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'''Alexander Enmanuel Rodriguez''' (born July 27, 1975 in [[New York City]]) is a [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) third baseman for the New York Yankees. Known to fans as A-Rod, Rodriguez is widely considered as one of the best players in baseball history. Teams he has played on in his career are the [[Seattle Mariners]] (1994-2000), [[Texas Rangers (baseball team)|Texas Rangers]] (2001-2003) and [[New York Yankees]] (2004-). Some of his accomplishments as a player include being a ten time [[All Star]] player, two time AL MVP (2003, 2005), two time [[Gold Glove]] award winner (2002, 2003)<ref>http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=3115</ref> and the youngest player to hit 500 home runs<ref>http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070804&content_id=2129099&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy</ref>. He is also only one of four players in MLB history to have over 40 home runs and stolen bases in a season (1998)<ref>http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=rodrial01</ref>. In 2006, he was one of baseball's highest paid players with a $25,680,727.00 salary<ref>http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=rodrial01</ref>. He entered professional baseball at the age of 18 in 1993 when he was drafted in the first round (first pick overall) of the [[1993 MLB Draft]] by the [[Seattle Mariners]]<ref>http://arod.mlb.com/players/rodriguez_alex/about.jsp</ref>.

'''Alexander Enmanuel Rodriguez''' (born July 27, 1975 in [[New York City]]) is a [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) third baseman for the New York Yankees. Known to fans as A-Rod, Rodriguez is widely considered as one of the best players in baseball history. Teams he has played on in his career are the [[Seattle Mariners]] (1994-2000), [[Texas Rangers (baseball team)|Texas Rangers]] (2001-2003) and [[New York Yankees]] (2004-). Some of his accomplishments as a player include being a ten time [[All Star]] player, two time AL MVP (2003, 2005), two time [[Gold Glove]] award winner (2002, 2003)<ref>http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=3115</ref> and the youngest player to hit 500 home runs<ref>http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070804&content_id=2129099&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy</ref>. He is also only one of four players in MLB history to have over 40 home runs and stolen bases in a season (1998)<ref>http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=rodrial01</ref>. In 2006, he was one of baseball's highest paid players with a $25,680,727.00 salary<ref>http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=rodrial01</ref>. He entered professional baseball at the age of 18 in 1993 when he was drafted in the first round (first pick overall) of the [[1993 MLB Draft]] by the [[Seattle Mariners]].<ref>http://arod.mlb.com/players/rodriguez_alex/about.jsp</ref>

In an interview with [[ESPN|ESPN's]] [[Peter Gammons]] that aired on February 9, 2009, Rodriguez admitted to using performance enhancing drugs (PED) when he played for the Texas Rangers from 2001-2003. Said Rodriguez, "I did take a banned substance. And for that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful."<ref>http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3894847</ref>

In an interview with [[ESPN|ESPN's]] [[Peter Gammons]] that aired on February 9, 2009, Rodriguez admitted to using performance enhancing drugs (PED) when he played for the Texas Rangers from 2001-2003. Said Rodriguez, "I did take a banned substance. And for that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful."<ref>http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3894847</ref>  

Although numerous PED revelations have come before Rodriguez's, it was a very damaging incident to the MLB because Rodriguez was viewed to be the savior of the league in that he was projected to cleanly break the all-time home-run record of [[Barry Bonds]]', a suspected steroid user currently on trial for perjury.<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/michael_mccann/02/18/bonds.trial/?eref=sircrc</ref>

Although numerous PED revelations have come before Rodriguez's, it was a very damaging incident to the MLB because Rodriguez was viewed to be the savior of the league in that he was projected to cleanly break the all-time home-run record of [[Barry Bonds]]', a suspected steroid user currently on trial for perjury.<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/michael_mccann/02/18/bonds.trial/?eref=sircrc</ref>

==External Links==

==External Links==

*[http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=mlb&playerID=121347 MLB Stats]  

*[http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=mlb&playerID=121347 MLB Stats]

*[http://arod.mlb.com/players/rodriguez_alex/index.jsp Official Website]

*[http://arod.mlb.com/players/rodriguez_alex/index.jsp Official Website]