5 defining moments of A-Rod's Mariners career
When the Seattle Mariners took Alex Rodriguez first overall in the 1993 amateur draft, the fresh-faced youngster was still years away from becoming A-Rod - the polarizing, impossibly talented superstar who filled up tabloids as easily as he launched baseballs out of Yankee Stadium.
Back then, Rodriguez was just a kid working hard to prove he deserved to be lumped in with The Kid, and, soon enough, he did, putting up ungodly numbers that thrust him to stardom even as he toiled in a time zone that allowed too many of his accomplishments to go underappreciated.
Now, more than two decades later, most fans don't think of Rodriguez as the precocious kid who shared a clubhouse with Ken Griffey Jr. But with the 41-year-old set to play his final game with the New York Yankees on Friday, let's look back at five defining moments from his glorious seven-year tenure with the Mariners.
"And there it is ..."
One day after going hitless in three at-bats at Fenway Park in a forgettable MLB debut, Rodriguez got the first hit of his illustrious career, beating out a chopper past the mound for an infield single on July 9, 1994, on a cloudy Boston afternoon. With his parents in attendance, Rodriguez ended up going 2-for-4 while also notching his first career stolen base in a 7-4 victory over the Red Sox.
"Number one in The Show ..."
On June 12, 1995, about a month after being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma, Rodriguez - still a lithe teenager - hammered a 3-2 curveball from Tom Gordon over into the left-field seats at a sparsely attended Kingdome, eliciting a very excited call from play-by-play man Dave Niehaus with his first career home run.
"How about that?"
Though he wasn't able to replicate in 1997 his preposterous 1.045 OPS from the year prior, one of the most memorable performances of his career came in that "disappointing" sophomore season, as Rodriguez - at 21 years, 313 days old - became the fifth-youngest player in history to hit for the cycle when he terrorized the Tigers in Detroit on June 5, 1997. The only player in the ensuing 19 seasons to accomplish the feat at a younger age than Rodriguez? Mike Trout.
"Attaboy, Alex!"
With an opposite-field blast off Jack McDowell at Edison Field on Sept. 19, 1998, Rodriguez entered one of baseball's most exclusive fraternities, becoming the third player ever to record 40 homers and steal 40 bases in a single season. (Eight years later, Alfonso Soriano became the fourth member of the 40-40 club). Rodriguez's blast also made him just the second shortstop in American League history to hit 40 homers in a season, joining Rico Petrocelli. (Rodriguez would end up with six 40-homer campaigns).
"He hits it so hard, it doesn't have time to hook foul ..."
In the Mariners' second-ever trip to the American League Championship Series, even with his impending free agency looming large, Rodriguez did everything humanly possible to get his soon-to-be-former club to the World Series, going 9-for-22 (.409) with two doubles, three walks, one stolen base, and a pair of home runs - including a mammoth solo shot that helped Seattle to a 2-0 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 1. Two months later, after the Yankees ousted the Mariners in six games and went on to capture their third straight World Series championship, Rodriguez signed a 10-year, $252-million deal with the Texas Rangers.
(Videos courtesy: MLB.com)