Alex Rodriguez is retiring from Major League Baseball play on Friday

(Image credit: CNN/YouTube)

published 8 August 2016

On Friday, Alex Rodriguez will mostly retire from Major League Baseball and the New York Yankees, ending a remarkable but turbulent 22-year career with "a few at-bats" in the Yankees' home game against the Tampa Bay Rays, A-Rod announced Sunday. "I love this game, and I love this team," a visibly emotional Rodriguez said at a news conference. "And today I'm saying goodbye to both." It is hard to say farewell, he said, and "the last four weeks have not been fun," referring to his skimpy 43 at-bats since July 1. "It's been very painful and embarrassing to sit on the bench. It's been awkward. From that sense, I'm very happy that we found a solution."

That solution involves A-Rod staying on as a Yankees adviser and instructor, earning the remaining $27 million of his 10-year, $275 million contract, which expires at the end of next season. Rodriguez, 41, has had a tempestuous tenure with the Yankees, winning two of his three American League MVP awards in New York but also clashing with teammate Derek Jeter, choking in the postseason, and being nailed for using performance-enhancing drugs — he was forced to sit out the entire 2014 season as punishment. In his 2015 comeback season, A-Rod hit 33 home runs and batted in 86 runs, but his numbers dropped notably this season, and last week, the Yankees informed him he was done for the rest of his contract.

It's unclear if A-Rod is really retiring from baseball for good, though, speculates Harvey Araton at The New York Times. "After a long and tumultuous career fueled by what even amateur psychologists could positively diagnose as a chronic inner turbulence, we suspect this was A-Rod merely acceding to the franchise's wishes to move beyond him without stirring up memories of his contentious and litigious past," he writes. "Four home runs short of 700, 18 shy of Babe Ruth, this image- and achievement-obsessed man, once photographed kissing his reflection in the mirror, is going to retire just because Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman decided it was time? ... No one should be surprised if another team reaches out in the next couple of weeks or for next season and Rodriguez's tenure as a Yankees organizational adviser has the staying power of a Trump news cycle."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.