In HBO’s ‘Alex vs. ARod’ (Part one streaming now, new episodes Thursdays, 9 p.m. ET/PT), sports talk radio icon Mike Francesa calls former Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez ‘a Shakespearian figure’ and a flawed man.
The person Francesa was talking about couldn’t agree more, saying that the media personality’s observation is, ‘the line of the documentary.’
‘I think that flawed man and the suspension, led to a man that needed help,’ Rodriguez, 50, tells USA TODAY over Zoom. ‘I went into therapy with Dr. David and he saved my life in many ways.’
The suspension Rodriguez refers to came in 2013, when MLB banned A-Rod for an entire season over the use of performance-enhancing drugs. As for ‘Dr. David,’ that’s Dr. David Schnarch who Rodriguez reveals was his therapist from 2009 until the psychologist’s death in 2020. In the final installment of the series, A-Rod returns to Schnarch’s Colorado home and reflects on his journey to ‘rewire my brain.’
‘He helped me really understand some of the issues that I survived from being a younger kid,’ Rodriguez says. ‘And he taught me some incredible lessons.’
A-Rod gets personal in new HBO docuseries, on his terms
If you’re looking for a ‘kiss-and-tell’ documentary, ‘Alex vs. ARod’ isn’t it. The docuseries covers Rodriguez’s upbringing and his professional career, from 1993 when he was the first overall draft pick to his last game in 2016. In between, there’s his rise with the Seattle Mariners, a record-breaking deal with the Texas Rangers and then the headline-making trade that sent him to the New York Yankees. But there’s no talk or mention of Jennifer Lopez, who dated the baseball star from 2017 until they called off their engagement in 2021.
The only partner that Rodriguez speaks of over the three episodes is his ex-wife Cynthia Nicolas; she also appears in the docuseries. They were married for six years from 2002 to 2008. Archival footage and past headlines fill in some of the rest of the picture: Rodriguez at one point or another was romantically linked to Madonna, Cameron Diaz and Kate Hudson over the time period covered in the doc. He even signed with Madonna’s manager, Guy Oseary, after opting out of his Yankees contract in 2007 and leaving agent Scott Boras. But none of that was talked about in the series.
‘I made it a habit not to talk about my personal life, as far as that part of it,’ Rodriguez says, while noting that Oseary is still a ‘very close friend’ of his. ‘(The docuseries) was more a story that was based around baseball, my fall and my lessons learned.’
Rodriguez’s unwillingness to ‘go there’ on certain topics was something also felt at times by filmmakers Gotham Chopra and Erik LeDrew. The duo would change questions, locations and recording methods in an attempt to break A-Rod off familiar responses.
‘Especially when you’re dealing with really complicated subject matter, you want a lot of bites of the apple, and a lot of really different approaches to the apple,’ LeDrew, who directed, wrote and co-executive produced the piece, says.
The process worked. Rodriguez became so comfortable with the team that he gave them his cell phone number for additional access.
‘Look, it’s not like the first time he’s ever been asked any of these questions or dealt with the PED stuff,’ Chopra, who directed with LeDrew and was an executive producer, says. His company Religion of Sports, which Chopra co-founded with Tom Brady and Michael Strahan, produced the series. ‘You realize early on (that) there’s a level of perspective that this guy has now. Time has passed. There’s been a lot of other stuff going on in his life, and mostly for the good.’
Both Strahan and Brady appeared at the New York City premiere of the documentary. All three athletes played at an elite level and went on to have successful media careers. But besides A-Rod’s link to PEDs, Chopra points out one big difference between at least two of the men.
‘Every conversation Tom talks about how much his father is a part of his success,’ Chopra says. ‘And you know, Alex does the same thing, but he talks about the absence of his father.’
One of the bigger personal revelations in ‘Alex vs. ARod’ is the strained relationship between Rodriguez and his father Victor, who he inherited his love for baseball from. Victor left their family when Alex was 10 years old. They wouldn’t see each other again until 2000, when at the urging of his then-wife, Rodriguez and his father met in Minneapolis. The Mariners were in town for a four-game series against the Twins. After the final game, the two never saw each other again.
Over the four games, Rodriguez batted .412 with 6 RBI.
A-Rod on his infamous 2013 WFAN interview: ‘I wasn’t thinking’
There is a steady set of voices heard throughout the three-part series, from A-Rod’s inner circle to former teammates Derek Jeter and Ken Griffey Jr. Rodriguez’s daughters Natasha, 20, and Ella, 17, also appear and speak about their father’s work ethic and willingness to help them through any situation. Rodriguez calls their participation in the series ‘a highlight.’
Joe Tacopina, the attorney who became a media star in his own right and represented Rodriguez during the 2013 scandal that led to his 2014 suspension, only appears via archival footage. Tacopina accompanied Rodriguez to a grievance hearing on Nov. 20, 2013. During the proceeding, it was ruled that MLB commissioner Bud Selig would not have to testify about the then-211 game suspension. According to the Associated Press, Rodriguez became so irate over the ruling that slammed his hand on a table, cursed at then-MLB Chief Operating Officer Rob Manfred and stormed out of the building. He went directly to WFAN, where afternoon host Mike Francesa’s program was not only on the radio, but also simulcasting on the Yankees’ cable television network YES.
In a compelling and unscheduled live interview, Rodriguez spent 40 minutes in front of a microphone proclaiming his innocence and claiming there was a ‘witch hunt’ against him. In hindsight, he has some regrets.
‘I wasn’t thinking,’ Rodriguez admits. ‘The whole process was very frustrating at that time. If you have a do-over, obviously you don’t make the mistake (of PEDs) in the first place.’
But Rodriguez still sounds frustrated with the way in which Selig and MLB investigated him, including purchasing stolen documents that were used as evidence against the former slugger.
‘I wish I had the tools to be able to articulate and say, ‘Some of the things they’re saying are true, but like 90% of the things they’re reaching for is not true,” Rodriguez says. ‘That would’ve been a more accurate story.’
As for Manfred, who became baseball’s commissioner in 2015, he also did not sit down for the documentary. But Rodriguez calls their relationship, ‘strong,’ citing a private meeting they had after he took over for Selig.
‘(Manfred) said, ‘Look Alex, I can promise you this: you serve your suspension, keep your head down, come back once you’re done and you’ll have no scarlet letter,’ A-Rod recalls. ‘And to this day, we bonded over him being a man of his word.’
This is the one question A-Rod won’t ask himself
Another revelation in the docuseries is a secret meeting Alex Rodriguez had after the 2003 season with Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer of the Boston Red Sox. The meeting, which MLB allowed, took place at the Four Seasons hotel in New York City. The Red Sox would eventually work out a deal with the Texas Rangers to trade for Rodriguez, with the MVP giving up around $40 million of his record 10-year, $252 million contract.
MLBPA head Donald Fehr vetoed the deal, citing the precedent it could set for players giving up money. But A-Rod wasn’t stuck on the Rangers for good. Aaron Boone, the Yankees third baseman, tore his ACL during a pickup basketball game the following month. At the Baseball Writers’ Association of America awards dinner, A-Rod was seated next to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. The GM floated an idea to Rodriguez that if he would entertain the idea of moving from shortstop to third base, there could be room for him on the Yankees. After a few cocktails, A-Rod agreed and the rest is history.
But, what if Boone had never played that pickup basketball game during the offseason? Rodriguez isn’t a fan of asking ‘what if?’ joking that if you did that throughout the twists and turns of his career, he might end up in Tokyo or even the NFL.
‘There’s so many stories that are not true, so many stories that are true,’ he says of his career, noting it was important for him to use the docuseries ‘to set the record straight. For the next generation of athletes and young people, there’s some great lessons to be learned and hardships to avoid.’