It’s been a really tough year for Alex Rodriguez, who has since January been trying to duck a second batch of accusations saying he’d used performance-enhancing drugs. Of course, he actually did get popped for it a couple of weeks ago, so he deserves every bump in the road that he comes across. (Yes, he’s appealing the charges, but I never liked the guy or the Yankees anyway, so I’d casually call him a cheater even if he hadn’t done it.) His latest setback, according to the Long Island Newsday, could involve his voice work and likeness getting removed from the children’s animated film Henry & Me.
“I love Alex Rodriguez,” said longtime Yankees associate and executive producer Ray Negron, “but I love kids more. We just don’t want to get caught up with everything that’s happening right now. The message that we are trying to relay to kids is too important that we don’t want to get caught up with that.”
The 60-minute Henry & Me is a film six years in the making, and tells the story of a young Yankees fan named Jack trying to overcome cancer who is taken on a magical journey by a stranger named Henry, played by Richard Gere. The two meet up with Yankees legends young and old, many of whom teach young Jack a thing or two about baseball and life itself. Sounds like A Christmas Carol for the sports-minded crowd, only without any scrooges. Beyond Gere, the film will also star Chazz Palminteri, Luis Guzmán, Danny Aiello, Cyndi Lauper and Paul Simon, as well as appearances from current Yankees manager Joe Girardi and players CC Sabathia, Mariano Rivera, Reggie Jackson and Yogi Berra. Hank Steinbrenner, the late great George’s son, will provide the voice of his iconic father, who owned the Yankees from 1973 until his death in 2010. All of the film’s proceeds will be donated to charities of the performers’ choosing.
Rodriguez reportedly doesn’t have a lot of lines in the film, though he appears in 49 scenes. In one sequence, he’s even assisted by Jack to hit a home run. As you can imagine, going back in and removing such a prevalent visual in the film would be a ridiculously taxing undertaking. Producer Joseph Avallone said the process would take four to six months and be extremely costly, which almost makes the charity aspect a little less genuine.
“If that’s what has to happen here, that’s what has to happen here from the standpoint of what’s best for the team,” said Negron. “The team being children who are going to be seeing this for the rest of their lives.” While it doesn’t sound like something I’d ever watch, I live far away from New York, where this will probably get yearly airings during baseball season. So he has a point. But I bet when these kids are over, the sting of his illegal play will have subsided and people will remember him “before” he took the drugs.
The final decision as to whether or not to keep Rodriguez in Henry & Me will be made by the film’s investors. The film, which was originally just supposed to go straight to DVD, is now planning a brief theatrical run starting in April next year. So if they decide to yank him out, they’d better get to it.
