Alex Rodriguez-Baseball's Golden Boy

Alex Rodriguez is arguably the best player in the game of baseball, yet he still has much to prove. Until he can lead his New York Yankee team to a World Series victory, Alex Rodriguez will have his critics. What they cannot argue is that Alex Rodriquez has put up numbers like few players before him have, especially from his shortstop position. Only thirty years old, he has already produced nine 100 RBI seasons and more than 430 home runs, and may be the best bet to break the all-time home run mark before his career is over.

Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez was born on July 27th, 1975 in New York City, the son of Dominican Republic natives. The family returned to the Dominican Republic when Rodriguez was only four, but it was back in the United States four years later, this time relocating to Miami, Florida. Alex's father told the family he needed to go to New York City on business, and when he left he never returned, abandoning his family.

Alex Rodriguez starred at Miami's Westminster Christian High, winning a baseball scholarship to the University of Miami. Seattle selected him with the first pick in the 1993 amateur draft; the seventeen year old Rodriguez would never play in college. He flew through the minors so rapidly that he was able to make his major league debut when he was still only eighteen, as a shortstop, on July 8th, 1994. He only played in seventeen games before the player's strike ended the season. Seattle shuttled him between Triple A Tacoma and the big club in 1995. He hit five home runs in 142 at bats and
seemed to be adjusting to major league pitching as the year came to an end, a playoff loss to the Indians.