by Tamar Chalker
December 20, 2023
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As we wait for the off-season’s next move - or more specifically, for Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s decision, I found myself thinking about past exciting signings or trades that seemed amazing at the time but turned out to be duds. There are plenty of examples of those and they certainly don’t need to be relived now, while I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about 2024. Instead, I found myself thinking of those players who contributed to the success of the Yankees but have left behind more dubious legacies.
Every sport has its quota of controversial characters and they come in a variety of flavors. There are those larger-than-life personalities who are great athletes but always bring their fair share of drama. Think of Dennis Rodman, Reggie Jackson, Aaron Rodgers, and John McEnroe types. As a Yankees fan, I’ve always enjoyed Reggie, and he certainly became a great ambassador for the game and the Yankees later on - and there is no doubt he was one heck of a hitter.
Adjacent to that group are “the cheaters” - players who are/were fun to watch play, but whose legacies are tainted by gambling or PEDs. These controversies continue to live on in Hall of Fame voting and arguments. The most obvious example of the gambling category is Pete Rose, who I think should be in the HOF. He is too good to be excluded and - assuming he never threw a game - his crimes, in my opinion, aren’t nearly as egregious as how some owners have treated their teams and fans, but that’s a rant for another day.
The PED group of controversial players is tough because it has become so arbitrary. Players like Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez went from sure-fire HOF players to the poster boys for punishing the sport for the widespread steroid use under Commissioner Bud Selig - who found his way to Cooperstown in 2017.
Players like Bonds, A-Rod, Roger Clemens, and others were already the best of the best before they started to juice. It’s not a popular opinion, but I enjoyed watching A-Rod play and I thought that in his last couple of years, he let himself have fun and it showed positively. Of course, he cannot get out of his own way, and had he not juiced he still would have been one of the most hated players in baseball. And then there is David Ortiz, who walks on water.
Of course, there are plenty of players that are controversial for good reason, no matter how great they were on the field. We know who they are and they don’t need revisiting. Instead, I’m curious to know what “controversial” players (any sport, any team) you find yourself cheering on. Personally, I have a soft spot for Dennis Rodman. Growing up in the 90s, I couldn’t help but respect the way he just let his freak flag fly and didn’t seem to care what people thought. He was a rebounding genius and while he does plenty of things that I disagree with, I think he is one of the most fascinating characters in sports. When it comes to the Yankees, I liked A-Rod and another one of my favorite players growing up was Gary Sheffield.
