For Alex Rodriguez, the road to 3,000 hits just might have featured the most p🐲assengers ofꦑ any such journey.
For among the many categories in whi༺ch A-Rod ranks among the league leaders? Friends. And enemies. And frenemies. And friends-turned-ene♐mies-turned-friends again.
One of the most important members of that last group appeared alongside A-Rod last Tuesꦿday, a𝓰t the place where Rodriguez learned how to play the game that made him America’s most beloved supervillain.
“I’ve always said this: It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish,” Eddie Rodriguez told The Post at the Hank Kline Club in Miami. “And I’m hopin💛g, and I think, he is finishing very strong. … I’m proud of the way he’s finishing. And he’s going to continue to do better. Continue to be a b🔯etter person. And he’s going to continue to be a better player, too.”
Eddie Rodriguez met Alex Rodriguez (there’s no relation) about 30 years ago at t🍨his club, which is a chapter of the Boys & Girls Club. On Tuesday, as he oversaw a clinic for about 30 youngsters at t♛he club, A-Rod called Eddie Rodriguez his “great mentor.”
When the Yankees acquired Alex Rodriguez from Texas in time for the 2004 season, Eddie was a steady presence at (then) Legends Field during spring training, even workin👍g with A-Rod on early-morning drills.
N🔥e💟vertheless, the Yankees understandably weren’t comfortable with a non-employee working with A-Rod on their property, so they asked Eddie to stay off the field. And shortly after that, Eddie and A-Rod’s relationship soured, according to a source familiar with the two men.
“We’ve always been in touch,” Eddie Rodriguez insisted. “I didn’t travel with him as much as I 🅠used to travel before. But we always kept in touch. We never had any issues.”
As often occurs in the A-Rod universe, the two men reconnected and re-solidified their bond൲ in 🎶recent years. And Eddie served as a resource for Alex during the latter’s 2014 suspension from baseball for his involvement in Biogenesis.
“He came over here a few times, and we talked a lot on the phone,” said Eddie Rodriguez, who is the unit director at the Hank Kline Club. “I think he⛄ started realizing who his friends are. He started realizing what life is all about.
“And it’s like I said from the beginning: It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. ♈He’s going to fin🎉ish very strong, and I’m very proud of that.”
I𓂃ronically, the late George Steinbrenner often cited a similar line — “It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish” — when discussing his Yankees. It’s a line꧂ from the Broadway play “Seesaw,” with Tommy Tune, in which The Boss had invested.
Steinbrenner, like A-Rod, often saw people join, leave and rejoin his inner circle. A-Rod took his time away from the game to leave many people🍒 by the wayside. He has held onto Eddie Rodriguez.
Asked whether A-Rod’s strong play this year has surprised him, Eddie Rodriguez said, “Alex is an athlꦗete. And the only thing I was afraid of was, can he stay in shape? If he worked hard enough, then he could still be a very, very, very productive player.”
He has been just that.
“He’s doing good,” Eddie Rodriguez said. “He’s not doing great♓. He’s doing good. And we’re going to do better. The second half is going to be better [with warmer weather]. It’s going to be be🐻tter.”
The🌃 beauty of the A-Rod road is, you never know where it will lead. Maybe Alex Rodriguez will indeed pick up his already impressive performance. Maybe 🌞Eddie Rodriguez will continue to be A-Rod’s Yoda.
Or maybe much more drama꧟, more rides on the friend/enemy roller coaster, await us.