Alex Rodriguez Biography

NAME: Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez

OCCUPATION: Baseball Player

BIRTH DATE: July 27, 1975 (Age: 36)

EDUCATION: Westminster Christian High School

PLACE OF BIRTH: New York, New York

Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez was born on July 27, 1975 in New York City, New York. (Click here for a complete listing of today's sports birthdays.) His parents, Victor and Lourdes, owned a shoe store in Washington Heights and lived in a small apartment behind it. Natives of the Dominican Republic, they planned to one day return to their homeland with Alex and his siblings, Susy and Joe. The couple worked hard to make it happen. Victor manned the store and watched the kids, while Lourdes left before dawn each morning for her job at a car factory north of the city.

Rodriguez did make the 2001 All-Star team, while leading the American League with 52 home run, 133 runs scored, and 393 total bases, although the Rangers as a whole did not do well that year. In 2003, Rodriguez was voted American League MVP, the second such award to go to a player on a last-place team. He batted .300, hit 47 homers and drove in 119 runs in addition to winning a Gold Glove at shortstop. But trade rumors persisted after the 2003 season.

Rodriguez appeared headed for the Red Sox, but a proposed trade with Boston fizzled and right before the start of the 2004 season, the New York Yankees obtained Rodriguez, who agreed to switch to third base so star Derek Jeter, the team s captain, could still play shortstop. Rodriguez made the AL All-Star team and New York won the American League East title in 2004, but fell in the league championship series to the Red Sox, losing the last four games after winning the first three.

Rodriguez did earn his second league MVP award in three seasons in 2005, after hitting 48 homers. He played for the United States in the World Baseball Classic in 2006, and during that season hit his 450th homer, which was also his 2,000th hit. But the Yankees faltered again in the playoffs that season, and Rodriguez was still looking for his first World Series appearance. The intrusive New York media concentrated on a rift between Jeter and Rodriguez. " Rodriguez was a psychological mess by the time the postseason rolled around, desperate to be accepted as a 'real" Yankee, trying so hard to produce big hits that he produced nothing at all," Phil Taylor wrote on SI.com.

After the 2007 World Series, Alex had the choice of becoming a free agent. The Yankees made a half-hearted attempt to extend his contract but wondered about his ability to produce when it counted. Alex – who’d trimmed down during winter and adjusted his swing to increase his bat speed –¬ decided to prove them wrong, hitting 14 home runs in 18 games and 34 RBIs, just one short of the record. Then, in a game in late May against the Blue Jays, Alex became the center of a new storm when he distracted a Toronto player trying to catch a routine pop-up by shouting something. The old schoolyard trick branded Alex as a bush-league player by many fans.

Then the bomb dropped. In January 2009, Alex was accused of using banned substances in Texas. Cornered, he admitted his drug use and was forced to fan the flames by holding a press conference, in which he blamed himself and said again and again that he had been "young and stupid." Unfortunately, not everyone has been able to forgive Alex; some would even like to see him pay a price for his mistakes. And as he nears the all-time home-run mark, it’s anyone’s guess how Hall of Fame voters will respond.