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NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez homered for his 3,000th career hit and smiled all the way around the bases Friday night, the highlight so far in what’s become a resurgent season for the formerly disgraced slugger.
The New York Yankees star wasted no time, connecting in the first inning on a first-pitch, 95 mph fastball from Detroit ace Justin Verlander.
Rodriguez became the 29th player in major league history to reach 3,000 hits, and the first since Yankees great Derek Jeter homered from the very same batter’s box in 2011.
With the crowd at Yankee Stadium standing in anticipation, Rodriguez sent a high drive to right field. He held onto the bat as he took a few steps toward first base, and outfielder J.D. Martinez bumped into the wall as he backed up.
The crowd roared as the ball sailed a half-dozen rows into the seats, and there was no immediate word on who wound up with the prized souvenir.
Rodriguez was greeted by Mark Teixeira and other teammates between the plate and the dugout, and got a big hug from manager Joe Girardi. The only other players to hit a homer for No. 3,000 were Jeter and Wade Boggs.
Rodriguez turns 40 next month. The three-time AL MVP launched his 13th homer of the season and has enjoyed a productive year as a designated hitter after sitting out all of last season while serving a drug suspension.
A-Rod hit his 667th career home run after beginning the day with a .299 lifetime average in 21 seasons. He joined Hank Aaron and Willie Mays as the only players with 600 homers and 3,000 hits.
Earlier this year, Rodriguez passed Mays for fourth place on the all-time homer list and eclipsed Barry Bonds for second on the official RBIs chart.
This hit was quite different from his first one — a four-hop, infield single on July 9, 1994, at Fenway Park against Boston’s Sergio Valdez. Back then, Rodriguez was an 18-year-old batting last for the Seattle Mariners, a young man with a big future.
Friday night’s plate umpire, Ed Hickox, coincidentally was behind the plate for A-Rod’s first hit, too.
“Is that right — 21 years apart?” Hickox said an hour before the first pitch. “I was aware he was a prospect for Seattle when he got the hit, but that’s all we knew then.”
For all his achievements, A-Rod has been a polarizing lightning rod in recent years. While the crowd in the Bronx cheered him, there are many fans who will forever attach an asterisk to anything Rodriguez accomplishes.
Such is the baseball world in the wake of performance-enhancing drugs, where RBIs, ERAs and other huge numbers have been tainted by PEDs. Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire are among the many with Cooperstown-caliber credentials who haven’t come close to being elected to the Hall of Fame because of drug scandals.
High school student Claire Campo, from Mission Viejo, California, bought a $135 Rodriguez jersey in the souvenir store an hour before the game.
“I love Alex Rodriguez,” she said. “People need to get off his case. He’s done everything you could ask for on the field. What he’s done off the field, he apologized and paid the price. What more do you want?”
Her grandfather, Larry Vastola of Morristown, New Jersey, said he completely agreed with her. But he said his wife — Campo’s grandmother — had a different view.
“She can’t stand him,” he said. “When we get home, we’re going to tell her that they dislike him so much at Yankee Stadium that they were giving away these jerseys.”
Rodriguez homered on the birthday of late Yankees hero Lou Gehrig, and connected a day before Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson, Boggs and other New York stars return for Old-Timers’ Day.
Jeter finished with 3,465 hits. His milestone day was indeed monumental, when he went 5 for 5 with the deciding hit. The buzz leading up to his 3,000th became the talk of baseball and when he homered off Tampa Bay’s David Price — now with the Tigers — the crowd responded with a 4-minute ovation.
As Jeter rounded the bases, first baseman Casey Kotchman doffed his hat and several Tampa Bay players came out of the dugout to applaud.
Rodriguez came out for a curtain call after his homer, but there was nothing close to the outpouring of love that Jeter received. Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love and New York Knicks executive Phil Jackson were among those in attendance.
Rodriguez homered off Verlander for the fourth straight game, and popped up in his next at-bat. A-Rod has tagged a lot of pitchers over the years, getting 26 hits off knuckleballer Tim Wakefield and 25 off David Wells.
The pitcher who has held Rodriguez hitless the longest? Arizona lefty Oliver Perez, against whom Rodriguez is 0 for 11.