On Friday, August 12th, Alex Rodriguez played in his last Major League Baseball game for the New York Yankees. The Yankees won 6-3 and the man called “A-Rod” finished the game 1-for-4 with a double in front of the sold-out crowd of 46,459 people. Fans could be heard screaming and cheering “We want A-Rod” throughout the entire game. In the ninth inning, Alex Rodriguez made his way onto the field to play third base, a position he has not even come close to seeing in the past year. A-Rod only played that position for one out, but received a huge ovation from the crowd as he walked back into the dugout.
Rodriguez played professional baseball for 22 seasons, playing for the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, and the New York Yankees. Yankee Stadium has been his home for the past 12 years and he has been proud to wear the Yankee Pinstripes. With 3 MVP’s, 14 all-star appearances, over 3,000 hits and the 4th most home runs of all time, A-Rod is one of the best athletes to ever play the game. Oh, AND he was a part of the 2009 Yankees squad that won the World Series; however, over the course of his illustrious career, there have been many ups and downs.
Rodriguez admitted to using steroids from 2001-2003 during an interview for the show “60 Minutes.” He claims he used them because of “an enormous amount of pressure” to play better for his team. Then, in the year 2013, the MLB suspended him for 211 games due to his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal. Supposedly, Rodriguez had obtained performance-enhancing drugs from them while recovering from an injury. After appealing his suspension and having an arbitration hearing, his suspension was reduced to 162 games. This kept him from playing during the entire 2014 season.
Recently, A-Rod has not been playing as well as he used to. He has had injuries and many hitting slumps that caused him to lose his spot as a key individual for the Yankees. Alex Rodriguez has been the designated hitter for the Yankees, but has performed so poorly that he was demoted to a pinch hitter. The 41-year-old is not the same man nor slugger that he used to be, which is why on Saturday, August 13th, 2016, the New York Yankees released Alex Rodriguez from the team.
In New York, the name Alex Rodriguez will always be associated with the “Bronx Bombers." Throughout his entire career, he has been able to put fans in the seats and made sure they were entertained by his play on the field. Rodriguez has not stated if he is retiring or not, so there is a chance we will get to see him play again. Just looking at his stats, you can see that A-Rod is certainly a Hall of Famer. But, with his history of being connected to steroids, will we ever see his face in Cooperstown?
