Dallas Braden has had an issue with Alex Rodriguez ever since a 2010 incident between them, and the former Oakland A’s pitcher explained the root of the beef.
Back in 2010, Rodriguez angered Braden by running across the pitcher’s mound following a double play during an April game (video here). As I wrote at the time, Rodriguez’s actions were disrespectful to the pitcher, but Braden also overreacted to the offense.
11 years later, Braden still has an issue with A-Rod. The former pitcher joined “Moose & Maggie” on WFAN in New York on Friday and elaborated on what about Rodriguez bothered him so much. He feels that A-Rod big-leagued him.
“These are the people that you bleed and sweat with day in and day out,” Braden said. “These are the people you sacrifice with. The minute you vault yourself above each one of those individuals regardless of what the back of their baseball card looks like, I don’t know that you and I are going to be breaking bread. That’s how I go about things. If you spend one day in the big leagues, you’re a big-leaguer the rest of your life. I’m definitely not the guy to tell you that you’re not.
“And it just felt like he’s an individual who at times kind of did that, and that just doesn’t rub me the right way,” Braden explained.
His mentality makes sense. He feels like he earned a level of respect that Rodriguez did not give him.
Braden, 37, pitched for the A’s from 2007-2011. Besides his beef with A-Rod, Braden is best known for the perfect game he threw on Mother’s Day a month after the A-Rod spat. He’s also known for faking people out with his Rollie Fingers tattoo.
