With Alex Rodriguez set to make his return to the New York Yankees after more than a year of being suspended for using performance-enhancing drugs and being a big fibber, there are plenty of questions, rumors, and takes to be scorched.
The 39-year-old third baseman and alleged centaur art enthusiast will be in the Yankees lineup as the DH for Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies and, ever the poet, A-Rod said that he is “Ready to go. Not sure how ready, but I’ll give it a shot.” It’s hard not to feel excited with that kind of optimism.
Rodriguez also admitted that the most important thing for him right now is getting as many at-bats as he can before the season begins. “I haven’t seen live pitching in a long time,” he told the NY Daily News, so everything from his timing to confidence will be under immense scrutiny as Opening Day approaches. Just how long has it been since Rodriguez has seen a pitch in a regular season MLB game? Fortunately, we have ESPN’s number cruncher Darren Rovell to handle that.
It has been 525 days since Alex Rodriguez's last at-bat (9/25/13). The #1 song in the country was Katy Perry's "Roar."
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) March 4, 2015
Wow, Katy Perry. Remember her? Probably not because that was so long ago. In fact, I decided to follow’s Rovell’s journalistic lead and break down everything else that was happening the last time that Rodriguez did stuff.
The Last Time Alex Rodriguez Struck Out In A Game (9/25/13): Barack Obama was the President of the United States. To put that into perspective, there have been zero new presidents since then.
The Last Time Alex Rodriguez Recorded A Hit In A Game (9/22/13): The Hugh Jackman film Prisoners was the No. 1 movie in America. I remember seeing that and being like, “I hope they find that kid!”
The Last Time Alex Rodriguez Homered In A Game (9/20/13): Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon dominated the late night circuit with The Tonight Show and Late Night, respectively. They’re not even on those shows anymore.
The Last Time Alex Rodriguez Stole A Base In A Game (9/5/13): The No. 1 Young Adult novel was The Fault in Our Stars. Man, I wonder whatever happened to that book.
The Last Time Alex Rodriguez Hit A Triple In A Game (7/8/12): Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” was the No. 1 song in America. I think she retired after that.
The Last Time Alex Rodriguez Appeared On Entourage (9/4/11): While A-Rod was trying to smooth things over between Mark Teixeira and Turtle, Broadway’s Mary Poppins was celebrating its 2,000th performance!
The Last Time Alex Rodriguez Batted A Thousand In One Game (4/14/11): A-Rod went 3-for-3 against the Orioles on the same day that English actor Trevor Bannister passed away. I cannot disprove that these events were connected.
The Last Time Cameron Diaz Fed Alex Rodriguez Popcorn (2/6/11): The E-Trade baby was still the star of the most popular Super Bowl ads. That baby eventually grew up to become celebrated actor Miles Teller.
The Last Time Alex Rodriguez Recorded A Hit In The World Series (11/4/09): The Yankees won their most recent championship with a 7-3 Game 6 victory, powered by A-Rod’s 1-for-2, 0 RBI performance. Meanwhile, Telemundo’s Un Nuevo Día recorded its best November ever.
The Last Time Alex Rodriguez Won The AL MVP (2007): Bollywood blockbuster Om Shanti Om, which grossed 86 crores (a lot of money), became the biggest Hindi film to that point. Critics also believed that it was significantly better than Indian Superman.
The Last Time Alex Rodriguez Led The Majors In Hitting (9/29/96): Right around the same time that A-Rod locked up his only batting title with a .358 average, Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly starred in Bound, a movie that changed many young male lives.
The Last Time Alex Rodriguez Recorded His First Hit (7/9/94): People probably don’t even remember A-Rod’s MLB debut because that was the same week that Hootie and the Blowfish released Cracked Rear View, which is one of the greatest albums ever produced.
The Last Time Alex Rodriguez Was Born (7/27/75): Interestingly, A-Rod was not the only MLB player born on this day, as legendary (citation needed) third baseman Shea Hillenbrand shares the date. Far more importantly, this was the day that Carol Mann won the LPGA’s George Washington Ladies Golf Classic. Pretty sure we all remember where we were when that happened.
