As covered extensively on ESPN, Alex Rodriguez is nearly to a huge milestone in Major League Baseball, providing 600 balls to people with crappy seats at games. Rodriguez, as a relatively poor boy in the Dominican Republic, always had horrible seats to baseball games and vowed to one day become a dominant power hitter to make up for it.
As he hit number 598 over the weekend, the Yankee announcers talked about the generosity of A-Rod.
“Only a few players in history have been this great with giving free souvenirs to poor baseball fans,” the announcers stated. “Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and of course the super philanthropist Barry Bonds; the man who risked his fertility, health, and size of his testicles to be able to give balls to people who can barely see the batter during the game.”
“And Alex still has a few years left, he could wind up as the most charitable slugger of all time,” replied the other announcer.
Rodriguez has said it was his poor upbringing that has him trying to give out free items to those whose tickets cost less than a beer. He also runs charities on the side like Homers For The Homeless, where he goes out on the streets of New York and hits balls directly at homeless people from a short distance to give them a piece of the game they can keep.
His charity has handed out over 1000 balls unofficially, while putting over 200 people in the hospital.
How many balls he hands out by the end of his career is anybody’s guess, but 600 is quite a milestone, and for those in the outfield, it’s always exciting when he comes to the plate.
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