Alex Rodriguez drove a Jon Niese offering to right-center field in the bottom of the first inning of Sunday night’s series finale against the Mets at Yankee Stadium. It was a solo home run to cut the Mets’ lead in half.
Rodriguez now has 659 career home runs, leaving him one shy of tying Willie Mays for fourth on baseball’s all-time home run leaderboard. Rodriguez’s 10-year, $275 million contract with the Yankees includes a $30 million marketing agreement, which calls for Rodriguez to be paid $6 million for each of five milestone home runs. The first of those five milestone home runs is 660, followed by 714 (tying Babe Ruth), 755 (tying Hank Aaron), 762 (tying Barry Bonds), and 763. The Yankees are expected to take legal action to avoid paying Rodriguez, who was suspended for the entire 2014 season for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal, by claiming that his home runs are no longer marketable.
Our own Craig Calcaterra went over the upcoming legal battle earlier this week.