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Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman, businessman and philanthropist. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners (1994–2000), Texas Rangers (2001–2003), and New York Yankees (2004–2013, 2015–2016). Rodriguez is the chairman and chief executive officer of A-Rod Corp as well as the chairman of Presidente beer. He was part of a failed attempt to purchase a controlling interest in the National Basketball Association's Minnesota Timberwolves. Rodriguez began his professional baseball career as one of the sport's most highly touted prospects, and is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. With a career .295 batting average, Rodriguez amassed over 600 home runs (696), over 2,000 runs batted in (RBI), over 2,000 runs scored, over 3,000 hits, and over 300 stolen bases, the only player in MLB history to achieve all of those feats. He was also a 14-time All-Star, winning three American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, 10 Silver Slugger Awards, and two Gold Glove Awards. Rodriguez is also the career record holder for grand slams. He twice broke the record for the largest sports contract ever signed. He also admitted using banned performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003 and was consequently suspended for the entire 2014 season. Rodriguez is ranked first in career Wins Above Replacement for shortstops of the modern era (post–1901). The Mariners selected Rodriguez first overall in the 1993 MLB draft, and he debuted in the major leagues the following year at the age of 18. In 1996, he became the Mariners' starting shortstop, won the major league batting title, and finished second in voting for the AL MVP Award. His combination of power, speed, and defense made him a cornerstone of the franchise, but he left the team via free agency after the 2000 season to join the Rangers. The 10-year, $252 million contract he signed was the richest in baseball history at the time. He played at a high level in his three years with Texas, highlighted by his first AL MVP Award win in 2003, but the team failed to make the playoffs during his tenure. Before the 2004 season, Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees, for whom he converted to a third baseman to accommodate their shortstop Derek Jeter. He was named AL MVP in 2005 and 2007. He opted out of his contract after the 2007 season, then signed a new 10-year, $275 million deal with the Yankees, breaking his own record for the sport's most lucrative contract. He became the youngest player to hit 500 home runs, reaching the milestone in 2007. He helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies, which was Rodriguez's only championship title. Toward the end of his career, he was hampered by hip and knee injuries, which caused him to become exclusively a designated hitter. He played his final game in professional baseball on August 12, 2016. Despite denying in a 2007 interview that he had ever used performance-enhancing drugs, Rodriguez admitted in 2009 to having used steroids, saying he used them from 2001 to 2003 when playing for the Rangers due to "an enormous amount of pressure" to perform. While recovering from a hip injury in 2013, Rodriguez made headlines by feuding with team management over his rehabilitation and for having allegedly obtained performance-enhancing drugs as part of the Biogenesis baseball scandal. In August 2013, MLB announced a 211-game suspension for Rodriguez for his involvement in the scandal. After an arbitration hearing, the suspension was reduced to 162 games, which kept him off the field for the entire 2014 season. After retiring as a player, Rodriguez became a media personality, serving as a broadcaster for Fox Sports 1, a cast member of Shark Tank and a member of the ABC News network. In January 2018, ESPN announced that Rodriguez would be joining the broadcast team of Sunday Night Baseball. In January 2017, CNBC announced Rodriguez would be the host of the show Back In The Game, where he would help former athletes make a comeback in their personal lives; the first episode debuted on the network in March 2018. Early life Rodriguez was born in 1975 in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan to Dominican immigrants Víctor Manuel Rodríguez Marcano and Lourdes Nelly Navarro Melo from San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic. He was raised alongside his two half-siblings, Joe and Suzy, from his mother's first marriage. In 1979, when he was four years old, the family moved to the Dominican Republic, then to Miami, Florida, when he was in the fourth grade. His father played baseball for a team in the Dominican Republic and introduced him to the sport as a child. Growing up, Rodriguez's favorite baseball players were Keith Hernandez, Dale Murphy, and Cal Ripken Jr., and his favorite team was the New York Mets. At the end of his freshman year at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, Rodriguez transferred to Westminster Christian School in Palmetto Bay, Florida, where he was a star shortstop on the baseball team and played quarterback on the football team. In 100 games he batted .419 with 90 stolen bases. Westminster won the high school national championship in his junior year. He was first team prep All-American as a senior, hitting .505 with nine home runs, 36 runs batted in (RBIs), and 35 stolen bases in 35 attempts in 33 games. He was selected as the USA Baseball Junior Player of the Year and as Gatorade's national baseball student-athlete of the year. In 1993, Rodriguez became the first high school player to try out for the United States national baseball team. He was regarded as the top prospect in the country. Rodriguez signed a letter of intent to play baseball for University of Miami and was also recruited by Miami to play quarterback for its football team. Rodriguez turned down the University of Miami baseball scholarship offer and never played college baseball, opting instead to sign with the Seattle Mariners after being selected first overall in the 1993 amateur draft at the age of 17. Professional career Draft and minor leagues The Seattle Mariners selected Rodriguez with the first overall selection of the 1993 Major League Baseball draft. The Mariners signed him to a three-year contract worth $1.3 million, and a $1 million signing bonus. Seattle Mariners 1994–1995 In 1994, Rodriguez made his professional baseball debut as a minor league player with the Appleton Foxes of the Class A Midwest League. He was promoted to the Jacksonville Suns of the Class AA Southern League. He played in 17 games for Jacksonville, then was promoted to Calgary for 32 games before moving up to the major leagues. On July 8, 1994, Rodriguez debuted in the major leagues as a starting shortstop, just the third 18-year-old major league shortstop since 1900. He was also the first 18-year-old major league player in 10 year.... Discover the Alex Rawlings popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Alex Rawlings books.