Alex Rodriguez has had a controversial tenure in New York since joining the Yankees in 2004, marred by a series of seemingly endless crises, some largely of his own doing (steroids) and some largely out of his control (not being Derek Jeter).
This may help explain why, when he announced that his last game would be on Friday, Yankee fans had very mixed reactions.
But while Rodriguez may not leave behind as pristine a legacy as players like Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra or Mariano Rivera, one thing he beats just about every other Yankee at is having a nickname, A-Rod, that lent itself to a seemingly endless amount of variations.
Here is a brief recap of the many variations of A-Rod — and his many scandals — that New Yorkers have enjoyed over the years:
►2007: A-Rod is dubbed Stray-Rod after being caught entering a hotel room in Toronto with a mysterious woman
►2008: D-Rod enters the cultural lexicon after A-Rod's wife, known as C-Rod, files for a divorce. Madonna is involved. It was a strange year.
►2009: A-Rod becomes A-Roid after admitting that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his career. Even The Onion gets in on the action, running an incredibly profane article that gives the embattled ballplayer several new nicknames, none of which can be printed here.
►Also 2009: Joe Torre writes in his book The Yankee Years that teammates and personnel called A-Rod A-Fraud during his time on the Yankees due to his phoniness.
►2016: The Daily News reports on A-Rod's departure with the nicknames A-Gone and A-Dios.
But just because A-Rod is retiring doesn't mean his nicknames have to end. Here are a few ideas for where his famous moniker could take him going forward:
►2020: A-Rod shows up to Old-Timers' Day looking old and is dubbed Gray-Rod.
►2031: A-Rod becomes an outspoken advocate for controlling the pet population, leading to the nickname Spay-Rod.
►2036: A typo in an article about the Yankees misidentifies A-Rod as A-Cod. He decides to run with the mistake and opens a moderately successful chain of seafood restaurants.
► 2044: A-Rod completes a novel about a great baseball player coincidentally nicknamed A-God who ends his Major League Baseball career by breaking the home run record in his last at-bat, putting an end to a flawless 25 years in baseball that were not marred by allegations of steroid use, bad sportsmanship or scandal of any sort.
