Prince Fielder and Alex Rodriguez: Two retirements, only one fond farewell

Gregg Patton writes as two high-profile players walked away from baseball this week, one's warm departure only underscored the awkward relationship the sport long maintained with the other.

Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees. Kathy Willens / AP Photo

Alex Rodriguez and Prince Fielder suddenly retired this week in mid-season, one bathed in empathy, the other deserving not much more than a stony, “See ya”.

What a strange contrast.

Fielder’s injury-caused exit sadly shortened the stellar career of the widely admired veteran first baseman of the Texas Rangers.

Rodriguez? Over 22 seasons, the New York Yankees slugger put together a statistical portfolio that ranks among the top half dozen of all-time.

But fair to say, few will miss one of the most unsympathetic superstars the game has ever known.

Fielder was cheated out of several likely productive years by a severe neck injury. Rodriguez, 40, simply cheated the game, not to mention himself.

Twice caught in steroids scandals separated by a decade, A-Rod overstayed his welcome.

Unproductive and ineffective at the end, but still owed US$27 million (Dh128.5m) on a contract through 2017, Rodriguez and his team negotiated a quick goodbye with little fanfare, in keeping with the sterile nature of their relationship.

He brought the disdain on himself, for no logical reason. An incredibly gifted athlete, A-Rod made the Seattle Mariners line-up at age 18.

He decided that his natural talents were not enough, getting identified through a media leak as a performance enhancing drug user in the 2003 Mitchell report.

After saying his mea culpas and apologies in the mid-2000s, he was caught again in 2013, and suspended for the entire 2014 season.

His addiction was not to drugs, it was to the trappings of stardom. To stay on top of his game, he sacrificed his integrity.

His handling of fame always seemed robotic, a learned style. He made time for the media, unfailingly polite and diplomatic, but his answers were vanilla with a practised earnestness.

He made sure everyone saw that he enjoyed his celebrity, dating a series of models and actresses.

His relationships with teammates were about as sincere. He did not feud with fellow ball players, but was never confused with those who built chemistry and fostered unity. He was a teammate apart.

Fielder was an opposite. If A-Rod was tall, rangy and perfectly built for baseball, Fielder was a roly-poly, bowling ball of a man.

His physique screamed “chef” or “sports writer,” but he possessed a fearsome, lethal swing, and surprisingly agile hands and quick feet at first base.

His 319 career home runs and 1,028 runs batted in add up to less than half of A-Rod’s totals, but he left his mark in other ways.

In the clubhouse, Fielder was “one of the boys,” respected and popular with the Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers over his 12 year career, including six seasons as an All-Star.

Off the field, he was a proud family man, often bringing his two boys to the clubhouse where they could soak up the atmosphere – dad, after all, playing a kid’s game.

At his emotional press conference this week, Fielder cited two spinal fusion surgeries that made it impossible to continue.

He tearfully acknowledged teammates, thanked his wife Chanel for her support, and left the room with his hands on his boys, who were misty-eyed with their dad throughout the farewell event.

Rodriguez, to be sure, teared-up at his own goodbye press conference, in which the Yankees explained the new arrangement that will make him the highest paid consultant/instructor ever, at least for a season.

For the most part, suffice it to say, A-Rod cried alone.

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