A Season for the Ages
Printed in the Seattle Times on October 8, 1996
by Bob Sherwin
Seattle Times staff reporter
It didn't take long for Alex Rodriguez to digest what his great season has
wrought. He understands how he spoiled us, how much pressure there will be to
repeat it. "I can name 10 to 15 players who had tremendous first years,"
Rodriguez said on his cell phone while tooling around Miami with his old
buddies, "but four or five years later you ask, `Where are they now?' I have to
stay focused and be consistent because you can easily get off track."
That pressure will come from fans, the media and his peers.
Yesterday, it was his peers' turn. They added to his resume by making him the
youngest player to win The Sporting News Player of the Year award.
Is there an encore to their landslide vote? He received 260 1/2 of 391 votes - 67
percent of the total - and was followed by Ellis Burks, Juan Gonzalez, Ken
Caminiti, Albert Belle and John Smoltz.
Oakland A's slugger Mark McGwire knows what Rodriguez will be up against.
"Baseball expectations and pressures are so great, it's reality," said McGwire,
who felt it after hitting 49 home runs in 1987, his first full season. "I only had to
carry it for home runs. He has to carry it for average, home runs and RBI. But
from everyone I've talked to who knows him, he's so well-rounded and so
level-headed, they really believe he can do it. I hope the best for him for 20 more
years."
In his first full season as Mariner shortstop, Rodriguez had the kind of season in
1996 that observers might be prone to term a "career year." But as he says,
"How can I know if this is my career year, when this is my first one? If I play
another 10 years and this is my best season, then it will be my career year."
At the very least, it was a heck of a career start. Rodriguez hit a
major-league-leading .358, highest batting average for a right-handed hitter
since Joe DiMaggio hit .381 in 1939.
He scored 141 runs, hit 54 doubles and had 379 total bases - all league highs.
He had 215 hits, 123 batted in, 91 extra-base hits, 65 multiple-hit games, 36
home runs and a .631 slugging percentage - all among the league leaders.
"On the surface, looking at his numbers compared to any other set of numbers,
there's no question it's probably the best year any shortstop ever had," said Bill
James, baseball statistical analyst. It's possibly as good a year as any young
player ever had. It probably is."
So, now what? Although Rodriguez's season "certainly was impressive and you
have every reason to believe it's going to continue," James said that even the
great and near-great have had to deal with unrealistic expectations, as unfair as
they are.
James uses Al Kaline as an example. Kaline hit .340 in 1955, becoming the
youngest batting champion at age 20. He had 200 hits, 27 home runs and 102
RBI. He never hit better than .327 or had more hits in his 19 seasons to follow.
"Al Kaline is in the Hall of Fame, but for most of his career he was perceived to
be not as good as he was supposed to be," James said. "For the rest of his
career, it was like, `What have you done for me lately?'
"An even better comparison is Garry Templeton," James said. "He had a
tremendous year in 1977 (200 hits, .322 average). No one had numbers like he
had, as a switch-hitter with 100 hits from each side of the plate. As a 21-,
22-year-old shortstop, he created enormous expectations. But he never lived up
to those. He was a fine player. He would rank among the top 50 best shortstops
ever, but the feeling was, he could have been better."
How many similar seasons will follow Rodriguez's incredible inceptive season is
uncertain, but it appears he is blessed with the capacity to understand
expectations and deal with them.
"I've talked to Jose (Canseco) for four, five hours about life and expectations,"
Rodriguez said. "I've talked to Junior (Ken Griffey), (Cal) Ripken. I can't expect
to hit .358 every year or hit 36 home runs, but one thing I can expect of myself is
to stay healthy, play every day, be consistent, and the numbers will be there."
Rodriguez, who turned 21 in July, finished with the highest average ever for a
player younger than 22. He was the third-youngest batting champion and
third-youngest to hit at least 35 home runs.
His numbers for doubles and runs scored were the most this century by a
shortstop. He tied Ernie Banks for the most total bases by a shortstop.
"It's an unbelievable year," said McGwire, who had one himself this year,
becoming the 13th player to hit at least 50 home runs. "He probably exceeded
anybody's expectations as to how well he did. He's absolutely exciting to watch
from the (opposing) players bench.
"I was talking to a friend on the PGA Tour and wanted to see what he thought of
Tiger Woods. He said, `You only see a guy who has it all come along like this
every 10 to 15 years or so.' I'd put Alex in the same category. I can't think of
anyone who has done what he has done."
Putting aside that Rodriguez is so young and the position he plays, how would
his season rank among the best for any position, for the ages?
"He absolutely kills any season for a 20-year-old shortstop," said Steve Moyer
of Stats Inc. "(But) I don't think it's special in the context of all-time seasons,
not on a historical scale."
James said, "This year was a funny year. The American League ERA was around
5.00, so there were a lot of huge numbers. If you carefully put Alex down in the
context of inflated numbers, I'm not sure what you'd get. Whether it's Al Kaline
in 1955 or Met Ott in 1929, I don't know. It looks like Stan Musial's year in
1948."
Musial hit .376 in 1948 with 39 home runs, 135 runs and 131 RBI. Musial won the
National League MVP award, which is what many are saying Rodriguez might
do in the AL this year.
Working against Rodriguez's MVP aspirations, however, are the facts that
Seattle didn't reach the playoffs and he faded in September. Rodriguez hit .275 in
the final month, with three home runs and 13 RBI. His average dropped 18 points
from his high-water .376 mark Sept. 3.
"The thing I'm most proud of is the fact I had 600 at-bats. That's something not
everyone reaches every year," Rodriguez said with relaxed, reflective tone. "It
meant I was out there a long time. After my hamstring problem, I did not miss a
game."
That's the Ripken in him. He carries the same work ethic as his idol. If healthy,
he wants to play. He even asked to play the final game in Oakland when
Manager Lou Piniella wanted to rest him to protect his then-.360 average.
Edgar Martinez, the 1995 AL batting champion, said he gave Rodriguez advice
throughout the season when A-Rod asked, which was often. That's not to say
that Martinez takes credit for helping Rodriguez win the batting title.
"Maybe the way his mind works, he saw me do it last year and it was something
he wanted to do sometime," Martinez said. "He started the season right, and he
believed he could do it.
"He's a quick learner. He was able to do everything without much help. His
talent took over. I hope I was able to help him pick up some habit and put it to
work."
Rodriguez, who said he reached a mental comfort level in late July when he
signed a $10 million contract, hasn't wasted time forming his perspective on next
season.
"I'm focused on the first pitch already," he said, "because I know I'm going to be
even hungrier."
Email: luvms4life@aol.com
