Alex Rodriguez is no longer chasing validation from Cooperstown. In an exclusive interview with The Athletic’s Jason Jones, the former New York Yankees star said he has “divorced” himself from the idea of the Baseball Hall of Fame, crediting therapy for helping him reframe how he views success, accountability, and his own legacy in the game.
“I have a life today that I didn’t have for the first 40 years,” Rodriguez told The Athletic. “If I went to the Hall of Fame, in a weird way, I would be hollow inside. I would still be in a lot of pain.” The reflection marked a rare moment of vulnerability from one of baseball’s most scrutinized figures.
Rodriguez also acknowledged that his legacy with many Yankees fans remains complicated, even years later. For some, his name still sparks frustration, and there is reluctance to fully credit him as a key piece of the team that captured the 2009 World Series. “I would rather have what I have today,” Rodriguez said, “because it really helped me unlock a lot of the work that I needed to do.”
A-Rod and his long-running clash with Cooperstown
Rodriguez’s complicated relationship with the Hall of Fame has surfaced before. In a FOX News interview back in November, he criticized what he called “hypocrisy” surrounding Cooperstown, pointing to former MLB commissioner Bud Selig’s induction despite overseeing the steroid era. “All of this stuff you’re talking about was under Bud Selig’s watch,” Rodriguez said during an appearance on Stephen A. Smith’s radio show.
“And the fact that those guys aren’t in, but somehow Bud Selig is in the Hall of Fame,” Rodriguez added, referencing Barry Bonds and others, “that to me feels like there’s a little bit of hypocrisy around that.” The comments reinforced his belief that the Hall’s standards remain inconsistent and selectively applied.
Others have argued Rodriguez’s case from a different angle. In a 2016 Fox Sports column, Dieter Kurtenbach wrote that Rodriguez’s failures shouldn’t erase one of the most dominant careers in baseball history, calling it “short-sighted moralizing” to exclude a player whose story is inseparable from the modern game.
Why the Hall of Fame door remains closed
Rodriguez’s résumé is historic, 14 All-Star selections, three AL MVP awards, and more than 3,000 hits, but his legacy is inseparable from performance-enhancing substance use and the Biogenesis scandal, which led to a full-season suspension in 2014. Those factors continue to weigh heavily on Hall of Fame voters.
To be inducted, a candidate must receive 75% of the vote, a threshold Rodriguez has not come close to reaching. After failing to surpass 40% in his first four appearances on the ballot, expectations remain unchanged heading into the Class of 2026, making his exclusion increasingly inevitable.