I have been one of the many baseball fans outraged by the Alex Rodriguez saga this summer, but sometimes it helps to back up and take a look at the allegations I have simply accepted as fact in the last few months. I have to really look at facts, our at least first hand encounters, and decide does A-Rod really deserve all the flak he has been getting.

The first story that broke was the release of the Joe Torre book. The book painted Rodriguez as faux-teammate, prompting clever media outlets to continue the name game and add the hyphenated A-Fraud to the hilarious list that goes from Choke-Rod to Madonna’s-Rod to A-Roid.

The Yankees Years, which was “co-authored” by Sports Illustrated write Tom Verducci, chronicles the Torre’s experience from 1996 to 2007 with the New York Yankees, a period that saw him go 1173-767 and win four World Series. It also covers the locker room stories, some of which center on a highly-paid superstar that desperately sought to attract the devotion from fans and players as resident good guy Derek Jeter.

These revelations were nothing new. Sports writers seemed to come out in droves to claim that they witnessed this behavior, this fake friendliness, since Rodriguez arrived in 2004. At one point A-Rod even talked to a group of the press and admitted that he had been acting like an A-Fraud.

What I found more telling was a Sports Guy podcast with Jason Gay, the writer of the A-Rod article in details that featured the now infamous A-Rod staring intently/lovingly into a mirror as he worked out. It seemed to Gay that A-Rod was perpetually in PR mode, with every answer carefully crafted in his head before he spoke.

To me it seems that A-Rod may not even be comfortable with himself. This really makes me feel more pity than any kind of hate for the man. Of course, then I remember that he is making $27 million this year and my bile duct immediately wants to spit out a rant laden with acrimonious damnations. In the end, after considering he is getting to bang a Madonna that is a mere ghost of her prime, I think I have come to accept Alex Rodriguez as a flawed man who can simply kill a baseball at will, at least until the pennant race starts to heat up.

Of course, I have come to accept every connotation of the moniker Choke-Rod. I have images in my head of ninth inning rallies against the Boston Red Sox thwarted by a nubbed double play off the end of A-Rod’s bat or gimmee-series against the Baltimore Orioles lost as Rodriguez went 0-4 with three strikeouts. I have had all those images, but have never had the statistical proof.

When I actually checked, I found that the statistical evidence was simply not there during the regular season. Over the course of three seasons, from 2006 to 2008, A-Rod hit .301 with runners on and belted 67 homeruns and drove in 323. With bases loaded he is batted .426 with six grand slams and 61 RBI. After the All Star game, when the pennant race really seems to begin, he has hit .301 with 56 home runs and 176 RBI. In the month of September he has hit .335, 24 home runs, and driven in 78 RBI.

The validation for the nickname comes in the postseason though. In the last three postseason appearances by the Yankees he has been rather lack luster. In 2005, in the series against the Los Angeles Angels he hit .133 with zero home runs and zero RBI. In 2006, against the Detroit Tigers, he hit .071 with another double zero for run production. In 2007, though, against the Cleveland Indians, he hit a respectable .267 with a solo shot for his only RBI of the series.

The only real solid truth of the “Winter of A-Rod” seemed to be that he admitted to steroid use back in his Texas Rangers days. The initial news boggled my mind. He never appeared to need the extra help, yet he still joined 107 other known players in 2003 and shot or creamed up.

In the context of an offseason of personal attacks the admittance was damning. However, the mere fact that he did openly admit that he took the drugs is something I blatantly ignored. Yes he lied to Katie Couric a year ago, but many ballplayers lied everyday to fans when they claimed they were not using any form of PED. Looking at this in the context of baseball culture as a whole I am more conflicted than ever.

It seems that like most things in life, there is a half truth to everything said about A-Rod. He is A-Fraud, but he is not a malicious character fraud, rather somebody trying to find his social niche. He is not Choke-Rod across the board. He is simply Mr. September, and a mere mortal during October. He is A-Roid, but many other players do not have nicknames that make it so easy to make a steroid reference. Should I hate him so intensely anymore? Probably not. Will I drudge up all these cherry picked allegations if I am ever sitting third-base side at a White Sox game? Most definitely.

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