Rodriguez ties Mays with 660 homers, but $6M uncertain

PHOTOGRAPHER: The Associated Press

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No. 660 is in the book. Will $6 million get in the bank?

That’s the amount in a marketing agreement that the New York Yankees may have to pay Alex Rodriguez for tying Willie Mays’ total of 660 homers, fourth most in major league history.

He slugged that on Friday night, a no-doubt, tie-breaking, pinch-hit liner over the Green Monster in the eighth inning that lifted the Yankees to a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox.

But Rodriguez and the Yankees appear to be on opposite sides of the $6 million issue.

“I’m so in the moment right now and really grateful and appreciative to be playing baseball,” Rodriguez said. “Those things will take care of themselves”

When he and the Yankees negotiated a 10-year, $275 million contract in December 2007, they also signed a separate $30 million marketing agreement. It called for $6 million each for up to five accomplishments, payable within 15 days of designation by the team. The accomplishments were contemplated to be home runs 660, 714, 755, 762 and 763.

But the Yankees are considering letting the milestones pass without making a designation. They’d likely say that Rodriguez’s suspension all last season for involvement in the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal ruins the marketing possibilities for the milestones.

A failure to declare a milestone and make a payment likely would trigger a grievance on Rodriguez’s behalf by the Major League Baseball Players Association. Barring a settlement, the case would be heard by an arbitrator.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he didn’t think that issue would be a distraction to Rodriguez.