A metaphor for the National Ethics, then and now. m/r The Disgrace of the Yankees | National Review Online
AUGUST 9, 2013
Our culture encourages Alex Rodriguezes, not Lou Gehrigs.
By Rich Lowry
New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez may be the most hated figure in sports, but he is a man for our time.
He is a master at the insincere mea culpa, at self-involvement, at pretense and greed. Not just greed for money, but for fame and glory. If he had only disgraced himself playing for the Texas Rangers, that would be one thing, but he has done it playing for the most storied franchise in sports, whose legends are synonymous with baseball greatness.
So let’s consider the tale of two prodigiously talented Yankee corner infielders, separated by about 80 years and a vast moral chasm.
Like Rodriguez in his prime, first baseman Lou Gehrig posted awesome offensive numbers. But what is most remarkable about him isn’t the statistics — the career .340 batting average, the 493 home runs, the 184 RBIs in one season — it’s the character. He was modest even at the height of his powers, calling himself “just the Yankee who’s in there every day.” When tragedy struck, he made his debilitating illness an epic of dignity.
In 1939, he removed himself from the lineup after playing 2,130 consecutive games, for “the good of the team.”
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