A-Rod's mark should be greeted with apathy

If I were at Yankee Stadium or some other ballpark where Alex Rodriguez hit his 600th home run, I would greet the moment with a sitting yawn instead of a standing “O.’’

And, no, I’m not a Yankee hater. Far from it. I’ve followed the team since ’61.

But I believe in the integrity of the game, first and foremost, and A-Fraud, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and their fellow steroid users are cheaters whose inflated numbers are as fake as a $3 bill. It bothered me that San Francisco Giants fans acted as if Barry Steroid did nothing wrong. I wish Yankee fans would treat this moment for what it truly is – a fraudulent act rather than a cherished milestone.

I will NOT be watching.

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Ralph Houk, who passed away the other day at age 90, tends to get lost in Yankee lore. But he was a heck of a manager, who had the good fortune of winning two World Series and three pennants in his first three seasons as Bombers manager and the misfortune of coming back as skipper when the wheels had fallen off the dynasty by the late 1960s.

Houk also managed the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox, and is credited with laying the foundation for those excellent Bosox teams of the late 1980s. He is the 15th winningest manager in major league history who also will be remembered as the first manager to resign during George Steinbrenner’s reign, starting a domino effect that led to The Boss changing skippers as often as he changed socks.

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It’s wonderful to see the way the Rochester and hockey community rally around former Amerk Craig Charron, who is battling stomach cancer. But I’m not surprised because this town has always been extremely generous and the hockey fraternity is much tighter than other professional sports.

The fact the organizers lined up legends such as Gilbert Perreault, Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig and Marcel Dionne, along with local NHL products Brian Gionta, Ryan Callahan and Marty Reasoner for that Aug. 1 hockey exhibition at The Sports Centre at MCC is a testament to Charron’s impact on his community and sport. Game time is 5:30. A minimum donation of $10 provides admission. Kudos to the Rochester Americans for helping make this a reality and for everything they’ve done to help Charron and his family.

P.S. I'm trying to get my early rising, sleep-deprived bride to accompany me to the game, and I think I might have a shot because she had a major-league crush on Perreault back in those Buffalo Sabres glory years of the 1970s.

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My latest book, Buffalo Bills Football Vault: The First 50 Seasons was the fifth best-selling NFL book on Amazon.com yesterday. As I wrote on my Facebook page, not the New York Times bestseller list, but I’ll take it.