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The wee hours of the morning have not always been kind to Alex Rodriguez. And while nobody knows what’s in his heart let alone his mind, as he clutched the World Series championship trophy without letting go of it and then celebrated with a cigar and champagne – later to be joined by paramour Kate Hudson and her stepfather, Kurt Russell – it certainly seemed as if 2009 will go down as the year in which A-Rod moved from the ‘B’ list to the ‘A’ list and became less tacky.

Eyeballs rolled skyward as he told wave after wave of cameras and notepads following the New York Yankees' 27th World Series title that it was all about team, that winning a championship “with a group of guys who’ve stood behind you is just an incredible feeling.” But that’s A-Rod’s cross to bear, isn’t it? Knocked throughout his career for having a tin ear, ravaged in a book by the sainted Joe Torre and author of a ham-handed semi-confession of steroid use, A-Rod is the type of person who would be accused of insincerity even if he said hello to you.

This much we know: No Yankees player has driven in as many runs in a post-season as Rodriguez did this year and while winning World Series titles is no longer a birthright in the Bronx, the playoffs are the measure of a Yankee. And this is huge for A-Rod, because Barry Bonds showed it is possible to become the all-time home-run king while playing under the cloud of steroid suspicion as long as the fans at home give you unconditional love. A-Rod will get that now. He will have shelter at Yankee Stadium, where 50,000 people a night will have his back.

“The guy is the best player of his generation, and now he won’t have to apologize for not having a World Series ring,” the Yankees Johnny Damon said. “The longer you play the game, the more you feel for guys who didn’t get that ring. I can’t imagine being in the position Alex is in and not having a ring.” As the Yankees partied, standing off to the side was Reggie Jackson, the gold standard for Yankees fall icons, who serves in an advisory capacity now. His eyes were red.

“Aw, it’s just that when you get older you begin to have an appreciation for other people’s happiness,” he told a small group of reporters. “For Alex ... I think he’s probably feeling happiness and relief right now,” said the original Mr. October. “I saw Kate and I told her Alex is smiling so much I barely recognized him.

“The thing about this game is that you never know when you’ll win a World Series or when the next one comes around. There’s so much goes into it. The timing, everything. I mean, you look at Derek [Jeter]. He wins rings in 1996, 1998, ‘99 and 2000 – just like that – and then nothing. Goes back in 2003. They lose. Nothing. Then it starts to get a little dark.”

General manager Brian Cashman says that Rodriguez can now “just write history” for the rest of his career. “He doesn’t have anything he has to answer for any more. I really believe his work ethic will take him where he wants to go.” Rodriguez hit .365 (19-for-52) with six homers and a franchise-record 18 RBIs in the playoffs. Eight of the RBIs either tied the game or gave the Yankees the lead.

The Phillies will head into the season once again as prohibitive favourites to win the National League. As for the Yankees? They are aging, and while Cashman says the designated-hitter position will be used as a way to keep some of the older legs in the lineup, he also acknowledges that only one player can DH at a time. Soon, that player will be Jorge Posada, so it would be a surprise, then, to see both Damon and World Series most-valuable-player Hideki Matsui re-sign.

Cashman spent $423-million last winter to bring in CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett, in part because he could but also because this year’s free-agent crop is less than inspiring. But Roy Halladay and Joe Mauer both are eligible after next year, and while it’s hard to see the Minnesota Twins not giving Mauer a blank cheque, Halladay’s status is very much up in the air.

The Yankees are where A-Rod went to finally win a World Series title after 16 years. Far from sitting at home wondering what it would have been like if the Phillies had actually managed to acquire him at the trade deadline, I’m wondering if Halladay now isn’t fantasizing about Yankees pinstripes.

Worked for A-Rod, no?