When it was suggested that some players never put such personal considerations ahead of the best deal, A-Rod nodded.
"That was me - and now it's not," he said. "That's the difference between being 24 and 32. And that's what I'm proud of."
Proud and happy, with no issues hanging over him for a change - unless
Jose Canseco truly has some dirt to dish - A-Rod seems more at ease than ever as a Yankee. He says he learned to thrive in New York last year by no longer trying to please everyone, as well as no longer feeling compelled to react to everything said or written about him.
Derek Jeter even seems to be warming up to him again, engaging him more in clubhouse banter a year after A-Rod stopped pretending publicly that they were still best friends.
"Once you start letting go a little bit, things start coming to you a little easier," A-Rod said. "They did for me last year. In the past, I've always said, 'I have to do this and I have to do that,' mainly because of the expectations.
"Now I've come to a point where, if I get a hit with the bases loaded, cool, and if I don't, so what? Next at-bat. Or next game. People always want it to be about the .individual battle with me, but I just want to be part of this team, and I think that will help me get to where I want to go."
That would be winning a championship - or three - as a Yankee, which is where this interview started. Rodriguez downplays the need for a ring to fulfill a career that is likely to end with him as baseball's all-time home run king. But he also admits that he has spoken with athletes such as
John Elway and
Dan Marino about these things.
Elway won two Super Bowls late in his career to cement his Hall of Fame legacy, while Marino, one of A-Rod's sports idols and the reason he wears No. 13, never got a ring.
"That was painful for me because I watched every game of his career," A-Rod said. "I talked to him a little bit about it. As athletes we're so competitive that it would haunt all of us. And if we told you that it didn't, we'd be lying.
"But Dan Marino might be the greatest quarterback of all time, and the other side of that is, as a Dolphin fan I give him credit because he stayed a Dolphin for 17 years. He could have gone to
Pittsburgh or the Cowboys or the Raiders, but he didn't. That's where I think the loyalty of the fans comes in. I think at some point they appreciate him for that.
"I want to believe it's the same with me. If I had gone to
Detroit or someplace and I don't win, people are going to hammer me, because there's no loyalty, and by moving again, I don't represent anything. Instead, I'm planting my roots here and saying I want to win with one team and represent something as a Yankee the rest of my career. I think it's the right way to do it."
Baseball has been bery bery good to Carl Pavano.
