NEW YORK — Most retired ballplayers dream of a bronze plaque in Cooperstown. They imagine the speech. They picture the ceremony. They count down the days until voters decide their fate.
Alex Rodriguez sees it differently. Very differently.
The former Yankees third baseman made a stunning admission in a recent interview with The Athletic. He said getting into the Hall of Fame would actually leave him feeling empty. The 50-year-old believes therapy has given him something far more valuable than any bronze plaque.
Rodriguez explains his unusual stance
The former Yankees star spoke candidly to The Athletic’s Jason Jones about how he would feel if voters ever elected him to baseball’s highest honor.
“I have a life today that I didn’t have for the first 40 years,” Rodriguez told Jones. “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.”
He continued: “I would rather have what I have today, because it really helped me unlock a lot of the work that I needed to do.”
The confession stunned many Yankees fans. Here was a player who once craved attention and validation at every turn. Now he claims he has found peace without baseball’s ultimate prize.
Therapy changed the former Yankees star
Rodriguez credits Dr. David Schnarch, a trauma therapist and clinical psychologist, for helping him transform his outlook on life. Schnarch, who died in 2020, pushed Rodriguez to examine his past behavior and understand why he became such a polarizing figure.
“I’m like, ‘Whoa, what the hell am I doing here? This doesn’t make any sense,'” Rodriguez said about his early therapy sessions. “But the more I stayed with it, the more it started to really affect me in a positive way.”
He added: “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.”
Rodriguez has called himself a “recovering narcissist.” He has been in therapy for more than 10 years. His HBO documentary “Alex vs. A-Rod,” which premiered last month, explores this personal journey in detail.
The numbers that belong in Cooperstown
On paper, Rodriguez owns one of the greatest resumes in baseball history. He played 22 seasons with the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, and Yankees. His statistics dwarf most Hall of Famers.
He finished with a .295 batting average. He smashed 696 home runs, ranking fifth all time behind Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and Albert Pujols. He drove in 2,086 runs, placing him fourth in MLB history.
Rodriguez won three American League MVP awards. He earned 14 All-Star selections. He collected 10 Silver Slugger awards and two Gold Gloves. He helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series.
Those numbers should guarantee a spot in Cooperstown. They have not.
PED scandal keeps voters away
Rodriguez admitted in 2009 that he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003 while playing for the Rangers. The confession came after years of denials. It damaged his reputation permanently.
Then came the Biogenesis scandal. In 2014, Rodriguez received the longest PED suspension in Major League Baseball history. He missed an entire season. The punishment cemented his status as a pariah among many voters.
He became eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2022. He has topped out at just 37.1 percent of the vote. Players need 75 percent for induction. His numbers have barely moved in four years on the ballot.
The 2026 ballot marks his fifth year of eligibility. Early tracking shows him at 49.3 percent among publicly revealed ballots. That represents progress but still falls far short of the threshold. His eligibility expires in 2030.
Rodriguez calls out ‘hypocrisy’ in the voting process
The former Yankees slugger has not stayed silent about what he sees as a double standard. During a November appearance on “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” he pointed directly at former commissioner Bud Selig.
“All of this stuff you’re talking about was under Bud Selig’s watch,” Rodriguez said. “And the fact that those two guys are not in, but somehow, Bud Selig is in the Hall of Fame, that to me feels like there’s a little bit, some hypocrisy around that.”
He also defended Barry Bonds and other players linked to PEDs.
“Barry Bonds was basically a Hall of Famer the minute he came out of Mrs. Bonds’ stomach,” Rodriguez said. “He’s that good. He was a Hall of Famer at Arizona State. He was a Hall of Famer for the Pittsburgh Pirates.”
Rodriguez then proposed cutting 50 percent from the statistics of players linked to PEDs. Even with that penalty, he argued they would still be first-ballot Hall of Famers.
His daughters see a different person now
Rodriguez told The Athletic that self-reflection has changed how he views his past. His daughters Natasha and Ella have watched old interviews of their father. They told him that person seems unrecognizable from the man they know today.
The HBO documentary gave both daughters a chance to understand their father’s full story. They gave him permission to be honest about everything. The resulting three-part series explores his rise, fall, and attempt at redemption.
“I knew the rules, I broke the rules, and if that’s the penalty, that’s completely on me,” Rodriguez said on the TODAY show while promoting the documentary.
Yankees fans remain divided on their former star
Mention Rodriguez’s name in the Bronx and you will get mixed reactions. Some Yankees fans remember his role in the 2009 championship run. Others cannot forgive the scandals that overshadowed his talent.
The wounds remain fresh even a decade after his retirement. Eye rolls and grumbles still follow his name. Rodriguez understands why. He accepts the criticism as a consequence of his choices.
But now he claims the Hall of Fame no longer defines him. Whether voters eventually elect him or not, Rodriguez says he has already found what he was searching for all along.
He just never expected to find it in a therapist’s office instead of a museum in upstate New York.
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