This week New York Yankees baseball star, Alex Rodriguez, apologized to his fans for lying about taking performance enhancing drugs. It wasn’t the usual media scrum, there were no microphones shoved in the face of Mr. Rodriguez, but rather it came in the form of a hand written letter.
Apparently, this was his own decision not recommended by his agent or the team. He has received a lot of flak for doing this. Take a look at a smattering of responses on Twitter. While not exhaustive by any means, and some are leaning towards positive, they give you a flavor for what many are feeling about his apology.
Read A-Rod’s hand-written apology letter to baseball fans. pic.twitter.com/VGAmbVvGoI
— Big League Stew (@bigleaguestew) February 17, 2015
Oh, so now I’m supposed to feel sorry for A-Rod BECAUSE HE CAN’T TYPE?!?! #arodapologies — Newton Dominey (@NewtonAtTheCrag) February 18, 2015
#ARod #Arodapology Well, you’re right Alex I don’t believe you. You are all about the money, and your ego. nothing more, nothing less. EGO. — Jon Field (@joninfinity) February 18, 2015
I’m sure his PR firm *told him to write a handwritten note. #ARodApology — Melanie McGovern (@mjmcgovern12) February 17, 2015
I accept your apology @AROD cant wait for this year. Lets go Yankees #arodapology #goyankees — Ralph Mazzoni (@Rmazz6) February 17, 2015
A-Rod ordered dinner last night at an expensive restaurant by submitting a handwritten note. #ARodapology #ARod
— Paul Davner (@PaulDavner) February 20, 2015
@TravisRodgers That was great. I’m crying I’m laughing so hard. It’s sad that no one believes him. #ARodApology. — Teresa M (@angelsfan7) February 18, 2015
At what point do we accept an apology?
As for my opinion? Well, first let me say I know nothing about the sport of baseball or ARod (by using his nickname I’m trying to fool myself into thinking I know something about the man behind the moniker). I do live with two ‘boys’ who love the game and hit a pretty mean ball. But, back to the handwritten letter.
It was a no win situation either way, as I see it. No matter whether he held a news conference at the stadium or wrote it down, many people are not prepared to believe him or grant him any grace whatsoever.
Writing the letter allowed him to thoughtfully choose the words he wanted to say (I’m opting to believe the letter was not crafted by a third party), and avoid the media circus. Plus, the fact that it was handwritten is unique and more personal.
Should I ever convert to the religion of baseball, I ‘ll buy a ticket to a Yankees game, just to see the man behind the pen.
What do you think? Do you accept his handwritten apology as sincere? Does it matter that it was handwritten?
P.S. If you are interested in what a handwriting expert has to say about the handwriting of Alex Rodriguez click here.
I think it’s brilliant too Barb. A written letter reveals the heart and something we can keep a re-read 🙂
Brilliant indeed! Thanks for stopping in Sydney.
I don’t know nothing about this matter, so I haven’t any opinion about accepting or refusing the apologies.
But about the handwritten letter system… Well, I agree with you about “the media circus”. And I think that nowadays handwritten notes/letters are so scarce that they have started to be seen like something special.
Hey there Eva, I agree, because handwritten anything is so scarce these days, it makes it stand out when someone does it. No matter if a celebrity for not.