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Alex Rodriguez, bless his homer-hitting heart, is my personal HGH, my Ponce De Leon. His magical season has transported me back to my youth, 46 years ago when I was a novice baseball writer assigned to cover Roger Maris' chase of Babe Ruth's revered and seemingly unbreakable record of 60 home runs in a season.

Apart from the results, the great interest and the daily countdown, there are very few similarities between Maris in '61 and A-Rod in '07, not the least of which is the scrutiny and the wall-to-wall coverage that has come with the passing of time and the upgrade in reportage technology.

In 1961, Maris was venturing into unchartered waters, attempting to do what nobody had done before. He was challenging the record of a baseball icon and was universally discredited by old-time players, fans and purists of the sport who deemed him unworthy of doing so.

Rodriguez is challenging only Maris and, because of his resume, he faces no such contempt.

Maris, in 1961, was pulled along by his personal Bash Brother, Mickey Mantle, who matched Maris homer-for-homer through most of the season and didn't bow out of the race until September because of injury. Mantle, an icon himself, was clearly the people's choice and the unquestioned favorite to be the one to break Ruth's record.

Rodriguez has no such partner. He is ostensibly naked in his chase of Maris, a lone warrior relatively unprotected on his flanks.

Maris was a reluctant warrior, a simple, humble and unsophisticated man who eschewed the spotlight. His uneasiness in dealing with the media was mistaken for churlishness rather than what it was, discomfort with the attention he was getting.

Rodriguez is glib and articulate. He is comfortable in his own skin, and fully aware of who he is and what he is on the verge of accomplishing.

Maris had to battle Commissioner Ford Frick's infernal asterisk as well as his own demons. I remember his hair falling out in clumps, the result of the excruciating stress brought on by the chase. I remember him retreating to the trainer's room, off limits to the press, to escape the horde of questioners. I remember Maris asking manager Ralph Houk for a day off in the final week of his pursuit of the record. I remember him giving up a precious at-bat by bunting, not out of defiance but because it was the proper thing to do in order to help his team win a game.

Rodriguez has only to battle a public's perception, the suspicion and cynicism brought about by Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rick Ankiel and Troy Glaus. And he has apparently done all this without even the hint of scandal...at least not that kind of scandal.

It was Chipper Jones who, presumably inadvertently, hinted at what Rodriguez will have to face if he passes Maris and, down the road, if he passes Barry Bonds' all-time career record for home runs. A-Rod will have to face questions, suspicion and doubt because of the sins of others.

Regrettably, because of the current climate in baseball, all great deeds are questioned, everybody is under suspicion, the innocent as well as the guilty.

That's one thing Roger Maris never had to face. Hopefully, Alex Rodriguez will not have to face it either.