Alex Rodriguez Biography

Fast Facts

• Became the youngest player in the history of Major League Baseball to hit 500 career home runs in 2007
• His father, a passionate fan of the New York Mets, was a professional catcher in his native Dominican Republic
• First started playing baseball in the Dominican Republic after he moved there with his family at the age of 4
• Was the quarterback on the Westminster Christian School football team in high school, but also excelled in baseball, and by his senior year he'd decided to fully concentrate on the sport
• Though he'd already planned to attend the University of Miami, when he was picked first overall in the MLB's 1993 amateur draft, he went pro immediately
• Quote: "[on his father] "I saw how passionate he was about the game․ How closely he paid attention to it․ That rubbed off on me․""
• Went on from the Seattle Mariners to play for the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees
• Made his major league debut playing shortstop for the Seattle Mariners at the age of 18
• His 2001 $252 million deal with the Texas Rangers was the most lucrative contract in the history of baseball
• Became the seventh player in MLB history to hit 600 career home runs in 2010