Alex Rodriguez

Cliff Lee, Lance Berkman , Jorge Cantu, Austin Kearns , Bengie Molina, Kerry Wood, Cristian Guzman. All players that are now wearing either a Texas Rangers Jersey or Yankee pinstripes now, as the smell of October baseball grows stronger with each passing day.

Let's take a trip back to the late offseason of last year.

Alex Rodriguez, a then 33-year-old New York Yankees slugger sits in front of a microphone, trying desperately to save his legacy.

Recently, Rodriguez has been proven to be a steroid user. Now he tries to clear up the story and apologize as America—no, check that—the entire baseball world watches.

Rodriguez then sat at 553 homers. He seemed like a lock to break the all-time record, given his age and torrid pace. Then this blew up.

Alex Rodriguez is on the threshold of joining an elite club.

Currently sitting at 599 homers, A-Rod will become one of only seven major league players to ever reach the 600 mark.

At only 34 years old, Rodriguez has a chance to surpass Barry Bonds for the all-time home run lead.

Six of the top 10 sluggers of all-time played for an average of 22 seasons.

In order for Rodriguez, currently in his 17th season, to eclipse Bonds, he will have to average nearly 30 home runs per season over the next five and a half years.

I want you to ask yourself this, what Major League Baseball players deserve to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame? Does Pete Rose deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? How about Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, or Roger Clemens? Maybe even one day New York Yankess third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who is on the eve of hitting home run No. 600?

While watching Hall of Fame outfielder Andre Dawson give his speech after his induction into Cooperstown on Sunday, he said some things that struck a chord with me and became the inspiration for this article.

One hundred eighty-seven MLB players were surveyed to answer the question — who is the most overrated player in baseball?

Keep in mind that when determining whether a player is overrated or not, evaluation is not the sole factor — public opinion also needs to be weighed in.

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New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is one shy of hitting the 600 home run mark.

He can hit 800 by the end of his career, but he won't hit Cooperstown with the rest of baseball's legends...ever.

This situation best relates with Mark McGwire, but even he wasn't close to the required number of votes to get in the Hall of Fame.

He got 25 percent of votes, but players need 75 percent to get in. McGwire was maybe the most exciting hitter to see when he was in his prime, just like how A-Rod was in Texas, or when he's chasing history.

It was a big night for the Yankees, who sat through about an hour and a half wait through a rain delay to beat the Royals 7-1 last night.

Here are some notes:

When Alex Rodriguez went from 499 homers to 500, it took him nine games and 28 at-bats to do it. Now that he’s at 599, let’s take a look at how long to expect it to take this time.

If it took him another nine games, that would set him up for No. 600 on July 31st in Tampa against the Rays. This time could be different, though.

Once upon a time, Mark Teixeira was hitting below the Mendoza Line with little power and a lot of criticism. However, much has changed since May.

Teixeira is slowly turning his season around, producing the power numbers the Yankees expect, and need, in the middle of their order.

Although his average is still a bit too low (.256 entering Thursday), Texieira is on pace to finish with 30-plus home runs and 100-plus runs batted in.

Either tonight, tomorrow, or at some point in the near future, New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is going to swing his familiar swing the way he has 599 times before and become the seventh player ever to hit 600 major league home runs.

When he does so, he will join an exclusive club comprised of Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., and Sammy Sosa.