And there are certainly some parallels between Hornsby and Rodriguez. Both came up when they were very young, facing major-league pitching at the tender age of 19. And both began their careers as shortstops, as Hornsby didn't permanently shift to second base until he was 24. Mantle and Griffey both popped up in the earlier list, which shouldn't be too surprising. Taking these hard, cold looks at the numbers, it's apparent that Rodriguez has a great future.
Baseball players are human.
Over the next 15 or so years, things will happen to Alex Rodriguez, and it's how Alex Rodriguez responds to those things that will determine his place in history. Rodriguez has been in the majors for five full seasons, and he's spent time on the DL in four of them. We cannot, in April of 2001, know the answers to these questions. His column runs Monday through Thursday. Information are applicable to this site.