Alex Rodriguez Becomes Just The Second Ever To Reach 2,000 RBIs… Or Is He?
Alex Rodriguez joined a very exclusive club on Saturday night. The New York Yankees designated hitter drilled a two-run home run in the sixth inning and that put Rodriguez over the 2,000 runs batted in (RBI) mark, only the second player to reach that plateau. Hall of Famer Hank Aaron had 2,297 RBIs in his storied career.
Rodriguez reached the milestone off of Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Bud Norris. It was Alex’s 12th home run of the season and 32nd RBI.
As with just about anything that Rodriguez is involved in this milestone comes with some controversy, but this time Alex has nothing to do with it. The RBI became an official stat in 1920 so several players are not credited with all the runs they drove in during their careers. The strange thing is that the information is there and can be easily gathered, but the official stat keepers of Major League Baseball just won’t recognize the pre-1920 RBIs.
Baseball statistic website baseballreference.com does count the pre-1920 RBIs and shows Rodriguez is fourth on the all time RBI list behind Aaron’s 2,297, Babe Ruth’s 2,214, and Cap Anson’s 2,075.
For Rodriguez it is just another big milestone he has reached in what many have seen as a surprisingly productive season. As reported on earlier here at the Inquisitr, Rodriguez passed Willie Mays for fifth place on the all-time home run list back in May. Up next for Alex will be the 3,000 hit mark. He currently stands at 2,995 with the home run on Saturday.
All these big numbers have been put up with very little fanfare for Rodriguez. Many in the baseball community still have not forgiven Alex for his performance enhancement drug use, even though he missed the entire 2014 season because he was suspended by MLB.
One thing is certain, Rodriguez has been a big part of the Yankees success this season. The team came into play on Saturday sporting a one game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East.
There will come a time when the debate will begin about whether Alex Rodriguez belongs with all the greats in the Baseball Hall of Fame. His numbers are definitely worthy of enshrinement, but what would his number be like if he never used PEDs? Does simply using PEDs automatically disqualify Rodriguez from ever getting into Cooperstown?
Do you think Alex Rodriguez deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame when his career is over?
[Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images]
