Alex Rodriguez is undoubtedly one of the greatest players in the history of baseball, and his lengthy, game-changing, controversial playing career will come to a bittersweet end in 5 days, on August 12, when the Yankees take on the Tampa Bay Rays. After the 12th, A-Rod will be released from the team, he’ll be able to retire, at which time he’ll be brought back into the organization as a “special advisor and instructor” to the Yanks.

A-Rod began his career with the Seattle Mariners, but would soon find untold riches where everything is just bigger: Texas. The Rangers, who had never won a World Series title, were looking to make a huge splash and corral one of the biggest stars the game would ever see. They gave Rodriguez a $250 million contract which, at the time, was just $2 million short of what the organization as a whole was worth. That said, Rodriguez made it count. In his 3 seasons with Texas, he became arguably the game’s biggest and most prolific star, logging 47 home runs, 118 RBI and the American League MVP award in 2003, his final season with the team. And that was his worst year, statistically, as a Ranger.

Rodriguez then took his act to New York, where he began one of the most high-profile major league tenures of any star ever. Arguably the game’s best hitter, playing in the country’s biggest town, for the sport’s most winningest team ever. The headlines wrote themselves for the last 12 seasons, including the ones Rodriguez co-wrote by getting involved with banned substances and performance enhancing drugs. On Friday, he will retire from baseball with the 4th most home runs in league history, the most grand slams ever, a member of the 3,000 hit club and the 2009 World Champion.

August 7, 2016