In a baseball scoreboards feature, we look at two great baseball players. Those who love the sport of baseball revere their favorite players – they follow every pitch they make, every home run they complete, but above all they follow every bit of news about them. And then they love to talk about it; well, more like dissect every aspect about it passionately!
On February 16th 2004, the fans went into frenzy when they realized the rumors about the Yankees trading Alfonso Soriano for Alex Rodriguez with the Texas Rangers were not completely baseless. It was this exchange that brought the two players, Alfonso Soriano and Alex Rodriguez, onto the same platform and sparked one of the most passionately debated topics in baseball history. It was the debate that became the thing fans discussed, and sometimes even fought over; Who is the better Yankee: Alex Rodriguez or Alfonso Soriano? Who truly lights up the baseball scoreboards?
No one doubts Soriano’s ability to be a hitter; if you wanted the ball to soar, Soriano was the Yankee you would call! And if you wanted your second base defense to crumble then, too, sadly, Soriano was the Yankee you’d call. However, unluckily for Soriano, nobody called on him to have the second base defense crumbled.
On the other hand Alex Rodriguez is considered to be an all rounder, with superb offensive and defensive skills as well. Statistically, Alex Rodriguez (also known as A-Rod) has better averages than Alfred Soriano’s when it comes to playing for the New York Yankees. A-Rod batted .303 with an average of 46 home runs each season as compared to Alfred Soriano’s .280 and a 36 home runs average per season.
However, is it only the stats that make a player more valuable than other players? Alex Rodriguez has always attracted the media’s eye and not always for the best of reasons. His team mates, as well as others who know him, state that his on the field conduct is a little cheap and unsportsmanlike. Other than that, it is now clear that A-Rod is not in it for the love of the game, but for the money. On the other hand, Alfonso Soriano has been termed as a great team player and an even better guy in person. A team is not only numbers and stats, but more often than not it is about players who can keep the team together and in this respect Soriano takes the spotlight away from A-Rod.
The exchange occurred only as an attempt of the Yankees to win the World Series, even though Soriano had played in 2 World Series, while A-Rod in none. They traded a solid hitter, not to forget a better team player, in Soriano for an all rounder in A-Rod, but what did all the hype boil down to? Nada! For me Alfonso Soriano was by far the better of two Yankees.
For more information on the Yankees, go to:
en.wikipedia.org