Alex Rodriguez is not in the Hall of Fame. And he’s fine with that.
Really, he is.
Rodriguez ranks fifth all-time in Major League Baseball career home runs with 696. Only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Albert Pujols (703) have more. Rodriguez also ranks fourth all-time in RBIs with 2,086, trailing only Aaron (2,297), Pujols (2,218) and Ruth (2,214).
But Rodriguez’s baseball legacy also includes admitting to taking performance-enhancing drugs — including a Biogenesis lab scandal that led to a suspension for the 2014 MLB season. And though he was a 14-time MLB All-Star and a three-time AL MVP, he also drew criticism during his time with the New York Yankees because of his inability to deliver clutch hits, bearing the weight of the team’s storied history and the expectations that come with being its franchise player.
Rodriguez said he has “divorced” himself from the idea of being in the Hall of Fame. Much of that thought has come with the assistance of therapy sessions that have helped him focus on introspection and accountability. He has called himself a “recovering narcissist” and is cognizant of the hatred and vitriol he receives from some fans.
“I have a life today that I didn’t have for the first 40 years,” Rodriguez told The Athletic in an exclusive interview. “If I went to the Hall of Fame, in a weird way, I would be hollow inside. I would still be in a lot of pain.
“I would rather have what I have today, because it really helped me unlock a lot of the work that I needed to do.”
Mention Rodriguez’s name to some Yankees fans, and notice the eye rolls and grumbles. They won’t talk about his role in helping the Yankees win their last World Series in 2009. The wounds of the controversies and overall experiences in the Bronx are still fresh, even more than a decade later.
It’s not a surprise to Rodriguez. Self-reflection has allowed the 50-year-old to look back and understand why fans have those feelings. He said his two daughters, Natasha and Ella, have glanced at old interviews of the former baseball star and found that figure unrecognizable from the person they know now.
Much of that, he says, has been the result of therapy. With the help of Dr. David Schnarch, a trauma therapist and clinical psychologist, Rodriguez began viewing the years before his 2014 suspension with a different perspective. Schnarch, who died in 2020, helped Rodriguez face the person he once was and also channel why he became such a polarizing individual in and outside of baseball.
“I’m like, ‘Whoa, what the hell am I doing here? This doesn’t make any sense,’” Rodriguez said. “But the more I stayed with it, the more it started to really affect me in a positive way. Seeing things in a different way and then looking at my past, definitely not as a victim but understanding some of my behavior and making sure that I’m learning from those behaviors and it never happens again.”
Alex Rodriguez once was a polarizing baseball star chasing greatness. Now, his focus is on being a better person. He credits therapy for his personal transformation. (C. Morgan Engel / Getty Images)
Rodriguez spoke candidly about his transformation in the HBO docuseries “Alex vs. A-Rod,” which was released last month. He appreciates that he still has a lot of fans, but acknowledges that he still has a lot of detractors, too, after 22 MLB seasons in baseball with the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and Yankees.
Directors Gotham Chopra and Erik LeDrew knew they had to recap Rodriguez’s career in the series, but they also wanted to tell a story of him that hadn’t been shared. Rodriguez has been in the public eye since he was the No. 1 pick in the 1993 MLB Draft, just weeks before his 18th birthday. His personal life was also well-documented, as he had dated actress Cameron Diaz and singer/actress Jennifer Lopez, among others. Some observers found him inauthentic; others felt he lacked self-awareness.
But there were also stories of Rodriguez at 10 years old dealing with feelings regarding his father leaving his family. And there were intense therapy sessions where Rodriguez, a Miami native who prefers the Florida sun, would spend days in Evergreen, Colo., at Schnarch’s office.
Chopra and LeDrew saw an opportunity to tell a deeper story, but only if Rodriguez was willing to be transparent. Chopra met Rodriguez for lunch about 3 1/2 years ago, before making the film. Chopra, a Boston Red Sox fan looking to feature a longtime Yankee, had two major questions before speaking with Rodriguez about the project.
“Is he going to talk honestly?” Chopra said. “And is he going to be accountable for the mistakes that he made?”
LeDrew grew up a Mariners fan — he was a huge Ken Griffey Jr. fan — but hadn’t closely followed Rodriguez’s career, outside of when he made national headlines. LeDrew brought an open mind and said Rodriguez’s willingness to discuss his childhood and this therapy journey was pivotal. Rodriguez said he had been approached about similar biographical projects in the past, but with his daughters Natasha (a junior at Michigan) and Ella (a senior in high school) now older, this was a good time to tell his story.
“Aggregated media of 30-something years of his life in the public spotlight. I think that was kind of why he was ready for it,” LeDrew said. “Our approach was to focus on the hardest chapter of his life, the most interesting chapter of his life, and it kind of evolved because it all harkens back to his childhood.”
Chopra said the completion of the series was the result of more than two years of building trust with Rodriguez in an effort to tell the best story. Rodriguez said he spoke to his daughters before agreeing to do the project. One of their requests was that he had to be “raw and real.”
The “A-Rod” persona was great for his competitive drive, but Rodriguez prefers being “Alex” now. He is part-owner of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx. He is also an analyst for Fox’s MLB coverage.
He credits much of the change to the man he called “Dr. David.” He wishes Schnarch were alive to see the progress he’s made.
“The year (of) suspension gave me this time and the space and the privacy to really dig in and turn that lens inward,” Rodriguez said. “Where I am today, I think is a hundred percent connected to the work that I did.
“So, if the Hall of Fame was a price, then, you know, that’s on me.”
At 50, Rodriguez is on the Hall ballot for the 2026 class. He likens his acceptance of the likely outcome to his decision not to take on one final MLB season in an effort to collect 700 career home runs, a milestone only four MLB players have reached.
A younger version of himself would have viewed it as advantageous. The current version simply prefers peace.
“I had three teams call me, and it took me less than five minutes to say, ‘You know what? (Having 696 and ending with the Yankees) is greater than (hitting No.) 700 with any other team; I’m good,” he said. “The irony is my mom, my brother, my sister, my parents, everybody was pissed off at me for weeks that I didn’t get those four home runs.
“But I’m actually good with it. Just like I’m good if I don’t get into the Hall of Fame.”