Mark Makela for The New York Times
Alex Rodriguez after a game with the Class AA Trenton Thunder in Reading, Pa. More Photos »
READING, Pa. — Alex Rodriguez spent the final hours of his three-day sojourn to Berks County taking cuts in the batting cage and fielding ground balls Wednesday morning before the Trenton Thunder faced the Reading Fightin Phils at FirstEnergy Stadium. The bleachers were empty for Rodriguez's workout, though dozens of fans had congregated along the ballpark's padlocked perimeter, hoping for a glimpse or an autograph before Rodriguez left, most likely for good.
His appearance was a spectacle in Reading, a rough-hewed factory city that Rodriguez said he visited several times to see extended family as a young boy. While he recalled trips to nearby Hershey, he could not remember much about Reading, other than that it was a whole lot different from Miami, where he grew up.
"I never thought I would be coming back to Reading," Rodriguez said. "It's been a long time."
His stint for the Thunder, the Yankees' Class AA affiliate, was the latest step in his minor league rehabilitation assignment. The visit was happenstance, a quirk of the schedule, as Rodriguez continued to hone his skills after off-season hip surgery. After he spends the next few days playing with the Yankees' Class AAA team in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he hopes to rejoin the Yankees on Monday when they play the Rangers in Texas. For the moment at least, the Yankees seem in accordance with that timetable.
So his trip to Reading will almost certainly become an afterthought, an asterisk, but while he was here it made for an unusual pairing. Rodriguez, armed with the richest contract in baseball history, found himself plying his trade in one of the poorest cities in the country. Reading has a median household income of $27,416, far below the statewide median of $51,651, according to Census Bureau data.
"It's always been a hardworking town, but it's not what it used to be," said Alex Casantini, 37, a chef who cited a rash of factory closings in the 1970s and '80s. "High crime moved in, and a lot of drugs. It really ruined the city. It's a big shame."
Casantini, who has season tickets to the Fightin Phils, arrived hours before Wednesday's game with his 6-year-old son, Dante. As fans crowded the railings along the third-base line, it was difficult to get close to Rodriguez, who was flanked on his short trips from the field to the clubhouse by a security detail that included a former professional wrestler. But as Rodriguez made his way down a tunnel (he did not play in Wednesday's game), he stopped to sign a baseball for Dante, who was wearing Yankee gear.
"Finally got one!" said his father, who had traveled with his son to the ballpark for a third straight day.
Casantini said his Yankee fandom stemmed from his grandfather, who was enamored with Joe DiMaggio. But Reading is a baseball town — signs at the stadium celebrate the city as "Baseballtown" — and many residents say the Fightin Phils are a source of civic pride.
Casantini, who grew up and still lives in West Reading, a leafy suburb across the Schuylkill from downtown, named several of the players who had appeared here: Rocky Colavito, Roger Maris, Mike Schmidt. Carl Furillo, the great Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder, was born near here and was nicknamed the Reading Rifle. The minor league team's relationship with the Philadelphia Phillies dates to 1967.
Back then, Reading was a vibrant city, teeming with manufacturing plants and jobs. Downtown, known as Center City, was thick with movie theaters, restaurants and entertainment. Reading was known, in the best possible sense, Casantini said, as "sin city" — a sort of antecedent to latter-day Atlantic City.
Now Center City is pockmarked by empty storefronts. Chris Ray, 49, who identified himself as homeless, sat in the shade Tuesday morning near Penn Street with his friend Charles Young, 52. Ray motioned at an office building behind him, which occupied a block where there once was a popular department store called Pomeroy's.
"When you see how this town was 20 years ago and you see how it is now," Ray said, trailing off.
"It used to be known for factories," he added. "There's none left."
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