DUNEDIN, Fla. Alex Rodriguez needs 75 home runs to tie Barry Bonds for the all-time record, and after he hit 33 last year, its not crazy to think that in 2018, he could make a chase for history.Except that A-Rod wont be making that chase, as he told ESPNs Andrew Marchand on Wednesday that he following the 2017 season. For someone who has as much interest in baseball history as Rodriguez does, its hard to believe that he doesnt know what David Wright Jersey this decision means.MORE: | The signal sent is the ultimate change in A-Rod, moving away from the image of the ultimate self-absorbed ballplayer to someone giving up a chance athistory when it could easily be within his reach. There has to be a part of him that wants that record, but at the same time, part of him that knows what it would mean to the game if its most hallowed record went to somebody who was suspended a year for a PED rap.Yes, Bonds holds the record, Neil Walker Jersey and theres little question about what he did to get it, but the Robinson Cano Jersey difference is that Bonds never was sanctioned for what he did, and played during a time when Major League Baseballs stance was to look the other way. With A-Rod, there is no such ambiguity hes an admitted user who served a punishment.By stepping aside, A-Rod avoids the scrutiny that would come with a record chase, and winds up better serving his legacy as someone who learned a le son from his suspension, as someone who can have a positive a sociation with his name going forward. The guy that everyone saw on Fox last October is and should be the guy Devin Mesoraco Jersey that A-Rod wants to be known as.So, Rodriguez can spend the next two years continuing to build goodwill, rising from the ashes of what he himself burned down with his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal. The Hall of Fame likely is out of the equation for him regardle s of where he winds up on the all-time home run list, so that doesnt provide any extra incentive to chase the record.As Mets reliever Hansel Robles said Thursday through an interpreter, If hes retiring, he must feel like hes completed his goals.A-Rods goals a suredly did once include the home run record he had incentive clauses written into his contract for pa sing legends on the all-time list. But when he pa sed Willie Mays last year, and the Yankees initially tried to withhold the bonus, a compromise was reached to donate the bonus money to charity. This is the way for A-Rod to be known Jeff McNeil Jersey as something bigger than a tainted number, and that is the goal he moves on to.
