FORT WORTH, Texas — Based on my research, Alex Rodriguez, at least so far, has not been blamed for swine flu or Somalian pirates.

Otherwise, a never-ending series of rancid news reports tells us A-Rod has become about the most despicable person on earth, or at least in the jockdom portion of earth.

Let me say up front, I liked Alex when he played here, and have previously been on record as defending Alex's three seasons with the Rangers.

Granted, over the last year or so, I've ducked out as an A-Rod defender. But as of last week, this guy might have reached the lowest of his many new lows.

And I don't mean allegedly using steroids, before, during and after his Arlington stay, and repeatedly lying about using steroids before and after he played here.

There has never been a better ballplayer — not Roger Clemens, not Barry Bonds — who has so quickly managed to destroy his image and his legacy, but Alex now might have gone a destructive step beyond image and legacy.

He just trashed whatever thread of dignity that might have survived all the other "stuff" piling up at A-Rod's door.

But, first, you have to believe he did it.

Did something as sinister, and wildly crazy, as "pitch tipping."

A new book about to be released nationally quotes unnamed former teammates during his Rangers' days (2001-03) as saying Alex stood at shortstop and signaled certain opposing hitters during blowout games on what pitch was coming.

Why? Because he wanted those same players, who would have had to be middle infielders, to do the same for him. Call it a "slump buster." Get a little help when you need a hit. Get the bat going again, but supposedly not when it could impact the outcome of a game.

Of course, it's selling out your own pitcher, whose major league existence might have hinged on how he pitched in that mop-up role.

"Not to downplay in any way the evils of steroids in our game, but I would say that would be 10 times worse than steroids," Rangers third baseman Michael Young told me Friday. "As a ballplayer, it couldn't get much lower than something like that."

Young had anger when he made that statement. But not anger aimed at A-Rod. If Alex has a more loyal baseball friend than Mike Young, he has yet to surface. Young might be his only friend left, but no player has a better reputation in the game than Michael when it comes to being respected and well-liked.

"I think this is all crap," Young said. "It's been one thing after another aimed at Alex. I'm tired of it. Unnamed people continually saying this and that. If you've got something to say, have the guts to use your name.

"Tipping pitches among his friends? I never even heard of that. But I'll go out on a limb and say if Alex was doing it he would have asked me to be a part of that, even after he left here. I'm one of his best friends."

Young played second base, next to Alex at shortstop, when they were teammates. Then Young moved to shortstop when Alex left for the Yankees.

"I played beside him for three years here, and never saw anything close to him signaling opposing hitters on what was coming. It's crap. All crap," said Michael.

Based on what I was told Friday by three other members of the Rangers when Alex played here, Young is right.

These people asked to remain "unnamed," for a variety of reasons, one of them being my favorite:

"I never saw anything like that, and believe me, I would have eventually picked it up if it was happening," he said. "But Alex is the kind of person, I wouldn't put anything past him. So I don't want to say publicly he didn't, and then the proof come in that he did, and I'd look naive and stupid."

Another of the three said he "definitely" thinks there has been pitch tipping to the opposition in the majors, for the very reasons associated with A-Rod in the book, but he never had a reason here to think Alex was involved.

In Alex's Texas days, the closest thing associated with any of this involved a controversy that swirled around him in 2003. But it was pitch calling, not pitch tipping. Without informing manager Buck Showalter or pitching coach Orel Hershiser, Rodriguez told new catcher Einar Diaz he would call the pitches for him.

"Buck and Orel caught on in a hurry, and a big blowup happened, particularly between Alex and Orel," said one person. "That story hit the papers, but it was bigger than even reported. Buck and Alex totally split because Alex wanted Buck to fire Orel and Buck didn't."

Young: "I backed Alex on that. Heck, yes, I did. We had a catcher who was struggling. Alex was trying to help the team. He knew more about it than the catcher. If the pitching coach didn't like it, he should have been on top of it."

That was then. And since then, Alex has lost his legacy, his image and is working on the loss of his dignity.

If the pitch-tipping story can be proved, A-Rod should be banned from the game for life. For now, however, the proof seems very murky.