It's easy to forget a time — way before the steroids and New York — when Alex Rodriguez was one of the most exciting and likeable players in Major League Baseball. He was a young star on a fun Mariners team that included future Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson as well as a borderline candidate in Edgar Martinez. A-Rod was compared with Derek Jeter his entire career and no matter how many home runs he hit or RBIs he totaled he never surpassed the Yankees' captain in adoration. Nevertheless when Rodriguez was 17 he was simply "bigger and better."
