No, you’re not looking at an old Yankees box score: Alex Rodriguez is back in pinstripes and in the New York starting lineup — albeit in spring training.

Yesterday, in an exhibition game against the Philadelphia Phillies, number 13 once again dug into a Major League right-handed batter’s box and took swings against major-league pitching. This is really happening.

I’m sure that most of us thought that we’d seen the last of A-Rod after the 2013 season, which was punctuated by widely-publicized reports of Yankees brass butting heads with A-Rod regarding his injury rehabilitation, followed by the big blow: the breaking of the Biogenesis scandal that implicated Rodriguez, along with 12 other players, who were ultimately handed suspensions by the Commissioner’s office.

And yet, after the full service of his 162-game suspension spanning the entire 2014 season, here he is, trying to revive his Major League career at the ripe old age of 39.

I’ve never been a fan of Alex Rodriguez. In fact, I’ve disliked him almost from the moment I became a fan of baseball, because success breeds haters and I myself will freely admit that I am a hater. If you ask most baseball fans outside of New York, the common refrains you’ll hear are that the Yankees buy out the best players with their overwhelming budget and name value, making bad guys out of good, honest players.

And over the last decade, A-Rod has really been the face of that juggernaut — the Darth Vader figure, if you will — and has received most of that Yankees hate. It’s hard to hate guys like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera or Jorge Posada that have become icons of the game while staying loyal to one team, but A-Rod, seemingly snatched away from the Rangers by the allure of flashing dollar signs to bat cleanup in the New York lineup, was the prototypical “Yankees bad guy.” It also didn’t help that he’s an admitted steroid user; that was just one more thing for people to focus on in their attacks of him.

Regardless of what you think of steroids, though, the fact remains that they will always be a part of baseball history, whether we like it or not. People will always put an asterisk next to Barry Bonds and his 762 or Mark McGwire and his 583, but those asterisks don’t take away from the fact that those players are still in those record books and aren’t going anywhere because steroids used to be part of the game, and that’s something we need to accept.

Most of A-Rod’s steroid use happened back in the early 2000s, when the residual memories of that era still remained and things were still very much a gray area. He was a young slugger trying to become the best baseball player that ever lived — the temptation turned out to be too much, especially before even the mere mention of the word “steroid” could make baseball fans shudder.

Alex Rodriguez sat out his 162 games like he was supposed to. He appealed at first, but once he accepted the punishment, he sat it out quietly and out of the public eye. He’s done his time, which is more than Bonds or McGwire can say.

And now, I have a begrudging but significant respect for Alex Rodriguez for trying to see how much gas is left in the tank by returning to the Yankees this season. He could just as easily have retired, gone home and enjoyed the bushels of money that the Yankees have already paid him over the last decade. But instead, he’s dealing with the vitriol and questions that will assault him not only from around the nation but from within the Yankees organization as well, to try and make one last foray into the game that he has already given so much to.

It’s the same respect that I had for Jim Thome when he came to Minnesota (and, ultimately, three other teams) or for Jason Giambi when he went to Colorado for one last go-around as players and as a mentor figures to the rising generation of Major Leaguers. They understood that they weren’t going to be the superstars they once were, but swallowed their pride and contributed as long as they could in ever-diminishing roles until their careers hit their natural twilights. There’s something to be said about going out on top, but there’s even more to be said for acknowledging and embracing how fleeting stardom at the highest level of American sport can be.

Will Alex Rodriguez receive the same love from around the nation that, say, Thome did in his last few years? Absolutely not. But I know that when (not if) A-Rod passes Willie Mays for fourth on the all-time home runs list and retires down the road, I’ll be standing and clapping with the others that will be acknowledging one of the greatest careers in Major League history, scandals or no scandals. And until then, too, I’ll be keeping my eye on Alex Rodriguez — not to bash him or hate on him like I once did, but to see if the guy can legitimately make a comeback against all odds. And as much as Do from even a few years ago would hate me for saying this, I’ll even be rooting for him a little.

Taking after A-Rod, Do-Hyoung Park has stepped into a mentorship role at The Stanford Daily and refuses to leave hopes to make significant impacts. Congratulate him on his recent ascent to fourth on the all-time naps taken at The Daily office list at dpark027 ‘at’ stanford.edu.