It is premature to know the outcome of the latest L’Affair Alex, but it has demonstrated one drastically different development from a similar incident two decades ago. Earlier this week the New York Yankees adopted a position that was 180 degrees from their stance in the Steve Howe case in July 1992.

Alex Rodriguez is embroiled in yet another case in which he is alleged to have used performance-enhancing substances. He has denied using them in recent years, but we have heard that before. Given that experience, it was not surprising that the Yankees didn’t issue a statement of support for him.

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The picture painted in the early pages of the new Terry Francona book is reminiscent of the scene in the film “The Caine Mutiny” in which the ship’s captain, fellow by the name of Queeg played by Humphrey Bogart, demands to know what happened to the ship’s supply of strawberries.

In “Francona: The Red Sox Years,” Queeg is played by Larry Lucchino, president and chief executive officer of the Boston Red Sox. Co-authors Francona and Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe, perhaps the best columnist left in the shrinking world of newspapers, tell not about missing strawberries but of missing sweatshirts.

It is two days after the Red Sox stunning World Series triumph, the franchise’s first in 86 years, and they are preparing for the city’s parade honoring them. “But then no one could find the sweatshirts,” the authors write.

Proclaiming the “World Champion Red Sox,” the sweatshirts had been prepared for everyone to wear in the parade, uniformed and front-office personnel as well. But when the time came to pass them out, they were missing.

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One of the enduring strengths of the baseball players’ union is the intangible that Marvin Miller instilled in the players he began representing nearly 50 years ago. Miller laid such a strong foundation that players have passed on his legacy from one set of major leaguers to the next.

Thus it was that when Tony Clark, one of the most articulate spokesmen the union has ever had, began speaking Monday evening at an event celebrating Miller’s life and unparalleled achievements he asked five young players to step to the front of New York University’s Tishman Auditorium: Craig Breslow, Andrew Bailey, Bill Bray, Micah Owings and Adam Ottavino.

Throughout the hall were retired players, including Reggie Jackson, Chris Chambliss, David Cone, Keith Hernandez, Jim Kaat and Jim Beattie. Seated in the front row were the evening’s speakers: Dave Winfield, Joe Morgan, Phil Garner, Steve Rogers, Rusty Staub, Steve Renko, Buck Martinez and Jim Bouton.

One group of players was missing:

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