Alex Rodriguez

Baseball Player

• Born: July 27, 1975
• Place of Birth: New York, New York

AMERICAN BASEBALL PLAYER

Rodriguez was one of the top players in Major League Baseball during the 1990s and early twenty-first century and is one of the most prolific home-run hitters of all time. Throughout his playing career, he received numerous awards and signed two of the largest contracts for a professional athlete.

AREAS OF ACHIEVEMENT: Baseball

Early Life

Alex Rodriguez was born Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez to Dominicans Victor and Lourdes Rodriguez in New York City on July 27, 1975. His father ran a shoe store and his mother worked at a car factory. Having saved enough money, the family soon moved back to the Dominican Republic, though the family business quickly faltered, necessitating a move back to the United States, this time to Miami, Florida, when Rodriguez was eight years old. His father abandoned the family a year later, and Rodriguez’s parents ultimately divorced. Soon thereafter, Rodriguez began playing organized baseball. While attending Westminster Christian High School, he played for the school’s baseball, basketball, and football teams.

Rodriguez was selected first overall by the Seattle Mariners in the 1993 Major League Baseball draft. He quickly rose through the minor leagues and made his major league debut at shortstop on July 8, 1994, at the age of eighteen. Rodriguez initially struggled while playing with the Seattle Mariners and was eventually sent back down to the minors. During the 1995 season, he split his time between the Mariners and their Class AAA minor league team before returning to the majors for good that August.

Life’s Work

Rodriguez was named the Mariners’ starting shortstop before the 1996 season. In his first full year in the majors, he led the American League in batting with a .358 average, 36 home run hits, and 231 runs-batted-in (RBI). Ineligible for Rookie of the Year honors because of his previous major league experience, Rodriguez finished a close second in voting for the American League’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), and he garnered Player of the Year honors from Sporting News and Associated Press. His offensive production dropped slightly during the 1997 season, but the following year he became the third player in baseball history to hit forty home runs and steal forty bases in the same season. Rodriguez suffered his first major injury during the first week of the 1999 season when he tore cartilage in his left knee, but he still managed to hit 42 home runs and 111 RBI despite playing in only 129 games. In 2000, Rodriguez led the Mariners to the American League Championship Series, batting .316 with 41 home runs and 132 RBI.

After the 2000 season, Rodriguez left the Mariners to sign a lucrative ten-year deal with the Texas Rangers, who were in last place in the American League West Division during the 2000 season. Even with the addition of Rodriguez, however, this team continued to struggle, due in large part to a lack of effective pitching. The Rangers finished last in each of Rodriguez’s three seasons with the team, even though his power numbers improved in the Rangers’ hitter-friendly home park. In 2001, his first season with the Rangers, Rodriguez hit 52 home runs, the most ever by a shortstop, which he improved upon the next season by hitting a major league best of 57 home runs. Rodriguez received his first American League MVP Award following the 2003 season after hitting 47 home runs and 118 RBI.

Rodriguez’s last season with the Rangers was 2003. The Rangers, as a business, were losing money and as a baseball team were not expected to contend for a championship. The Rangers and the Boston Red Sox agreed to trade Rodriguez, but the deal was vetoed by the Major League Baseball Players Association, since it required a voluntary reduction in Rodriguez’s salary. Rodriguez was eventually traded to the New York Yankees for fellow offensive star Alfonso Soriano. The Yankees already had an established shortstop in Derek Jeter, so Rodriguez shifted positions and became the Yankees’ starting third baseman.

With the change of position and increased media scrutiny of New York, Rodriguez struggled slightly in his first season with the Yankees but still posted respectable offensive statistics. He rebounded during the 2005 regular season, winning his second American League MVP Award, but he struggled during the playoffs, batting .133 with no runs-batted-in. In 2006, Rodriguez again posted good regular season numbers but struggled during the playoffs. During the 2007 season, Rodriguez hit his five hundredth home run and won yet another MVP award, but the Yankees again exited the playoffs early.

Rodriguez missed the first month of the 2009 season because of a torn labrum, but after returning in May he provided many timely hits that resulted in victories for the Yankees. His clutch hitting continued in the playoffs, in which he hit several late-inning, game-tying home runs during the first two rounds of the playoffs en route to leading the Yankees to the World Series. He continued his offensive productivity as the Yankees won the World Series title by four games to two against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Like many other baseball players active during the 1990s and early twenty-first century, Rodriguez was accused of steroid use. In a 2007 book, former major leaguer José Canseco accused Rodriguez of steroid use, which Rodriguez denied. Two years later, it was reported that Rodriguez had tested positive for steroids during the 2003 season while playing for the Texas Rangers. The results of the exploratory tests conducted in 2003 were supposed to remain private, but they were seized during a federal raid and later revealed. Rodriguez soon admitted that he took performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003 because of the pressure to perform after signing his lucrative contract with the Rangers. He expressed regret for his actions and stated that he had not taken any illegal substances since he joined the Yankees. He was suspended for the entire 2014 season after once again being involved in a scandal related to performance-enhancing drugs.

Despite struggling with hip and knee injuries, as of the beginning of the 2016 season Rodriguez remained an active third baseman, designated hitter, and shortstop for the Yankees. However, in August of that year, it was announced that an arrangement had been made between the team and Rodriguez in which he officially retired from playing, with the Yankees, who released him shortly after to serve out the remainder of his contract as a special adviser for the organization. By the time this role had come to an end in October 2017, he had begun branching out into media positions, which included starting a regular tenure as a Fox Sports studio analyst in 2016, serving as a guest judge on episodes of the ABC series Shark Tank over two seasons beginning in 2017, and signing with ABC News to contribute to such shows as World News Tonight. In addition to teaming up with the Yankees once more, this time as a special adviser to the general manager, in 2018, he joined ESPN as an analyst for Sunday Night Baseball. He stayed with ESPN until 2023, when he returned to Fox as a studio analyst.

Furthermore, in the spring of 2021, Rodriguez, along with Marc Lore, the CEO of the food delivery company Wonder Group, reached an agreement on a $1.5 billion deal to become owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball League (NBA) as well as the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The agreement was meant to take effect in March 2024, but the Timberwolves owner, Glen Taylor, backed out of the sale agreement and claimed that Rodriguez and Lore did not make their final payment in time. The two sides failed to reach an agreement through mediation, sending the case to arbitration, which was scheduled for a November 2024 hearing date. 

Significance

After breaking into the major leagues during the mid-1990s, Rodriguez became one of the best, and most well-compensated, players in baseball. He was also one of baseball’s most polarizing figures, frequently criticized because of his lack of clutch performances and his off-the-field behavior. Early in his career, Rodriguez helped redefine the role of the shortstop, adding offensive prowess and power to the traditional defensive capabilities valued at the position. He posted several of the top statistical seasons ever recorded for a shortstop and continued his offensive production after switching to third base with the Yankees.

One of the best all-around players in baseball, Rodriguez received numerous offensive and defensive awards. In addition to his three American League MVP Awards, he also received four Hank Aaron Awards (given to the top hitter in each league), was selected to play in the All-Star Game fourteen times, and collected two Gold Gloves (given to the top fielders in each league at every position) while playing shortstop for the Texas Rangers. He is also one of the most prolific home-run hitters in major league history, having hit 696 by the end of his playing career in 2016, the fourth highest number in baseball history at that time. Despite being eligible for induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022, Rodriguez’s connection to performance-enhancing drugs has left him far short of the votes needed to achieve the honor.

Bibliography

Bushard, Brian. "Timberwolves Ownership Fight Pits Alex Rodriguez Against Billionaire During Generational Playoff Run: Here’s What To Know." Forbes, 16 May 2024, www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2024/05/16/timberwolves-ownership-fight-pits-alex-rodriguez-against-billionaire-during-generational-playoff-run-heres-what-to-know/. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.

Canseco, José. Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball. New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2008. Print.

Elfrink, Tim, and Gus Garcia-Roberts. Blood Sport: Alex Rodriguez, Biogenesis, and the Quest to End Baseball's Steroid Era. New York: Penguin, 2014. Print.

Glasspiegel, Ryan. "Alex Rodriguez ‘Closing in’ on Deal to leave ESPN, Work Exclusively for Fox." New York Post, 28 July 2023, nypost.com/2023/07/28/alex-rodriguez-closing-in-on-deal-to-leave-espn-work-exclusively-for-fox/. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.

Lacques, Gabe. "Alex Rodriguez Announces Retirement, Will Play Final Game Friday." USA Today, 7 Aug. 2016, www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/08/07/alex-rodriguez-yankees-retire/88357576/. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.

Moehringer, J. R. "The Education of Alex Rodriguez." ESPN Magazine. 18 Feb. 2015, www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/‗/id/12321274/alex-rodriguez-return-new-york-yankees. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.

Roberts, Selena. A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez. New York: Harper, 2009. Print.

Stein, Marc. "Alex Rodriguez and Partner Reach Deal on Timberwolves and Lynx." The New York Times, 14 May 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/sports/basketball/alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-timberwolves-sale.html. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.

Stewart, Wayne. Alex Rodriguez: A Biography. London: Greenwood, 2007. Print.