Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth
Isn't A Rod's obvious counterpart Jeter? I mean sure Jeter wasn't a power hitter, but they're inseparable as bad guy good guy. ARod's badness did a lot, IMO, to enhace Jeter's stature because Jeter was everything ARod was not despite not having nearly the same ability -- clean, modest, team oriented, clutch (by reputation anyhow).
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Jeter crossed my mind for sure. I'd be curious to hear from diehard Yankees fans about how they feel.
I went with David Ortiz because (i) at well over 500 home runs, he's a power guy like A-Rod who also had a bit of the PED taint to overcome and (ii) he seemed to be everything for the Red Sox that A-Rod wasn't for the Yankees.
I think that what a previous poster said about how A-Rod makes his teams worse resonates with me in terms of perception, even if the numbers make that argument statistically questionable. Whereas with David Ortiz, it is the opposite. The clear perception (defer to diehard Red Sox fans) is that he was the cornerstone of the three WS winning teams. I don't know whether the stats actually bear that out, but it is probably considered blasphemy in the Red Sox territory to argue otherwise.