A-Rod book bugs Girardi

Now Joe Girardi is a literary critic. You’d think Girardi would have his hands full managing the New York Yankees, a full-time job, but apparently he’s a literary critic on the side.

He was conducting an advanced literary seminar at a ballpark recently when he spoke about the new book about Alex Rodriguez, “A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez,” by Selena Roberts, released Monday. At one point he offered this astute appraisal: “I don’t understand why someone would write a book like this, anyway.”

Whoa, Joe. Let’s get down to basics. What Roberts wrote is called a biography. Got that? Little kids read biographies. You may not understand why someone would write a book like this but reputable people have been writing biographies since they invented the printing press, and even before that. Go to the library. Go to the biography section. You can read books on Babe Ruth, Winston Churchill, Ludwig Van Beethoven. You name somebody famous, there’s a biography. No kidding, Joe.

So, why would somebody write a book like this? Because people are interested in other people, especially in famous people. Because people like to compare their lives to the lives of others. Because people want to know how famous people got to be famous people. Because biographies sell.

Like a biography of A-Rod. He has portrayed himself as a misunderstood saint. Sure, according to his story (call it autobiography) he wandered from the straight and narrow during his Texas years, taking banned performance-enhancing substances.

He was tearful on that subject in his TV interview – call that public relations or damage control. But, according to him, he was a Boy Scout before and has been a reformed sinner after.

Maybe. It’s just that Roberts alleges other things. She writes he took steroids in high school. If that’s the case, wow, highly serious. She writes he took banned performance-enhancing drugs with the Yankees. If he continued cheating with New York, that makes him a double cheater and a liar.

She writes he tipped off opposing batters to what pitches were coming when he played for Texas. She writes he dawdles with strippers and frequented illegal poker venues and has a thing for Madonna, which contributed to the bust-up of his marriage.

Just as an aside, it seems lots of ballplayers have a thing for Madonna. Why? But that’s beside the point.

If these assertions are true, A-Rod has a lot of explaining to do.

And more important — this is for you, Joe — the public has a right to know. It even has a right to know about the strippers because A-Rod comes across sweet and balanced and, if he has another side to his personality, people are interested. Maybe they won’t want his bobblehead or maybe they won’t buy his jersey.

A-Rod is a public figure. He knows the rules. If he doesn’t want people to write about his personal life, he needs to be exemplary or very careful. If he didn’t want all this scrutiny, he should have pursued a career as an ice cream man.

Roberts writes for Sports Illustrated, a reputable magazine. She used to write for the New York Times, which owns this newspaper and is reputable. Things about her book are troubling. I have not read the book but I’ve read about the book, so I’m commenting on others’ comments.

She uses lots of anonymous sources. In a book, you would not expect people to hide their identities. This weakens her argument. In some cases she gives no attribution at all, just states certain things as fact. This is scary. When a book assaults someone’s character, you expect the writer to be scrupulous.

These issues exist and Girardi might have questioned her methods.

He might have asked if the book is a good biography instead of asking why writers write biographies. It is yet to be determined if this is a good biography.

Something else is troubling. Roberts has a theory why A-Rod is the way he is. His father ran out on the family when A-Rod was 10, and A-Rod has felt unloved ever since. Somehow that led to a pattern of cheating and lying.

When did Roberts get her degree in psychiatry? Does that mean every baseball cheater is the product of a broken home or has a similar excuse? A-Rod could have a million reasons for cheating — like he wanted a big salary and fame — and those reasons may have nothing to do with his childhood. It always is suspect when a writer reduces a whole life to a single theory.

As I say, I haven’t read the book. Despite its quality or lack of quality, it is serving a useful purpose. It is advancing the A-Rod debate, letting us ponder once more the meaning of celebrity and excellence and cheating and betrayal. These are important themes, as we learned with Barry Bonds, and these themes ought to satisfy Joe Girardi’s questioning mind.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at blog.pressdemocrat.com/cohn. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at 521-5486 or lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.