Alex Rodriguez has an issue with his former team the New York Yankees. The baseball legend recently appeared on the Evan and Tiki show with Evan Roberts and Tiki Barber and talked about how the Yankees have yet to retire his number despite solidifying his legacy with the team.
“Of course, it bothers me,” Rodriguez said, per Fox News. “It’s less about bother, but of course, it would be nice to be recognized in one of the coolest places to be in Yankee history, but that’s not my decision.” Rodriguez went on to say that he didn’t like it when the Yankees allowed Joey Gallo to wear No. 13 in 2021. “It did not make me happy,” Rodriguez told Roberts and Barber.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Rodriguez spent the majority of his career with the Yankees (2004-2016) where he hit 351 home runs with 1,096 RBIs. He was named AL MVP in 2005 and 2007 and led the Yankees to a World Series title in 2009. Rodriguez admitted that he’s been critical of the Yankees in his role as an MLB analyst but noted that his relationship with Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner is “fine.”
“I’m too critical to the Yankees, and that doesn’t help my case,” Rodriguez said. “But I get paid to tell the truth, and if you guys ask me a question, I’m going to tell you exactly as I see it and not sugarcoat it because I want my number retired. If it’s not retired, so be it.”
The Yankees have 22 numbers that are retired with the most recent being Derek Jeter (No. 2) in 2017. The one thing that could hurt Rodriguez’s chances of being honored by the team is his suspension during the 2014 season for possession and using performance-enhancing drugs.
“There’s so many frustrating things when you look back at that,” Rodriguez told Joe Buck on the show Undeniable in 2019, per ESPN. “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.”
