{"id":61795,"date":"2018-03-30T07:42:20","date_gmt":"2018-03-30T07:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=61795"},"modified":"2018-03-30T07:42:20","modified_gmt":"2018-03-30T07:42:20","slug":"alex-rodriguezs-image-makeover-greatest-rehab-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/sports\/alex-rodriguezs-image-makeover-greatest-rehab-ever.html","title":{"rendered":"Alex Rodriguez’s image makeover ‘the greatest rehab ever’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Rodriguez’s image makeover ‘the greatest rehab ever’<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Alex Rodriguez played his final baseball game in 2016. In retirement, he\u2019s raised a significant question: Has any athlete\u2019s image ever changed so dramatically, from bad to good?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely unbelievable,\u2019\u2019 New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone told USA TODAY Sports. \u201cIt\u2019s the greatest rehab ever. If you had told me a couple of years ago that his image would change like this, I would have said, \u2018What?\u2019\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

It was just four years ago that A-Rod was a pariah in baseball. He was suing Major League Baseball. He was suing the players union. He was suing the New York Yankees\u2019 team doctor. He even hired investigators to dig up information on MLB officials, including Commissioner Rob Manfred.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, he is revered in the baseball community, and beginning Sunday night, will be on center stage each week on the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecast with Matt Vasgersian and Jessica Mendoza.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve grown a lot, and to a degree, changed a lot in everything I do, not just baseball and broadcasting,\u2019\u2019 Rodriguez said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles before his Thursday ESPN telecast with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. \u201cI\u2019m so grateful and appreciative, from four years ago where things were so difficult, to where I am today.\u2019\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost as if America has forgotten that Rodriguez was exiled from the game, receiving a historic year-long ban for the use of performance-enhancing drugs, fought MLB officials in court, was banished from the Yankees, and likely would never have played again without the Yankees owing the final three years of his 10-year, $275 million contract.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, he is not only welcomed in our homes, but revered, a celebrated former great.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Americans forget,\u2019\u2019 Rodriguez says, \u201cthey just understand better. They can learn from my mistakes. I can talk about my mistakes, own up to them, serving my time, and talking about being a different person.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI get to talk about the good, the bad, the ugly.\u2019\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Rodriguez, a 14-time All-Star, three-time MVP and World Series champion, is the centerpiece of ESPN\u2019s revamped broadcast team, and Mendoza and Vasgersian are just as thrilled as Rodriguez to be working alongside him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mendoza, the only returning broadcaster to the booth, met Rodriguez in 2002. He was with the Texas Rangers. And Mendoza was an All-America softball player at Stanford who became a gold medal winner. They were introduced by Mendoza\u2019s teammate Jennie Finch.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI learned more about him the last month than the last 16 years,\u2019\u2019 Mendoza says. \u201cI was around him, but I never felt like I knew him. Now, as we\u2019ve had these deep conversations, everything just seems so much more real than it ever was.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s lived like 10 lives when you think about everything he\u2019s gone through. You see him trying to make sure that people are getting a better idea of who he is, and people respond to him. He looks himself in the mirror, and says, \u201cI screwed up,\u2019\u2019 than blaming anyone.\u2019\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

This could turn out to be season that none of them forget, with Vasgersian replacing Dan Shulman as the play-by-play announcer, Rodriguez taking over for Boone, and Mendoza as the only returnee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so looking forward to this,\u2019\u2019 Vasgersian says. \u201cI give Jess a lot of credit for kind of being thrust into this role without any notable television experience, has rolled up her sleeves and taken off with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Alex wants to be as good at this as he was as a player. He\u2019s driven by it. He has consulted a lot of baseball people in the broadcast world, watched a lot of tape, and I think he\u2019ll wow people by what he has to offer.\u2019\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

But, make no mistake about it, when the lights and cameras go on Sunday Night Baseball beginning with Sunday\u2019s game with the Dodgers and Giants, all eyes and ears will be on A-Rod.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe has worked very hard for redemption,\u2019\u2019 Vasgersian says, \u201cwhether it\u2019s being on Shark Tank or helping bankrupt athletes, or putting stuff on Instagram. People see that he\u2019s a good guy and able to redeem himself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/mlb\/2018\/03\/29\/alex-rodriguezs-image-makeover-greatest-re\/471533002\/<\/span><\/p>\n

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