Pettitte is often inexplicably and falsely referred to as a "lifetime Yankee," as if he never played for the Astros.
Pettitte unashamedly praised Steinbrenner in the wake of Steinbrenner's death, but Pettitte sang a different tune eight years ago when he signed with Houston and unfavorably compared Steinbrenner to ultra-Christian Drayton McLane.
Now, if you want to talk about frauds who get a pass, we can talk about David Ortiz. Big Papi. The gap in his toothy smile is disarming and we love him.
All of us love Big Papi, Mike Lupica most of all:
"Speaking of No. 13 of the Yankees:
He has put some remarkable numbers into the books, and 600 career home runs is right at the top of the list."
Arguably, one of the top five baseball players ever."No one will ever know how much steroids helped him get there this fast."
Tim Smith knows. He probably has a desk right down the hall, so just ask him.
No one knows if Griffey took steroids. Right?
No one knows if Jeter took steroids.
No one knows if Jon Lester and Dustin Pedroia took steroids.
I mean, I get that ARod lost some benefit of the doubt, but the all-or-nothing, prove-a-negative logic isn't a compelling argument.
"No one will ever know if he really used performance-enhancing drugs only during the three years he said he used them when he was with the Texas Rangers.
When he said he didn't know what he was taking, didn't know what the drugs actually did for him, but kept taking them for three whole years, anyway.
So now that he has arrived at this milestone, you ask yourself the same thing you did when he copped to taking the drugs in the spring of 2009:
How is he different from Mark McGwire, even in the minds of Yankee fans?"
Let's see:
1) Most importantly, ARod's a Yankee and Mark McGwire was never a Yankee. That's the most obvious way ARod is different from Mark McGwire.
I mean, McGwire is the batting coach in St. Louis. I'm not sure what he teaches the players on the team. "Guys, I can't help you unless you take some 'roids. That's all I've got."
"How is he different from Barry Bonds, who says he only used a substance called 'the clear' accidentally?"
Let's see:
1) Most importantly, ARod's a Yankee and Barry Bonds was never a Yankee.
2) ARod has a ring. Bonds never got a ring.
"How is he different from Sammy Sosa?"
1) Most importantly, ARod's a Yankee and Sosa was never a Yankee.
2) ARod has a ring. Sosa never got a ring.
3) Stolen bases.
4) Fielding.
Oh, and another difference is that ARod admitted to his steroid use and talked about it.
Perhaps not a big difference, but you asked.
"If he gets a pass, they get a pass."
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