusted for deferred compensation, perhaps less if Rodriguez exercises the option to become a free agent after seven years. That puts Rodriguez closer in salary to Carlos Delgado and Manny Ramirez, neither of whom can beat you in as many ways.

Jeter, who can't match Rodriguez as a power hitter, was hailed as a team player and a model of athlete restraint last week when he signed a 10-year extension with the Yankees for a mere $189 million.

Yet it is Rodriguez, widely regarded as the game's top all-around player, who has been held up as the poster boy for the out-of-control salary structure of sports. It didn't help that he signed the deal about the time Woods began hinting he'd walk off the PGA Tour and start his own golf circuit unless tour officials made financial concessions. It didn't help that the deal coincided with Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena, suggesting his daughters were owed more from the Women's Tennis Association because of their drawing power.

It certainly did not help that Boras, the king of the record-setting contract, all but took over the general managers meetings in November, then stood within camera range behind Rodriguez at his first news conference in Texas.

But as much as some baseball officials might want to point to the deal as the latest sign of the apocalypse, it might not even be Boras' finest work this winter. Amid little fanfare, the agent landed Darren Dreifort a five-year, $55 million deal with the Dodgers, despite a 39-45 career record.

But Rodriguez brought a sterling reputation into his free-agent winter. He has modeled himself after Cal Ripken and wears No. 3 in honor of Dale Murphy, the squeaky-clean former Atlanta Braves superstar.

Since many baseball fans cling to the notion that players should remain loyal to an organization, Rodriguez will have to deal with the perception that he sold out to the highest bidder. While that makes him no different than most other free agents, the sterling is at least a little tarnished.

"I think that's temporary," he says. "If you keep doing your community endeavors and play well and treat people right, after a while people forget about the contract and focus on what's really inside."

Corporate America has embraced Rodriguez. Boras created Impact Sports Marketing to field the off-the-field demands of his clients. Much of the demand is for Rodriguez. Another company handles the collectibles side of Team A-Rod. Lisa Gilson, who had worked in Impact's Atlanta office, will move to Dallas to help organize the shortstop's media requests and charitable endeavors.

Jordan and Ripken told Rodriguez that he should try to focus his marketing efforts on a handful of high-profile, high-paying deals. By limiting his exposure, he maximizes his time and income and avoids becoming like certain other players who seem to shill for everyone.

Before Rodriguez became a free agent, he already was a spokesman for Nike, Colgate-Palmolive, Armour Hot Dogs, AT&T Wireless, Pepsi, Eagle Hardware and Armani. He also appeared with Nomar Garciaparra in a television commercial for Amtrak. But he can't be called overexposed.

Despite playing off the national radar screen in Seattle, Rodriguez cleared $10 million in endorsement income in 2000.

Through his deal with Colgate-Palmolive, he appears in Mennen Speed Stick commercials in both English and Spanish. He figures the Mennen gig could be the first of many.

Throughout last season, Rodriguez said he would not choose a team based solely on marketing considerations, and he proved it by signing with a club far removed from the lights of New York or Los Angeles. But Impact Sports president Reed Bergman says endorsement offers nonetheless have more than doubled.

"He's put himself in a position where he can pick and choose," Bergman says. "He can be the type of ambassador for his sport that Michael Jordan was for the NBA."

Jordan comparisons aside, A-Rod might not be the best Rodriguez on his own team. For all of Boras' documentation that A-Rod is the best shortstop of all time, some will maintain he's not the best player in the American League now. A compelling case could be made for Ivan Rodriguez as the best catcher ever. With an $8.5 million salary this season, he's a bargain compared to A-Rod.

Ivan Rodriguez gave the Rangers a discount in order to stay with the team in 1997 and is eligible for free agency after the 2002 season. His agent, Jeff Moorad, has talked to the Rangers about a contract extension, and considering the rivalry between Boras and Moorad, that negotiation could be spirited.

Money has not affected their two clients. Ivan recently purchased a home in Miami and worked out daily with A-Rod. Unlike past winters, when Ivan would frustrate the Rangers by playing a full slate of winter ball in his native Puerto Rico, he spent this winter mostly in Florida working out and rehabilitating the broken right thumb that ended his season in July. Early this month, he was fully recovered, throwing the ball from behind the plate to players standing beyond the left field fence.

Ivan and Alex met seven years ago at a charity event in Miami, and Alex encouraged him for years to move to South Florida. When Alex became a free agent, "Pudge" became the Texas recruiter. Says Alex, "Now I'm going to have to make sure he doesn't leave two years from now."

Like everyone else, Ivan Rodriguez says he was stunned when he heard the financial breakdown of Alex's contract, but he says it has no bearing on his own situation. "I'm excited to get to play with him," he said. "I'm happy with the contract I have. I hope I can stay with the Rangers the rest of my career."

The Rangers' ticket sales have soared since the signing. The team has sold 1.5 million tickets and expects to sell 1.8 million by Opening Day, its highest total since moving into The Ballpark in Arlington before the 1994 season. During the team's annual winter carnival earlier this month, it sold 148,000 tickets in one day.

Rodriguez believes Hicks is committed for the long haul and is not just another Wayne Huizenga or Rupert Murdoch, billionaires who plunged into baseball only to experience buyer's remorse. Rodriguez appreciated Hicks' willingness to show him Dallas personally and talk candidly about his plans. Together, Hicks said, they could build something great.

"I think we have a great team," Rodriguez says. " I like our chances."

He is standing in uniform after a photo shoot on Alex Rodriguez 40/40 Field, the one with the $50,000 scoreboard and a banner of his retired jersey hanging beyond left field. He points to where construction will begin on the Alex Rodriguez Learning Center, a three-story complex of 35,000 square feet with a tinted glass façade on one side that will contain more than 200 computer work stations. Tutors will be on hand to help children with their English. "This is my dream come true," he says.

Rodriguez adjusts his jersey. It was the first time he had donned the official 2001 Rangers uniform. It felt different, but comfortable.

The expectations placed on Texas' new shortstop this season will be staggering. But standing in the late afternoon shadows of the banyans, where the boy developed into the $252 million man, it again felt like anything was possible.

© Copyright 2001 USA Today Baseball Weekly