What to do about Alex Rodriguez and the Hall of Fame?

A few weeks ago, when the results of the 2023 Hall of Fame balloting were announced, 8-time Gold Glove winner Scott Rolen was anointed as a Hall of Famer. One of the greatest players in baseball history, Alex Rodriguez, was on the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) ballot for the second time, but A-Rod fell far short of a plaque in Cooperstown.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 13 years, you as a baseball fan know that Rodriguez admitted to using steroids early in his career and was suspended by Major League Baseball for the entire 2014 season for his ties to the Biogenesis clinic, an illicit purveyor of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

From his first year as a full-time player, in 1996 at the age of 20, Rodriguez was a superstar, a future Hall of Famer in the making. In his career, the tall (6’3″), right-handed hitting shortstop/third baseman won three American League MVP trophies, led the league in home runs five times, and was named to 14 All-Star teams.

He also won 10 Silver Slugger Awards as the best hitter at his position, at shortstop from 1996-2003, and at third base after that. Rodriguez didn’t need to use PEDs to post Hall-of-Fame-caliber numbers. From his early career, he combined home run power with base-stealing speed and was a solid, if not spectacular, defensive player.

Today, Rodriguez is a television analyst. A-Rod spent several years in the booth for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball and has, for years, has appeared on the Fox Sports studio set for postseason baseball. One of A-Rod’s fellow Fox commentators, David Ortiz, was a first-ballot inductee to the Hall of Fame one year ago, getting 77.9% of the vote in an election requiring a 75% tally. Meanwhile, Rodriguez got 34.3% in his first turn on the ballot and 35.7% on his second try last month.

Ortiz, like A-Rod, tested positive for PEDs in 2003 during baseball’s “survey testing” program. However, Ortiz was inducted into the Hall of Fame last summer, while Rodriguez seemingly has no chance at all for a very long time. The reason for the difference is that Ortiz passed MLB’s drug tests for the final 12 years of his career (2005-16), while A-Rod was suspended for an entire season.

Last December, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens appeared on the Eras Committee Contemporary Players Ballot after falling short of Cooperstown via the BBWAA (Bonds got 66.0%, Clemens 65.2%). The Eras Committee (which used to be known as the Veterans Committee) is the Hall of Fame’s “second chance” election mechanism for players who fall short on the BBWAA ballots.

Anyway, Bonds and Clemens did spectacularly badly on the ballot in December. A 16-member committee of Hall of Famers, baseball executives, and media members unanimously elected Fred McGriff to the Hall of Fame and conferred less than four votes each to Bonds and Clemens. The rejection of Bonds and Clemens was a clear message that known PED users are not welcome in the Hall of Fame. It also means that, at least for now, Rodriguez has no chance whatsoever to get a plaque in Cooperstown.

Cooperstown Cred: Alex Rodriguez (SS/3B)

3rd year on the BBWAA ballot in 2024 (received 35.7% of the vote in 2023)

• Mariners (1994-2000), Rangers (2001-03), Yankees (2004-2016)
• Career: .295 BA, .696 HR, 2,086 RBI, 3,115 Hits
• Career: 140 OPS+, 117.6 WAR (Wins Above Replacement)
• One of 3 players with 650 HR, 2000 RBI, and 3000 Hits (Aaron, Pujols)
• 4th on all-time lists for HR and RBI
• 3-time American League MVP (2003, ’05, ’07), with three other top 3 finishes
• Led the A.L. in WAR five times
• 14-time All-Star
• 2-time Gold Glove Winner, 10-time Silver Slugger
• Member of 2009 World Series Champion Yankees
• 2009 Postseason: .365 BA/.500 OBP/.808 SLG, 6 HR, 18 RBI

(cover photo: NBC Sports)

This piece was originally written in January 2022. It has been updated in advance of the 2024 vote.

How do You Feel about Alex Rodriguez and the Hall of Fame?

In the 20th century, virtually all conversations about whether or not a player was worthy of a plaque in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum centered around their deeds on the diamond. Was the player’s batting average high enough? Did he win enough games? Did he help lead his team to postseason success?

Unfortunately, so many of the Hall of Fame debates today are about matters unrelated to what the player accomplished on the field. The proliferation of PEDs in the 1990s and 2000s has added a “did he or didn’t he” element that clouds a significant number of debates about a player’s worthiness for the Hall. In the case of Alex Rodriguez, we know the answer: he did.

This website is a labor of love for me and a wonderful hobby created out of my lifelong love affair with the game of baseball. However, I’ll admit, when it comes to writing about Rodriguez, it’s not so much fun. He was an obvious Hall of Famer on the field, one of the best hitters in baseball history. All you have to do is read the “Cooperstown Cred” (above) to see the numbers. But Rodriguez is a two-time loser with respect to PEDs. Frankly, writing about a player’s scandals is not fun, so if you want a complete blow-by-blow retrospective of what’s already known about A-Rod’s PED usage, this isn’t the place for that.

So, now that I’ve offered that ringing endorsement about what’s to follow, after a recap of A-Rod’s playing career, I will share some interesting info from Jose Canseco‘s book Vindicated that has not been widely reported elsewhere. Then, regarding the debate about whether or not he deserves a plaque in Cooperstown despite his PED use, I’ll share many of the thoughts of the men who have the honor of voting for the Hall of Fame. You’ll see the words of the BBWAA writers in the columns they posted in A-Rod’s first time on the ballot. Then, at the end of the piece, I’ll briefly share my thoughts on the matter.

1994-2000: Mariners Years

Alexander Emanuel Rodriguez was born on July 25th, 1975, in Manhattan, New York, to Dominican immigrants Victor and Lourdes Rodriguez. When Alex was four years old, the family moved to the Dominican Republic and then to Miami, Florida. He was a star shortstop and quarterback in High School but turned down a baseball scholarship from the University of Miami after being selected as the #1 overall pick of the 1993 baseball player draft by the Seattle Mariners.

The Mariners had already scored a draft-pick superstar by picking Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. as the number one overall pick in 1987. It was quickly apparent that they had another star in the making with Rodriguez. A-Rod made his Major League Baseball debut in July 1994, a couple of weeks before his 19th birthday. A-Rod spent most of 1994 and ’95 with the AAA Calgary Cannons but, by virtue of 149 plate appearances with the M’s in ’95, was no longer an official rookie in his first year as a full-time player, 1996.

A-Rod was with the Mariners during their historic run toward the franchise’s first playoff berth in 1995. With a pinch-running appearance in the 8th inning of Game 5 of the American League Division Series (against the New York Yankees), he scored the tying run on a bases-loaded walk to pinch-hitter Doug Strange. Then, A-Rod was in the on-deck circle when Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez famously doubled down the left-field line to score Joey Cora and Griffey with the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the 11th.

The Mariners’ primary shortstops in 1995 were veterans Luis Sojo and Felix Fermin and, ahem, Rodriguez was a significant upgrade when granted the starting job in the spring of 1996 (at the age of 20) by manager Lou Piniella. In his first season as a full-time starter, Rodriguez had a fantastic campaign. He led the majors with a .358 batting average and 54 doubles while scoring an A.L.-best 141 runs. A-Rod was an All-Star for the first time and barely lost out to Texas’ Juan Gonzalez for the A.L. MVP Award (he got 287 points compared to Juan Gone’s 290). In retrospect, Rodriguez (or Griffey) would have been more worthy MVP winners than Gonazlez.

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Despite the MVP-caliber campaigns by A-Rod and Griffey, the Mariners missed the playoffs in 1996 because Hall of Famer Randy Johnson missed most of the season due to injury. Although Rodriguez regressed slightly in 1997, he still performed at a high level. In the summer, he became the first player other than Cal Ripken Jr. to start at shortstop for the American League in the All-Star Game since 1983. The M’s were back in the playoffs in ’97 but lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the ALDS.

Rodriguez rebounded with a monster campaign in 1998, one in which he joined Jose Canseco and Barry Bonds as one of only three players in baseball history to hit more than 40 home runs (42) and steal 40 or more bases (46). Despite that accomplishment, in the go-go offensive era of the late 1990s, that feat (plus 213 hits and a .310 BA) was only worth a 9th-place finish in the MVP vote. A-Rod would have fared better in the voting if the voters had been armed with WAR at the time; he led the league with an 8.5 mark.

Griffey and Johnson left for greener pastures in the upcoming years and, by 2000, A-Rod was the star of the franchise. The M’s missed the postseason party in 1998 and ’99 but returned in 2000 thanks to another MVP-caliber campaign by their young shortstop. In actuality, Rodriguez finished 3rd in the MVP voting. One could make an argument for 5th-place finisher Pedro Martinez to win the award (18-6, 1.74 ERA, 11.7 WAR). Still, A-Rod arguably had a superior season among position players compared to the two players ahead of him (Jason Giambi and Frank Thomas) because of the value of providing premium offense from the shortstop position. His 10.4 WAR was the best in the majors for position players.

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In the 2000 postseason, the Mariners swept the Chicago White Sox in three games before a playoff rematch against the Yankees. This time, the Yankees prevailed (in 6 games) despite an outstanding effort by Rodriguez (.409 BA/.480 OBP/.773 SLG, 2 HR 5 RBI).

After the season, a free agent for the first time, the 25-year-old Rodriguez signed for the biggest contract in the history of baseball, a 10-year deal worth $252 million. Overall, A-Rod delivered 38.1 WAR in seven seasons in Seattle, with 189 HR, 595 RBI, and 138 OPS+.

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2001-03: Texas Rangers

Despite the presence of Ivan Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro, the 2000 Texas Rangers were a 71-win team. The pressure on Alex Rodriguez was enormous, and, many years later, he admitted that he started using performance-enhancing drugs. The Rangers got off to a slow start (losing 17 of their first 28 games), which caused manager Johnny Oates to resign. The team’s poor performance was hardly A-Rod’s fault: he slashed .308/.411/.626 with 9 HR and 24 RBI in those games.

A new manager (Jerry Narron) couldn’t reverse the Rangers’ pitching woes; the team finished the 2001 campaign with a 5.71 staff ERA, leading to a team record of 73-89. Again, the woeful record was despite a monster season from the team’s new star shortstop. A-Rod played in all 162 games, hitting 52 home runs (most in the A.L.) with 135 RBI. He finished 6th in the MVP voting.

Rodriguez continued to mash in 2002 and 2003. In 2002, A-Rod hit .300 and led the majors in home runs (57) and RBI (142) while winning his first of two consecutive Gold Glove Awards. A-Rod clearly was the best player in the A.L. in 2002 but finished 2nd in the MVP vote to Oakland’s Miguel Tejada. A-Rod’s second-place finish was almost certainly because Tejada’s Athletics won 103 games, compared to the Rangers’ 72 wins, thanks again to woeful pitching (5.15 team ERA).

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The Rangers had a new manager in 2003 (Buck Showalter), but the team’s pitching was even worse (5.67 staff ERA), so the team only won 71 games. A-Rod, after arguably deserving one to three MVPs in previous seasons, finally won it in 2003, even though his triple-crown stats all declined (.298 BA, 47 HR, 118 RBI). Still, his 47 taters were the most in Major League Baseball, and he also led the A.L. in slugging percentage (.600) and runs scored (124).

A-Rod’s WAR (8.4) was by far the highest in the league for position players: his teammate (third baseman Hank Blalock) was a distant second with 6.4. By winning the MVP, he became only the second player ever to win the award while playing for a last-place team (Andre Dawson was the other, in 1987). Rodriguez also won his second (and final) Gold Glove.

In the offseason, a trade was agreed to that would have sent Rodriguez to the Boston Red Sox, with Manny Ramirez and an unknown minor league pitcher named Jon Lester coming back to Texas. As a condition of the deal, however, A-Rod agreed to reduce the value of his contract by $4 million per season (for a total pay cut of $28 million). The players’ union, not wanting to set a precedent, rejected the proposal, and the deal never happened.

A couple of months later, the Rangers traded Rodriguez to the New York Yankees for second baseman Alfonso Soriano. The Rangers also agreed to pay $67 million of the $179 million left on A-Rod’s contract. A-Rod did have to agree to a condition in this deal, but the players’ union had no objection to the superstar moving to third base since future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter was entrenched at shortstop. Rodriguez and Jeter, who both became full-time players in 1996, were friends in their early years and remained close when A-Rod came to the Bronx, although their relationship would become strained in later years.

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2004-10: Prime Years with the New York Yankees

Besides moving to third base, Alex Rodriguez had to give up his uniform number (#3) upon joining the New York Yankees. That number had long been retired due to it being worn by some guy named Babe Ruth. So instead, A-Rod chose to wear #13 in honor of Miami Dolphins legend Dan Marino.

After three losing seasons with the Rangers, A-Rod joined a dynasty that had appeared in the World Series six times in the previous eight years. In his first year in pinstripes, Rodriguez’s numbers were down from his years in Texas: his 36 HR and 106 RBI were his lowest marks since 1997. Still, by WAR (7.6), Rodriguez was by far the best player on Joe Torre’s 2004 Yankees, who won 101 games to secure their seventh consecutive A.L. East title.

The Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins in a four-game series win in the 2004 ALDS, with Rodriguez providing a crucial 12th-inning, game-tying double in Game 2. The Yankees seemed poised to return to the Fall Classic when they went up three games to none in the ALCS (against the Boston Red Sox). A-Rod was 3 for 5 with a home run, two doubles, and 3 RBI in the Bronx Bombers’ 19-8 blowout win in Game 3.

In Game 4, A-Rod’s 3rd-inning two-run home run gave New York a 2-0 lead, but the Red Sox came back to win the game in 12 innings on a walk-off home run by David Ortiz, who, like Rodriguez, is on his first BBWAA ballot for the Hall of Fame in 2022. The Red Sox famously came back to win the next three games to become the first team ever to win a postseason series after losing the first three games. After that Game 4 homer, A-Rod went 1 for 15 in the rest of the series.

Rodriguez had a bounce-back campaign in 2005 and won his second MVP Award, thanks to leading the A.L. in home runs (48), runs (124), and slugging (.610). A-Rod barely edged the 2004 postseason hero (Ortiz) in the voting but was clearly the top player in the league. His 9.4 WAR was the best in the majors, and more than two wins better than the second-best (7.2 for the Rangers’ Mark Teixeira).

After a “down” year in 2006 (4.5 WAR), A-Rod had another monster campaign in 2007. He led all players in baseball with 54 HR, 156 RBI, 143 runs, and a .645 slugging percentage. His WAR (9.4) was also the best in MLB. This time, the MVP voting wasn’t close. A-Rod got 26 out of 28 first-place votes (Detroit’s Magglio Ordonez got the other two) to easily win his third trophy. Along the way, he became the youngest player in baseball history to reach 500 career home runs. After the season, Rodriguez opted out of his contract and was rewarded with a new ten-year deal worth $275 million.

Despite being the best player in the American League from 2005-07, those seasons were disappointments for A-Rod and the Yankees. Although the Bronx Bombers made the playoffs in each season, they were bounced in the ALDS each year. A narrative was developing that Rodriguez couldn’t deliver when it mattered most. In those 2005-07 postseasons, all ALDS losses for New York, Rodriguez slashed .159/.327/.250 with a lone solo tater and no other RBI in 55 plate appearances.

Joe Girardi replaced Torre as the Yankee skipper in 2008 and, despite 20 wins by future Hall of Famer Mike Mussina and a predictably brilliant campaign by closer Mariano Rivera (also a future inductee into Cooperstown), the Yankees only won 89 games. They finished outside of the postseason party for the first time since 1993. A-Rod had another excellent season (6.8 WAR), but it wasn’t an MVP-caliber campaign. He finished 8th in the vote.

The 2009 World Series Championship

Early in 2009, the New York Times reported that Rodriguez was named one of over 100 players who had tested positive for PEDs during the 2003 season. This was a “survey test” that led to the first-ever MLB drug-testing program in 2005. The names of those who tested positive were supposed to remain anonymous, but those names were leaked to the Times. Rodriguez admitted that he had, in fact, used PEDs during his years with the Rangers.

“When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day. Back then, [baseball] was a different culture. It was very loose. I was young. I was stupid. I was naive. And I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time. I did take a banned substance. And for that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful.”

— Alex Rodriguez (as told to ESPN’s Peter Gammons), Feb 9th, 2009

A-Rod missed the first 28 games of the season with a torn labrum in his right hip. In his age-33 season, A-Rod had his “worst” campaign as a full-time player as measured by WAR (4.2). However, he still finished 10th in the MVP vote, third-best among Yankees players (behind Teixeira and Jeter); the winner was Minnesota’s Joe Mauer.

Despite a mediocre regular season (by his standards), Rodriguez exorcised the demons of previous Octobers with a spectacular postseason. After easily winning the A.L. East with 103 wins, the Yankees swept the Twins in the ALDS. A-Rod hit a crucial, two-run, game-tying home run in the bottom of the 9th in Game 2 off the Twins’ closer Joe Nathan. Between the ALDS and ALCS (against the Los Angeles Angels), A-Rod slashed .438/.548/.969 with 5 HR and 12 RBI.

Rodriguez also delivered a robust World Series performance (.250/.423/.550, 1 HR, 6 RBI) to help the Yankees’ to a four-to-two series win over the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies. In Game 4, Rodriguez delivered the critical blow in the top of the 9th with a go-ahead RBI double off closer Brad Lidge.

Rodriguez had another solid campaign in 2010, but, again, he wasn’t a true MVP contender, finishing 15th. The Yankees returned to the postseason in 2010 but, after sweeping the Twins again in the ALDS, lost in six games in the ALCS to Rodriguez’s former team, the Texas Rangers. A-Rod slashed just .219/.316/.281 (with 0 HR, 3 RBI) in the 2010 playoffs.

Rodriguez finished his first seven seasons in the Bronx with 268 HR, 841 RBI, 147 OPS+, and 45.9 WAR. He also continued his ascent on the MLB career lists. In August 2010, A-Rod became the seventh player in MLB history to hit 600 home runs. Given that he had just turned 35 years old a couple of weeks before that 600th tater, it wasn’t unreasonable to think that A-Rod could eventually eclipse the all-time home run mark (768 by Barry Bonds).

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2011-16: Final Years

Alex Rodriguez was an A.L. All-Star for the 14th and final time in 2011 but was clearly entering the decline phase of his career. A torn meniscus and jammed thumb limited A-Rod to a career-low 99 games played. For the season, A-Rod hit .276 with 16 HR and 62 RBI, although he still posted 4.0 WAR thanks to uncommonly strong defensive metrics. This was the first season since 1997 that A-Rod had failed to hit more than 30 HR and drive in more than 100 runs.

A-Rod played in 122 games in 2012 but had similar basic numbers as in 2011 (.272 BA, 18 HR, 57 RBI). His WAR was 2.2, and his OPS+ 119 in what was officially his age-36 season (he turned 37 in July).

The Yankees were in the postseason in 2011 and 2012, but Rodriguez’s October struggles returned. He had a woeful slash line in 50 plate appearances (.116/.220/.116) with no home runs and three RBI. During the 2012 postseason, A-Rod didn’t start every game and was lifted for pinch-hitters a few times.

The 2013 season was not fun for Rodriguez or the Yankees, who missed the playoffs for only the second time in 19 years. A-Rod missed the season’s first four months after serious surgery for another torn labrum. He was also embroiled in the Biogenesis scandal for the use of PEDs. As a result, he was suspended by MLB for a whopping 211 games through the end of the next season. However, he was allowed to play in August and September pending an appeal. In late September, A-Rod hit his 654th career home run, which was also the 24th grand slam of his career, topping the all-time mark of Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig. Overall, however, he was a shell of his former self offensively, hitting .244 with a woeful OPS+ of 66.

During the 2013-14 offseason, Rodriguez’s suspension was reduced by an arbitrator to a mere 162 games, causing him to miss the entire 2014 campaign, essentially ending any chance he would have at passing Bonds on the all-time home run list.

A-Rod had a solid comeback season as the Yankees’ designated hitter in 2015 (his age-39 season). In June, he collected his 3,000th career hit, a solo home run off Justin Verlander. His 3.0 WAR was 6th best on the Yankees and helped the team to one of the two A.L. Wild Card spots. However, in the Wild Card game against the Houston Astros, the Yankees lost 3-0, with A-Rod going 0 for 4 in his final postseason outing.

Rodriguez struggled mightily in an injury-plagued 2016 campaign. In 65 games (243 plate appearances), A-Rod hit .200, leading to a negative WAR (-1.2). He was released on August 12th, less than three weeks after his 41st birthday. Rodriguez never played again, finishing his career four home runs shy of 700.

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In the years that have followed his 22-year playing career, Rodriguez has done his very best to rehabilitate his image. He’s remained in the public spotlight through his work on ESPN and Fox Sports and, of course, had an exceedingly public profile while dating Jennifer Lopez. He’s clearly bothered to have been portrayed as one of baseball’s greatest villains.

“I remember sitting there at night at maybe 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning — I probably did this a hundred nights — and I would look up with tears and say, ‘How the ‘F’ did I get myself in this position? I’m the only jackass that has pocket aces and figures out a way to lose the hand… How stupid can you be? … This thing cost me over $40 million. And it cost me my reputation, and it may have cost me the Hall of Fame.”

— Alex Rodriguez (to Joe Buck in “Undeniable,” reported by ESPN.com), Oct. 13th, 2017

Alex Rodriguez: All-Time Great

To state the obvious, Alex Rodriguez’s statistical resume alone would make him an inner-circle Hall of Famer. He’s fifth on the all-time list for home runs and fourth for RBI. He’s scored the 8th most runs ever, as one of the only eight players to cross the plate more than 2,000 times. In addition, A-Rod, Barry Bonds, and Willie Mays are the only three players to hit more than 600 HR and steal at least 300 bases.

If you take the all-around game, A-Rod has the 12th-highest WAR (Wins Above Replacement) among position players in baseball history. The names he’s behind on the WAR list are all baseball royalty, although one of the players tied at the top (Bonds) remains in proverbial exile from Cooperstown.

For the record, here are the top 12 position player WAR leaders in baseball history:

1. Babe Ruth (162.7)
2. Barry Bonds (162.7) (tied 1st)
3. Willie Mays (156.1)
4. Ty Cobb (151.4)
5. Hank Aaron (143.1)
6. Tris Speaker (134.8)
7. Honus Wagner (130.8)
8. Stan Musial (128.7)
9. Rogers Hornsby (127.3)
10. Eddie Collins (124.4)
11. Ted Williams (122.1)
12. Alex Rodriguez (117.6)

To further illustrate when an elite player A-Rod was, here is the list of the players behind him on the career WAR list: Lou Gehrig, Rickey Henderson, Mel Ott, Mickey Mantle, and Frank Robinson.

Alex Rodriguez, PEDs, and Jose Canseco

So, if the use of PEDs were an accepted practice, Alex Rodriguez would be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But that’s not the world we live in. Rodriguez admitted to using steroids with the Rangers and was the target of the biogenesis scandal while with the Yankees, leading to his one-year suspension.

As is evident with Bonds and Roger Clemens remaining outside the Hall of Fame, no admitted or obvious PED user has ever been awarded a plaque in Cooperstown. There are, however, others for whom strong suspicions existed who have made it to the Hall. In 2016-17, three players (Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, and Ivan Rodriguez) were elected to the Hall of Fame despite strong suspicions about their PED use. In the case of I-Rod, he was directly accused by former teammate Jose Canseco in his books Juiced and Vindicated. Although there is no reason to think that Canseco was inventing a story when he claimed that I-Rod used PEDs, a super-majority of the writers (76%) felt that Canseco’s claims alone were not sufficient to deny the great catcher a spot in the Hall.

Canseco, the self-described “godfather” of steroids, looked like a Hall of Famer in the making in his early years with the Oakland A’s in the late 1980s, but there was also something about him that seemed unnatural. Canseco couldn’t stay healthy for the bulk of his career, so he never achieved the career targets that one would expect from a Hall of Fame slugger, but he became more famous after his retirement by being one of the most outspoken whistleblowers about the widespread use of steroids in baseball. Canseco named Ivan Rodriguez, Bonds, Clemens, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, and others as PED users in Juiced, but he did not mention Alex Rodriguez.

However, Canseco did accuse A-Rod of using PEDs in his second book (Vindicated), published in 2008. One of his reasons for waiting until the second book is interesting:

“The reason I didn’t include A-Rod in my first book is that I hated the bastard. That’s right. I hated him too much… And I never made a secret of the fact that I hated him. I hated him so much, in fact, that — if I’d included him in my first book, people would have questioned my motives. So I didn’t name him. I was that simple. I didn’t want my negative feelings for A-Rod to muddy the waters.”

— Jose Canseco (Vindicated), 2008

Why did Canseco have such a deep hatred for Rodriguez? You can read about it in full detail in Jose’s book if you want, but the short version is that Canseco felt that A-Rod was trying to (or possibly did) have an affair with his wife, Jessica. (Jessica Canseco, many years later, denied that she and Rodriguez ever had an affair. The Cansecos divorced in 1999).

The Timeline

In Vindicated, Canseco shares a story about how Rodriguez came over to Canseco’s house in Miami in the late 1990s to work out with him. As Canseco tells the tale, A-Rod was “a kid, but a talented kid. Skinny, too.” He also noted that he was so impressed with A-Rod’s skills as a ballplayer that he told the young shortstop “you are going to be the next guy to do forty-forty.”

As the story continues, Canseco reports that during that same offseason, when they started working out together, A-Rod began asking about where “one would go to get steroids if one wanted them.” Canseco wrote that he introduced Rodriguez to a man who would later become A-Rod’s “trainer.” Canseco doesn’t mince words here; he explicitly noted that this “trainer” was also a steroids supplier. To be clear, Canseco stayed out of it at this point. He made the introduction and didn’t know any specifics, just that the “trainer” told him that A-Rod had “signed on.”

Why am I dwelling on this? I have always found this interesting because the official narrative about Rodriguez and steroids is that, as previously noted, he admitted that he started using in 2001 after signing his $252 million contract with the Rangers. However, when reading between the lines of this story, it seems possible (likely even) that A-Rod started using while he was still with the Mariners.

Here’s the clue: it’s Canseco specifically predicting (to A-Rod) that he would be the “next guy to do forty-forty,” which means 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases, the rare feat that had only previously been accomplished twice before (by Canseco in himself in 1988 and Bonds in 1996). Anyway, A-Rod accomplished the feat in 1998, when he hit 42 homers and stole 46 bases.

So, again, this is all according to Canseco’s book, and the author never mentioned the specific year he was referring to. Still, Canseco clearly claimed to have introduced Rodriguez to a known supplier of steroids (the “trainer”) before A-Rod’s 1998 season. This means, if true, that A-Rod might have been using for at least the final three seasons of his time with the Seattle Mariners.

Again, the timeline of all of this is essential. Canseco’s book was published in 2008. It wasn’t until February 2009 that it was revealed that A-Rod had failed that 2003 survey test and that he admitted that he had used steroids, specifically in the years that he was with the Rangers (2001-03).

For whatever that’s worth, if you dismiss all of this because you consider Canseco an unreliable source, that’s a reasonable position to take. Because of the specificity of the details, however, I consider the claims to be somewhere between possible to likely.

How the BBWAA Members Feel About Alex Rodriguez and the Hall of Fame

At the end of the piece, I’ll render my verdict about whether I think Alex Rodriguez should be granted a plaque in the Hall of Fame despite his PED transgressions. But first, let’s see how the actual voters (the BBWAA members) feel about his candidacy.

Most voters have put Rodriguez into the same PED bucket as Manny Ramirez,  who will be on the BBWAA ballot for the 8th time in 2024. Ramirez wasn’t the same quality overall player as Rodriguez but was nearly A-Rod’s equal as a hitter. Manny and A-Rod are viewed similarly by many BBWAA members because Manny was suspended twice for PED use late in his career. As we’ll see, many of the writers have drawn a distinction between the players whose careers occurred during the “wild wild west” (when baseball didn’t have a drug-testing program) and those whose careers occurred partially after the testing began in 2005.

We’ll start with the Fox Sports colleague of Rodriguez and Ortiz, Ken Rosenthal:

“Alex Rodriguez, who like Ortiz is making his first appearance on the ballot, is another player I excluded, but I did not find that decision to be particularly difficult. There is a difference between players who performed in an era when the league, players’ union and media were not vigilant on the subject of PEDs, and those who were brazen enough to engage in such conduct after the sport took firm action in an attempt to crack down on the problem. Rodriguez fell into both the ‘before’ and ‘after’ categories. He acknowledged using PEDs from 2001 to ’03, then was suspended by MLB for violating not only the sport’s JDA but also its Collective Bargaining Agreement with his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal.”

— Ken Rosenthal (The Athletic), Dec. 16, 2021

For the record, Rosenthal voted for both Bonds and Clemens, as did Evan Grant (from the Dallas Morning-News) and longtime New York scribe Bob Klapisch.

“A word about my exclusion on Rodriguez (and continued exclusion of Manny Ramirez): Rather than simply exclude anybody who was whispered or accused of juicing, my line for personal ineligibility has become suspension. Once the suspension system was negotiated and ratified by players and owners, anybody brazen or dumb enough (or both) to get caught, has, at least in my mind, permanently tainted his career. There are no second thoughts on them.”

— Evan Grant (Dallas Morning-News), Dec. 28, 2021

“It’s not just that A-Rod broke the rules (twice), got caught and confessed to cheating years after baseball declared PEDs off limits. I would’ve denied him my vote for those reasons alone. Thing is, Rodriguez went even further. He planted the Michael Corleone kiss of death on his candidacy by lying relentlessly about juicing, suing everyone who dared to stand up to him. That includes his peers at his own players union. Remarkable. Too bad, because Rodriguez was a great athlete who actually loved baseball. But looking back I bet he was cheating from his rookie year on and never stopped.”

— Bob Klapisch (nj.com), Dec. 26, 2021

Here’s another example of a writer drawing a clear line between the pre-testing and post-testing eras.

“If players are so brazen and/or stupid to have used from 2004 on, and were caught, that eliminates them from my consideration. Thus, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez are not part of my ballot. It’s possible I could have a change of heart with them down the road, as I’ve already changed my mind about PED use before. There can be no doubting the qualifications of Rodriguez and Ramirez… But, sorry, I can’t look past their blind arrogance and wanton disregard when it comes to PED use — at least not now.”

— Sean McAdam (Boston Sports Journal), Dec. 17, 2021

Those in Favor

Now, a sampling of those in favor:

“Ramirez and Rodriguez were proven to have taken steroids and were suspended. That is what baseball feels is appropriate punishment. They have not been given the game’s equivalent of the death penalty — the restricted list — just like Alex Cora was not banned for life for his part in Houston’s sign-stealing scheme, AKA cheating.”

— Bill Ballou (Worcester Telegram), Dec. 12, 2021

“Despite my reservations, I gave A-Rod one of my 10 votes. As I mentioned on Friday’s podcast, the story of baseball in this era can’t be told without Rodriguez, Ortiz, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens. For that reason, all four got my vote. So did Manny Ramirez, who actually failed multiple tests.”

— David Laurila (FanGraphs), Dec. 18, 2021

“To all of the writers who complain that the Hall hasn’t provided guidance on how to deal with illegal PEDs, I submit that the Hall provided all the guidance we’ll ever need when it sprinted to induct retired commissioner Bud Selig through the Today’s Era Committee. Selig, as Brewers owner, was found guilty of violating baseball’s collective bargaining agreement thrice for colluding with his fellow lords of the manor to suppress free agency, a crime far more damaging than drug usage. Hence A-Rod, found guilty only once, merits my vote.”

— Ken Davidoff (New York Post), Jan. 23, 2022

“There is no denying Rodriguez has overwhelming Hall of Fame credentials. There is no denying he used steroids. He admitted it. He got nailed not once but twice. So why do I vote for him? Because I refuse to sit in judgment of the Steroid Era. What does that bullshit mean? It means I believe far more players were using some kind of performance-enhancing drugs than has been revealed through the Mitchell Report, other media outlets or sanctioned drug testing.”

— TR Sullivan (formerly of the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram), Dec. 21, 2021

Conclusion

I agree with TR Sullivan when it comes to the Hall of Fame and players linked to PEDs. I’ve always favored Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens for the Hall. I’ve supported Gary Sheffield and Manny Ramirez. I’ve even grudgingly come around on Sammy Sosa, although he’s a guy who didn’t look like a future Hall of Famer until he became the incredible bulk and started hitting 60 home runs per season.

With Alex Rodriguez, we’re talking about an obvious Hall of Fame talent. He may very well have been juicing throughout his career, even while in Seattle. I don’t know that for sure, but it’s possible. Still, as Sullivan noted, there were probably many more players using PEDs than have ever been known. Hitters using PEDs were often hitting against pitchers who were also using.

We have no idea whether dozens or hundreds of players were using PEDs during A-Rod’s early years (1996-2003). A-Rod won an MVP during those first eight years and had three other top 3 finishes. By WAR, Bonds and A-Rod were the best players in the N.L. and A.L. during those years. They were the best of all players and the best of the “enhanced” players.

So, I’m in favor of Rodriguez for the Hall but, if this ballot were stacked with more than ten players who I felt were worthy of a plaque in Cooperstown, he (and Ramirez) would be my first cuts.

As I said at the beginning of the piece, writing about known PED users isn’t fun. Nor is it fun to declare, “Put Alex in the Hall of Fame!” I had immense respect for Rodriguez as a player and I like the guy. I’ve enjoyed his work on ESPN and Fox, but his candidacy for Cooperstown doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Of course, it doesn’t matter what I think. I don’t have a vote. A year ago, he got 34.3% of the vote, while Barry Bonds got 66.0% and Roger Clemens got 65.2%. That means there were 125 writers who felt that A-Rod’s transgressions as a two-time suspended player, were more egregious than those of Bonds or Clemens.

34.3% is nowhere close to 75% and so, unless there’s a dramatic sea change of sentiment towards PED users, A-Rod is not likely to ever get into the Hall during his ten years on the BBWAA ballot.

What could have caused a massive change of mind among the BBWAA electorate? It would have been if the Eras Committee (previously known as the Veterans Committee) had decided to put Bonds and Clemens into the Hall. But the committee soundly rejected both men and so we can expect the writers who don’t like voting for PED users to remain entrenched against them.

“Seeing the Veterans Committee pass on the likes of Bonds, Clemens & Co. was somewhat validating for those of us who’ve tried to honor the Hall’s request and keep cheaters out of Cooperstown. Had the committee said yes to those guys, I would have become a “strictly numbers” voter. That is easy. I can count. I know who the Hall of Famers are… In this spirit, I was all set to vote for Manny Ramirez, Carlos Beltrán, Gary Sheffield, and Alex Rodriguez — players on this year’s ballot who have Hall of Fame numbers. But since the Hall of Fame players on the Vets Committee have indicated they don’t want these guys in, I will stay on the wall and steer clear.”

— Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe (Jan. 10, 2023)

As long as Bonds and Clemens are out, Alex Rodriguez will also be out.

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