Alex Rodriguez: A Complicated Farewell At Fenway

Photo courtesy of NY Daily News

Baseball will say goodbye to perhaps its most polarizing player in its history this week, Mr. Alex Rodriguez. On Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, the 14-time All Star announced that his last career game would be on Friday, August 12th. The baseball gods work in funny ways, as timing worked out perfectly with the Yankees spending this week at Fenway for a three-game set.

The Yankees and Red Sox have made the “farewell tour” fashionable in the last few years, with Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, and David Ortiz all receiving praise and a proper goodbye from teams around baseball. The Yankees will continue that trend, as they plan on honoring Ortiz at his last trip to Yankee Stadium on September 29th. Alex Rodriguez will only play baseball in two more ballparks: Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Rodriguez and the Red Sox have had a complex and storied history. Rodriguez was nearly Boston bound in 2003 with a trade that would have changed the course of baseball history. A three-way trade was essentially agreed upon, sending A-Rod to the Red Sox along with Magglio Ordonez and Brandon McCarthy, Manny Ramirez and Jon Lester to the Texas Rangers, and Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago White sox.

That trade of course fell apart, with the Red Sox needing A-Rod to take less money, as he was in the midst of his record-breaking $252 million contract. The Player’s Association wouldn’t allow that precedent to be set and A-Rod ended up in the Bronx. A-Rod would give us memorable moments against the Red Sox: slapping the ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s hand in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS, fighting Jason Veritek, and homering off Ryan Dempster after he threw at him in 2013.