Former New York Yankees, Alex Rodriguez got suspended back in 2014 for taking performance-enhancing drugs, a decision that he still regrets to this day because it may have cost him the Hall of Fame.
“I remember sitting there at night at maybe 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning — I probably did this a hundred nights — and I would look up with tears and say, ‘How the ‘F’ did I get myself in this position? I’m the only jackass that has pocket aces and figures out a way to lose the hand,” he said in an interview with Joe Buck on the Audience Network show Undeniable.
Rodriguez explains that he used the drugs to manage chronic back pain in an effort to boost his batting statistics. “There are so many frustrating things when you look back at that,” Rodriguez said. “Number one, you have a guaranteed contract for hundreds of millions of dollars. Literally, you can sit on the couch and get fat. Right? How stupid can you be? … This thing cost me over $40 million. And it cost me my reputation, and it may have cost me the Hall of Fame and a number of other things.”
The hardest part of it was telling his daughters Natasha and Ella that their father had failed them. “The hardest thing I had to do, I had to admit to Natasha and Ella the mistake that I made,” Rodriguez said. “And I needed [ex-wife Cynthia Scurtis] to be part of that. I told Cynthia, ‘When I sit down with the girls, they’re gonna be listening to me, but they’re gonna be looking at you, and chances are I’m not gonna make it past first base because I’m gonna probably start breaking down.’ And sure enough, I almost didn’t get out of home plate.”
Rodriguez retired in 2016 and is now working as a studio analyst for Fox Sports, he spends his free time with his new love, Jennifer Lopez, and their kids. The ball player is estimated to have earned about $437 million over the course of his career, which isn’t too bad of a consolation prize.