Alex Rodriguez: ‘No One Really Knew The Real Me’

NEARLY 10 YEARS AFTER RETIRING FROM BASEBALL, THE LEGEND OPENS UP IN A NEW DOC ABOUT THERAPY, FORGIVENESS AND FINDING PEACE WITH HIS PAST

- GILLIAN TELLING

When Alex Rodriguez was watching the World Series between the L.A. Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays on Nov. 1, he felt the desperate pull of wanting to be out on the field again. “I’m embarrassed to tell you how much money I would have paid to be playing in Game 7,” he says with a laugh. But despite his absolute love of baseball, he faced so much pain throughout his nearly 25-year run that there was a time he contemplated walking away from it all. “I was so exhausted towards the end of my career, just fighting against everyone. I went away for two weeks, feeling a lot of shame, and thought, ‘Why keep fighting? Why not just tap out?’ That was my state of mind for a while.”

HIS ROOKIE ERA Rodriguez (with mother Lourdes in 1997) signed a $1.3 million deal with the Seattle Mariners at just 18 years old.

Nearly a decade after hanging up his cleats, Rodriguez, 50, has a completely different mindset. “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. And I don’t think that would be the case without some of the mistakes.” He’s opening up about the highs and lows in the new HBO doc Alex vs. ARod, out Nov. 6. “I thought it was important to tell my story—the good, the bad, the ugly,” he says. “Because no one really knew me. And I think the most compelling part of my story is that I’ve fallen on my face in a very public way. Hopefully it gives others hope.”