If Alex Rodriguez wants to make the Baseball Hall of Fame, Michael Kay believes his best chance is coming out of retirement.
Rodriguez has been on the ballot for five years, having never received more than 40% of the vote, falling well short of the 75% required for induction into the Hall of Fame. The clock is ticking, with Rodriguez only having five remaining years of eligibility to close the gap. Which is why Kay suggests Rodriguez restart the eligibility clock by coming out of retirement.
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“A-Rod still has some time, and maybe the voting block becomes more forgiving as the older guys die off and younger people get the vote,” Kay noted this week after Rodriguez appeared on his ESPN New York Radio show. “I’ve said it to Alex privately: come back for one at-bat. I’m sure the Marlins would love to pack the place. He’s in unbelievable shape. He’s in the same shape he was when he played. Come back for one at-bat. If you come back for one at-bat, then you restart the clock. Then it takes five more years before you’re eligible for the Hall of Fame, and then you’ve got 10 more years of being on the ballot. That gives you 15 more years if you get one at-bat. Right now, his clock is running. He’s almost out of time, and I don’t think he’s going to make it up to 75%.”
Rodriguez once seemed like a lock for the Hall of Fame as one of the most talented players in Major League Baseball history, a great defensive shortstop and third baseman who had more than 3,000 hits and slugged nearly 700 home runs. Unfortunately for Rodriguez, his PED usage allows people to discredit his accomplishments enough to keep him out of Cooperstown.
“My advice to Alex, come back, activate yourself for one game, get an at-bat and then restart the clock to get yourself another 15 years on the ballot,” Kay reiterated.
Rodriguez unretiring for an at-bat would undoubtedly garner a lot of attention. And it’s reasonable to think a team like the Seattle Mariners or Miami Marlins might be willing to give him that opportunity. It might sound crazy, but not long ago, the idea of Rodriguez coming out of retirement for one at-bat at 51 years old would have seemed more realistic than Philip Rivers coming out of retirement in his mid-40s to be a starting quarterback after five years away from the NFL.
The problem is that Rodriguez has already reconciled himself to the fact that he’s not getting into Cooperstown. He might have made it if he was a one-time offender. David Ortiz was able to overcome the 2009 leak of his name being on the anonymous failed 2003 test. But Rodriguez admitted to using PEDs multiple times during his career, earned a season-long suspension, and attempted to sue Major League Baseball.
Amazingly, he’s rebuilt his image enough to be a prominent MLB analyst for Fox, along with being one of the sport’s biggest ambassadors. But it’s hard to imagine Rodriguez ever rebuilding his image enough to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Rodriguez remains a big part of the sport in his retirement, but he probably isn’t interested in a gimmick to better his chances of getting a plaque.
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