Druggie Beats Phillies

Of course it would have to be confessed druggie Alex Rodriguez who led the New York Yankees to its World Series victory; success for the most expensive team in the league.

Alex Rodriguez was grinning so broadly his chewing gum almost fell out of his mouth. With the Yankees’ 7-3 victory over Philadelphia in the sixth game of the World Series, he had won the most prized trophy his sport has to offer. For the first time in his career, he had won a championship, but that wasn’t the main reason the superstar (he will earn $275 million over a ten year period) was so gratified. More important to him was the fact that the 52,000 fans in the stadium applauded him for several minutes.

It hasn’t always been like that. Just six months ago, A-Rod was just another lonely, rich guy in New York City after he confessed to taking performance-enhancing drugs; the public re-nicknamed him “A-Fraud.” Fans greeted his appearance on the field with whistles of derision and his teammates bit their tongues and put up with him. But since his brilliant contribution to the team during the playoffs and for his part in bringing the championship back to the East River for the twenty-seventh time, all was quickly forgiven. Only Rodriguez himself in his moment of triumph need look back on those days. “When people all turned their backs on me, this organization stood behind me,” he said in thanking team owner George Steinbrenner, who supported him even though he recognized the potential damage his expensive acquisition could cause the team’s image.

Nowhere was the joy and celebration as great on Wednesday as in the Bronx, where the frustrating years since 2000 had caused audible complaints and rumors. Even the team’s second self-confessed druggie, Andy Pettitte, was wildly cheered for holding the former champions from Philadelphia effectively in check. The Yankees, known formerly as a team of squabble and scandal were again “one big family” as an unusually relaxed team owner Steinbrenner emphasized.

Steinbrenner felt like a curse had been lifted from him. Granted, it wasn’t a curse anywhere near as bad as the one that afflicted the Boston Red Sox for 86 years before they finally won the championship in 2004, but it was bad enough. Year after year the Yankees threw good money after bad to buy the best new players available; the sum of their salaries has long since passed the $200 million mark, a questionable league record. Despite that, there was no return to those wonder years of 1996 – 2000, and that was a painful embarrassment. “Now we’re finally back where we belong,” remarked Derek Jeter, one of only four of the original team still on the Yankees’ roster.

This year, Steinbrenner’s bet finally paid off – the million-dollar wager on the high-rolling team ended successfully. It was mainly Hideki Matsui, for whom Steinbrenner had paid $52 million four years earlier that brought home the bacon. The slugger from Kanazawa accounted for six of the seven runs the Yankees scored to give them a four to two game victory in the series. Matsui, whose contract runs out this year, quickly put in his job application saying, “I love New York,” through a translator. After his performance in this game, family father Steinbrenner will doubtlessly have to pony up a few more dollars in order to hang on to him.

Rodriguez is tied to New York and the Yankees for another eight years; eight years that he can again look forward to. Just a couple of years ago, he was dreading the prospect of having to run a weekly gauntlet of irate Yankee fans who hated him. Now that’s all changed. Now the Yankees are world champs once again. Drug abuse? That was yesterday.