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New York. On the outside, Alex Rodriguez could find humor in his home run drought. He poked fun at his inability to hit the elusive No. 600, advising fans and teammates to “get comfortable” because it was going to take a while, and he hardly seemed flustered as the homerless streak followed him to Cleveland, Florida and back to the Bronx.

In reality, Rodriguez was growing weary of it all. Every at-bat, all 46 of them, Rodriguez wanted to hit a home run, and each time he did not, the cycle perpetuated itself.

Wednesday afternoon, in his 47th at-bat since No. 599, Rodriguez crushed a ball toward deep center and jogged toward first base with his hands outstretched, his palms up. His chase was finally over.

On the third anniversary of his 500th homer, Rodriguez reached his latest milestone in the first inning of the Yankees’ 5-1 victory over Toronto, connecting for a two-run blast off Shaun Marcum that landed in Monument Park, where the ball was retrieved by a security guard.

The crowd at Yankee Stadium rose and roared as he rounded the bases, and when Rodriguez reached the plate, Derek Jeter, who had been on base, was waiting for him with an embrace, as the rest of his teammates poured from the dugout.

“I felt bad for them,” Rodriguez said. “I had them waiting a long, long time.”

He had been waiting since July 22 to go from 599 to 600 and join an exclusive fraternity that now numbers seven people.

Eight days after turning 35, Rodriguez also becomes the youngest player to get to 600.

He had gone hitless in his previous 17 at-bats and the Yankees had lost three consecutive games to fall out of first place in the American League East.

After Wednesday’s game he admitted that the pursuit of 600 had hardly been joyful.

“I’ve got to say, they really haven’t been a lot of fun,” said Rodriguez, when asked how he has handled the last two weeks.

Because Rodriguez admitted in February 2009 that he used performance-enhancing drugs for three seasons with the Texas Rangers, his latest milestone comes with an asterisk attached.

The steroid era has tarnished two other members of the 600-homer club — Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa — and to at least some extent, Rodriguez will be seen the same way.

How he will eventually fare in Hall of Fame balloting remains to be seen.

On Wednesday, however, Rodriguez was not about to look that far into the future. He was happy, even if the seemingly endless nature of his quest took some of the drama out of his pursuit.

This season, Rodriguez has endured other homerless streaks of 61, 49 and 41 at-bats, and for the past three months he has been asked whether his power is starting to diminish.

Entering Wednesday, he had homered once every 23.94 at-bats this season. Last year, that figure was once every 14.80 at-bats, and his career average is 14.50.

Still, Rodriguez remains in a good position to eventually break Bonds’ career home run record of 762.

Rodriguez has 17 homers this season and with luck can hit 30 for a 13th consecutive season.

At a pace of 30 a season, he would reach 700 in late 2013, surpass Babe Ruth in 2014 and overtake Bonds with No. 763 in 2016, sometime before his 41st birthday.

Rodriguez was on deck when the Yankees lost on Tuesday night. He had gone 0 for 3 on a night when the Yankees only managed two hits.

Afterward, he stuck around to talk with Jeter, who struggled with a few hitless nights last September as he approached Lou Gehrig’s franchise record for base hits.

He said Jeter told him to just try for a base hit, or even a bunt.

It was interesting advice, but when Marcum threw a 2-0 cutter that stayed up, Rodriguez just pummeled it.

“I’m sure he’s going to hit another 150 or 200, so it’s no big deal,” Marcum said.

The ball landed atop the netting over Monument Park, where Frankie Babilonia, 23, was filling in for a security guard on break.

He had been there for 10 minutes when he saw the ball coming his way, and he said he almost fell while trying to get it.

“My job was to retrieve the ball and return it to my superiors,” said Babilonia when asked if he considered keeping it.

Fans in New York have warmed to Rodriguez, who overcame his repeated futility in the postseason by helping steer the Yankees to a championship last season.

But No. 600 clearly did not resonate the way that Jeter’s passing Gehrig did.

That moment involved one famous Yankee captain passing another, in an accomplishment celebrated as much for its purity as its significance.


The New York Times