Alex Rodriguez homers for 3,000th hit, and Yankees fans roar their approval

In the end, do you stand and recognize the man, the deed or the uniform? Do you stand and applaud the player or the 24 beside him, who wear the same uniform, who foremost needed a hit to beat theDetroit Tigers and a win toward a return to October for the first time in three years, an eternity for the storied franchise?

Do you rise and forgive? Forget? Do you rise for the moment? Is it your duty as a fan of the New York Yankees, like your father was, and his father too?

Are you simply exhausted by the controversy? The shade it throws? The column inches it inspires?

Or do you just want a cool selfie?

A pariah just months ago, when his life choices fouled his career choice, embarrassed his team and his sport, and ostensibly held up the Yankees' return to relevance, Alex Rodriguez homered on the first pitch he saw from Justin Verlander for his 3,000th career hit Friday night at Yankee Stadium.

The grand place shook with gratitude. It roared with approval.

Rodriguez had picked out a first-pitch fastball – 95 mph, middle-middle – and drove it into the right-field bleachers. For 360 feet he did his best to stifle a smile, the last 90 past a stoic Detroit Tigers bench. When he reached home plate, Rodriguez tapped Tigers catcher Bryan Holaday on the shoulder, then fell into the embraces of his teammates in front of the dugout.