{"id":1456193,"date":"2021-12-18T09:43:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-18T14:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1456193"},"modified":"2021-12-18T09:42:21","modified_gmt":"2021-12-18T14:42:21","slug":"hof-hopeful-alex-rodriguez-joined-yankees-after-aaron-boone-played-basketball-then-told-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/hof-hopeful-alex-rodriguez-joined-yankees-after-aaron-boone-played-basketball-then-told-the-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"HOF Hopeful Alex Rodriguez Joined the Yankees After Aaron Boone Played Basketball and Then Told the Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Controversial <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/for-alex-rodriguez-to-enter-the-hall-of-fame-3-things-would-need-to-happen\/\">Hall of Fame hopeful Alex Rodriguez<\/a> played 12 of his 22 years in Major League Baseball with the <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/new-york-yankees\">New York Yankees.<\/a> He smacked 351 of his 696 home runs in pinstripes. Half of his 14 All-Star appearances were when he played in the Bronx. Perhaps none of that happens if former New York third baseman and <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/aaron-boone-continuing-heart-issues-forced-him-leave-new-york-yankees\/\">current Yankees manager Aaron Boone<\/a> blew off a basketball game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-alex-rodriguez-is-on-the-hall-of-fame-ballot-for-the-first-time\">Alex Rodriguez is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"David Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez Among First-Time Candidates on 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6hKFecuBIqE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Statistically, Rodriguez belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Nobody will argue his numbers, but he's not likely to get there \u2014 at least for now. The three-time MVP finished his career with a .295 batting average. He collected 3,115 hits and smacked 696 home runs. He did this despite missing the entire 2014 season \u2014 and that's where the problem lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2003, <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/mlb-the-5-greatest-power-hitters-of-the-steroid-era\/\">Rodriguez tested positive for steroids<\/a> but that's just the beginning. In 2009, he admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs. That, however, came two years after telling Katie Couric in front of a national television audience that he had never used them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rodriguez was then suspended for the entire 2014 season for his involvement in <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/dea-finally-charging-people-in-the-biogenesis-steroid-scandal\/\">Major League Baseball's Biogenesis scandal. <\/a>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/new-york\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/10278277\/alex-rodriguez-suspension-reduced-162-games\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ESPN,<\/a> 12 other players were suspended after the investigation of PED usage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For many voters, the use of steroids and lying are far bigger than any numbers put on the field. Just ask Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. They are also Hall-worthy players who have failed to reach the required 75% of the vote in each of their first nine years on the ballot, although their numbers have increased since Year 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-alex-rodriguez-may-not-have-joined-the-yankees-if-aaron-boone-hadn-t-played-basketball\">Alex Rodriguez may not have joined the Yankees if Aaron Boone hadn't played basketball<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img alt=\"HOF Hopeful Alex Rodriguez Joined the Yankees After Aaron Boone Played Basketball and Then Told the Truth\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1250\" height=\"884\" src=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Aaron-Boone-Alex-Rodriguez-1.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=724&#038;strip=all&#038;quality=89\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1456345\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Aaron-Boone-Alex-Rodriguez-1.jpg 1250w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Aaron-Boone-Alex-Rodriguez-1.jpg?w=300&amp;h=212 300w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Aaron-Boone-Alex-Rodriguez-1.jpg?w=768&amp;h=543 768w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Aaron-Boone-Alex-Rodriguez-1.jpg?w=1024&amp;h=724 1024w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Aaron-Boone-Alex-Rodriguez-1.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=849 1200w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Aaron-Boone-Alex-Rodriguez-1.jpg?w=85&amp;h=60 85w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1250px) 100vw, 1250px\" \/><figcaption>Former New York Yankees player Alex Rodriguez, right, talks with Yankees manager Aaron Boone before the start of a game against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park in Miami on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. | David Santiago\/Miami Herald\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/5-mlb-players-whose-walkoff-hrs-clinched-a-world-series-bid\/\">Aaron Boone sent the Yankees to the World Series<\/a> when he smacked his Game 7, extra-inning home run off Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield in the 2003 ALCS. Two months later, his baseball career was in jeopardy. Boone blew out his knee playing pickup basketball, opening the door to Rodriguez playing in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One month after Boone's injury, Yankees GM Brian Cashman sent Alfonso Soriano and a minor leaguer for Rodriguez and $67 million of the remaining $179 million on his contract, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/yankees\/2020\/04\/yankees-aaron-boone-relives-ill-fated-basketball-game-that-put-alex-rodriguez-in-pinstripes.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NJ.com.<\/a> Boone was released two weeks later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In April 2020, Boone recalled that pickup game that took place at a health club in Newport Beach, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI actually worked out with my trainer, but I didn\u2019t do my cardio that day,&#8221; he said, per NJ.com. &#8220;And my brother-in-law was going to play a pickup basketball game that night and my wife and I had nothing going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like I was rebounding or anything. I was just going up and down the court.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said one of the players went to save a ball that was going out of bounds and flipped it in Boone's direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe guy saved it \u2026 and I almost received a pass, like a football pass, over my shoulder, kind of going that way,\u201d Boone said. \u201cI went to go receive it, and this guy came in and just wiped me out from the side. It was kind of violent and painful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-boone-never-thought-of-lying-about-how-the-accident-occurred\">Boone never thought of lying about how the accident occurred<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">David Ortiz, Ryan Howard, Tim Lincecum and Alex Rodriguez are among 13 first-time candidates on the Hall of Fame ballot <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8UFQX2glVr\">https:\/\/t.co\/8UFQX2glVr<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Sports Illustrated (@SInow) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SInow\/status\/1462898162318946308?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 22, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Boone said he knew it was serious when it happened. He struggled with his emotions after he made his way off the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI got up and hopped off the court and cried as I drove home back to my house,\u201d Boone said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Boone tore his ACL and missed the entire 2004 season. He could have lied. He could have said it happened falling down the stairs. Instead, he told the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy mama taught me better than that,\u201d he said regarding lying about the injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Boone chalked the incident up to fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"AZXWHQBX3ZAIVIHF5O4IPALVD4\">\u201cI kind of believe everything happens for a reason,\u201d Boone said. \u201cIt\u2019s all part of your journey, part of your path. It was part of my path and it led me to other places and other teams and other great experiences that have all gone into shaping who I am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"2JDMXNCUSVHFBJGQ2GAMLNSPZQ\">\u201cLife isn\u2019t all good, obviously, and there are different adversities we all have to face, and you try and do the best with all of it. I\u2019ve always had that attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/alex-rodriguez-once-mentored-a-devastated-ryan-lochte-but-did-it-really-help\/\">Alex Rodriguez Once Mentored a Devastated Ryan Lochte but Did It Really Help?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A basketball game played by Aaron Boone may have been the reason the New York Yankees pulled the trigger on a trade for Alex Rodriguez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":1456342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5016],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>HOF Hopeful Alex Rodriguez Joined the Yankees After Aaron Boone Played Basketball and Then Told the Truth - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alex Rodriguez may never have been a member of the New York Yankees if not for a basketball game played by Aaron Boone.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/hof-hopeful-alex-rodriguez-joined-yankees-after-aaron-boone-played-basketball-then-told-the-truth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HOF Hopeful Alex Rodriguez Joined the Yankees After Aaron Boone Played Basketball and Then Told the Truth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alex Rodriguez may never have been a member of the New York Yankees if not for a basketball game played by Aaron Boone.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/hof-hopeful-alex-rodriguez-joined-yankees-after-aaron-boone-played-basketball-then-told-the-truth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-18T14:43:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-18T14:42:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Aaron-Boone-Alex-Rodriguez.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"884\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Thomas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@NostraThomas123\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mike Thomas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/hof-hopeful-alex-rodriguez-joined-yankees-after-aaron-boone-played-basketball-then-told-the-truth\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/hof-hopeful-alex-rodriguez-joined-yankees-after-aaron-boone-played-basketball-then-told-the-truth\/\",\"name\":\"HOF Hopeful Alex Rodriguez Joined the Yankees After Aaron Boone Played Basketball and Then Told the Truth - 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