Alex Rodriguez Is Old And Fun

I don’t watch many Yankees games because the Yankees are whatever, but I had a game on Wednesday evening for the sake of background noise, which means I got to see Alex Rodriguez hit his 20th homer of the season:

This is one of those homers that grabs you by the eyeballs. In one moment, you’re half-watching a baseball game and thinking about what you want to eat for dinner, and in the next you’re glued to the TV, waiting for the instant replay so you can say, “Hooooooly shit!” again.

Alex Rodriguez is 39 years old, but he can still do that. He’s also the fourth-most valuable player on the Yankees in terms of fWAR, and his wRC+ of 143 has him just a hair behind team leader Mark Teixeira. All of this is especially absurd since before the start of this season, A-Rod had been out of the game for an entire season thanks to the zeal of Bud Selig’s G-men.

Now he’s playing again, and quietly putting together a great season while also doing hilarious old-man shit. Here he is during yesterday’s game, capping off a creaky run from first to home with a dive-roll of a slide and then nearly collapsing from exhaustion in the dugout:

This is exactly what I want from an aged all-time great—flashes of brilliance followed up by slapstick routines. So you can take your opinions about steroid gummies and shove it; Alex Rodriguez is a fun baseball player and I’m glad his old ass is still here.