Reports: Yankees Blown Away By Fiery Speech From A-Rod
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Alex Rodriguez may not be loved in many clubhouses across Major League Baseball.
But according to multiple reports, he took command of the Yankees' locker room prior to New York's spring opener against USF on Friday -- and wowed his teammates with a fiery pre-game speech.
"What Alex did, it blew me away," Eric Chavez told the New York Daily News. "To get up in front of the whole team, out of your element, he really embraced it. I don't see myself doing that. I can't knock down those walls, so to see Al do it, it was like, 'Wow.'"
Yankees manager Joe Girardi wants a different player to share an inspirational quote -- and their insights on it -- each day, according to the Daily News. It seems A-Rod took the budding tradition and made it his own.
Rodriguez, who was voted by his peers in 2011 as MLB's most overrated player, wouldn't disclose the contents of his message. Yahoo! Sports reported Rodriguez talked about being "all in," a reference to the rallying cry the Giants used en route to their Super Bowl title.
The Daily News said A-Rod used the word "score" as an acronym of sorts, with each letter serving as the launching point for a separate idea.
"One of the hardest things to do is to communicate in front of your peers," A-Rod told the paper. "I bet if you asked them, some guys would probably be more nervous about doing that than playing in the World Series. It's hard to stand in front of 85 people that you trust and respect."
"It makes you feel vulnerable," he added. "It's a great exercise and it's setting the right tempo for our team."
Do you think his is the beginning of a new A-Rod? Sound off below...
