Alex Rodriguez is one of if not the most polarizing baseball players of the last twenty years, and maybe even ever. He has other worldly latent, both offensively and defensively, and has etched his name in the record books next to some all time greats. He has the third most RBIs in the history of the sport, only behind Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth, and is fourth all time in home runs besides the former two and, of course, Barry Bonds. He had over 2000 runs, 3000 hits, won two gold gloves, ten silver sluggers, 14 all star appearances, three MVPs, and so much more. Simply put, A-Rod is good at baseball. Many even considered him the best shortstop of all time in parts of his early career. That being said, all of those stats come with an asterisk next to them in the record books, and a big one at that. Alex Rodriguez was caught taking performance enhancing drugs, twice.
This raised a lot of questions about the once sure fire hall of famer. People questioned his contract. People questioned his skill. And, most of all, people questioned his character. It truly tarnished his baseball legacy in a way that can never be undone.
Now, A-Rod is trying to create a new legacy, one outside of the confines of his sport. Not only is he trying, A-Rod is succeeding, and with flying colors at that. His company, A-ROD Corp, was officially founded in 2003 but Rodriguez started allocating much more time and attention to it in recent years, following the culmination of his playing days. The premise of A-ROD Corp is a relatively simple one, but it has still brought in highly successful results. They focus on long term investments in three main fields; real estate, sports and wellness, and media. Under these realms of investment, they’ve partnered with some of the largest companies in the game under their respective fields. From the UFC to the Boys and Girls Club to Snapchat and Mercedes Benz, A-ROD Corp works with the best in the business at everything they do.
In the real estate sector alone, A-Rod has been incredibly successful even though learning the trade decades after most moguls in the field do. His real estate sub-firm under A-ROD Corp, Monument Capital Management, owns north of 10,000 residential living units which are currently valued above $400 million.
A-Rod is also thinking outside of the box, finding different ways to have his impact felt and voice heard in the business world. He started a YouTube channel that, although it is no more than two months old and has just eight videos, already has 60,000 subscribers and hundreds of thousands of views on every video. If the channel continues the current rate of exponential growth that it is on right now, that will be a valuable financial asset to Rodriguez and his team, as well as an effective platform to spread whatever message, baseball or business, that they so please.
Another interesting impact Rodriguez is making in the business world is through teaching. He co-taught a few iterations of a similar class at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which is often regarded as the number one graduate business program in the entire world. One class was called, “Reputation Management: Strategies for Successful Communicators” and also helped with another class called “Strategic Pivoting to Your Next Chapter.” It is safe to say Rodriguez is an expert at both of these things. His reputation was tarnished, and then again, when it was discovered that he took PEDs twice in his career. That being said, he was able to bounce back and create a new name for himself in the business world today. He saved his reputation by strategically pivoting and creating a new chapter away from the world of baseball and into the world of business. He utilized both main goals of the classes and made himself the public figure that he is today, so he has a wealth of knowledge to share with America’s future business leaders.
One last thing to point out is that, while Rodriguez has had major success in the business world away from baseball, he has had great success in baseball even after his playing career was over. He has recurring segments with the biggest names in coverage of the sport, ESPN and MLB TV, and has been widely regarded as one of the best in the business. He has truly created a business empire for himself, and the thing is, he’s just getting started.
The Infield Fly 