In his roughly and sometimes rough 30 years of fame, Alex Rodriguez often seemed intent on appearing authentic in front of the cameras rather than actually being so. Even when he lunged for it and attempted to be candid or sincere, true authenticity eluded him, like a ground ball just out of reach.
It was transparent and unbecoming, and made him a less-popular figure than a player of his immense talent and charisma should have been. And that was before a self-inflicted scandal cost him more than a year of his career to suspension and branded him with baseball’s scarlet letters: PED.