Alex Rodriguez stepped away from baseball (for now) on Friday night after 22 seasons. Rodriguez was one of the many Twins killers over the years.
In 150 career games against the Twins, he hit 51 home runs, while batting .319; posting a slugging percentage of .632. But did you know that Rodriguez was a friend of the Twins’ legendary P.A. announcer Bob Casey?
When Rodriguez was a kid, he used to attend spring training games in Florida and was always mesmerized by Casey’s voice. he told the New York Daily News in 2005, “I fell in love with his voice, The way he would say ‘Kirby Puckett’ and ‘Kent Hrbek’ was pretty special.”
When Rodriguez eventually made it to the majors, he went out of his way to introduce himself to Casey and their relationship flourished from there on out.
Shortly before Casey passed away from cancer in 2005, Twins radio broadcasters John Gordon and Dan Gladden arranged a phone call between Casey and Rodriguez.
Casey told Rodriguez that, “Puckett and myself were his favorites, and that he wanted to go out this year in June … (and) have me take him out there and throw out the first pitch. It was very emotional.”
Mike Casey, Bob’s son, had to translate what his dad was saying because of his weakened condition. He told reporters after the phone call that, “He just wanted Alex to know how important he was.”
