Rodriguez Gets Royal Treatment, for Now

New York has gone totally bonkers over Alex Rodriguez. Beginning Sunday, his picture has been on the front and back pages of the New York Post and New York Daily News for four consecutive days.

On Wednesday, the Post devoted 15 inside pages, including 10 in the sports section, to the Yankees’ acquisition of Rodriguez -- all with a kicker at the top that read: “Alex in Wonderland.”

And then there was this headline spread across Pages 2 and 3: “YANKEE DOODLE PANDEMONIUM.”

Trivia time: What was Rodriguez’s batting average last season and where did he rank among major league hitters?

Overexposed: On Page 3 of Wednesday’s Post was a picture from Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue with this caption: “Hot couple makes a big splash.” The photo shows Rodriguez posing with his wife, Cynthia, in a fountain. He is wearing a bathing suit, she a bikini.

On Page 2 is another picture of the couple, taken at Tuesday’s news conference. The caption reads: “He-Rod & She-Rod.”

Poster boy: Included in the New York Daily News’ 13 inside pages of A-Rod coverage was a pullout cartoon poster.

Odd coupling: Things are so crazy that the Post ran a “Tale of the Tape” chart comparing Rodriguez’s statistics to Babe Ruth’s after about the same number of at-bats.

Man of style: Rodriguez was also featured on the Post’s fashion page. Under the headline “Haute Hitter” was a story that proclaimed he “isn’t just a baseball hero -- he’s a style icon.”

Carson Kressley, fashion star of the show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” says, “Forget J.Lo -- it’s all about A-Ro.”

A happy boss: The more sedate Newsday reported, “George Steinbrenner is so happy about the trade, he fired only five employees today.”

The newspaper said it was just kidding.

Late-night star: Steinbrenner must have been in a good mood. He agreed to read David Letterman’s top-10 list for Wednesday night’s show.

The list was titled, “Good Things About Being a New York Yankee.”

* No. 10: “With the player discount, a hot dog at Yankee Stadium is now only $50.”

* No. 4: “Take it from the guy signing the checks -- some of the players do OK for themselves.”

* No. 2: “You get to meet all of Derek Jeter’s girlfriends.”

* No. 1: “You think this A-Rod deal is good, huh? We’re about to sign Ty Cobb.”

Trivia answer: Rodriguez batted .298 last season and ranked 42nd.

And finally: Scott Van Pelt, who Wednesday was the third fill-in of the week for Dan Patrick on his ESPN Radio show, was talking about how many Diet Cokes he drinks in a day.

“At least a dozen for starters,” he mumbled as he chewed on a candy bar.

“And at what point do you start adding Bacardi to those?” asked update guy Dan “the Duke” Davis.

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.