New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez is used to being followed by fans.
But one college-age kid who followed Rodriguez around the University of Miami athletic facilities for days was not after an autograph.
Hurricanes first baseman Yonder Alonso, 20, wanted to completely emulate the reigning MVP in his workout regimen -- from the stationary bike and lifting weights to running 120-yard sprints, batting practice and fielding ground balls.
What started out as nothing more than a dream has led to a possible lasting friendship.
Alonso walked up to the star one morning in December as Rodriguez rode a stationary bike in the UM weight room.
''I told him whatever race he would do, I would beat him,'' Alonso said. ``He found that pretty funny, and after that [he] said all right, lets go run.''
Always getting a bad rap in the press, it’s nice to see something about Rodriguez that’s positive for a change. Between this and the Munson award, he’s having a pretty good week.
I’m impressed that Rodriguez would take this kid under his wing like he did. Alonso, who is already a College 2nd team All-American, will only benefit from being around a player with the talent, and more importantly, the work ethic that Rodriguez has.
2 Comments:
Great story. I know this doesn't sound very "baseball", but this is the kind of stuff A-Rod's PR people should focus on. I was very pleased to see him take a step back last year and not be so available to the media. This year, he has to win the trust of the Yankee faithful back and I think the best way to do that is to keep his mouth shut and let his baseball do all of the talking. I suspect he'll do that.
True, he needs to keep doing what he did last year - he stopped trying to please everyone and it really seemed to relax him a lot.
He's gonna be here for 10 more years so he better earn the trust of the fans, or else it's gonna be a very very long ten years.
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