Alexander Emmanuel "Alex" Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975) is an American Major League Baseball third baseman for the New York Yankees. He previously played shortstop for the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers.
Rodriguez is considered one of the best all-around baseball players of all time.[1][2][3] He is the youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs, breaking the record Jimmie Foxx set in 1939, and the youngest to hit 600, besting Babe Ruth's record by over a year. Rodriguez has fourteen 100-RBI seasons in his career, more than any player in history. On September 24th, 2010, Rodriguez hit two home runs, surpassing Sammy Sosa's mark of 609 HRs, and became the all-time leader in home runs by a player of Hispanic descent.[4]
In December 2007, Rodriguez and the Yankees agreed to a 10-year, $275 million contract. This contract was the richest contract in baseball history (breaking his previous record of $252 million).[5]
In February 2009, after previously denying use of performance-enhancing drugs, including during a 2007 interview with Katie Couric on 60 Minutes, Rodriguez admitted to using steroids, saying he used them from 2001 to 2003 when playing for the Texas Rangers due to what he called "an enormous amount of pressure" to perform.[6][7]
Contents
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* 1 Early life
o 1.1 Background
o 1.2 High school
o 1.3 University of Miami
* 2 Professional career
o 2.1 Seattle Mariners
+ 2.1.1 1996: First full season and breakout year
+ 2.1.2 1997–99 season
+ 2.1.3 2000: Final season in Seattle
o 2.2 Texas Rangers
+ 2.2.1 2001–02: Record-breaking seasons
+ 2.2.2 2003: American League Most Valuable Player
o 2.3 New York Yankees
+ 2.3.1 2004: First season with Yankees
+ 2.3.2 2005: American League Most Valuable Player
+ 2.3.3 2006 season
+ 2.3.4 2007: American League Most Valuable Player
+ 2.3.5 Opt-out controversy
+ 2.3.6 2008 season
+ 2.3.7 2009 season
+ 2.3.8 2010 season
* 3 Criticism
* 4 Steroid use
* 5 Personal life
o 5.1 Marketing
* 6 Awards and honors
* 7 Achievements
* 8 Records
* 9 See also
* 10 Notes and references
* 11 External links
Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez