“I always looked out the window of my room waiting for my dad, and he never came back. That left a great void in my life.” That’s what Alex Rodriguez once said about how it feels to grow up without a father. Instead of letting the grief get to him, he found a light inside himself that helped him go through life.

Alex Rodriguez’s mother, Lourdes, was a single parent who worked two jobs to support the family. She had a big impact on his childhood. At night, she waited on tables, and during the day, she worked as a secretary. His mom didn’t have time to cheer him on during his Little League games since she was busy with other things. Instead of getting disappointed, it became his driving force.

In a recent appearance on the Wall Street Skinny podcast, Alex Rodriguez confessed when asked about the impact of his parents on his childhood. A-Rod said, “There’s a gift and a curse to having really active, connected parents. And there’s a gift and a curse—like me—having a single mother who had to take the responsibility of both.” What he said next was the confession that caught everyone off guard.

Alex Rodriguez recalled, “I’ll never forget being 11 or 12, playing at the Boys & Girls Club. I remember like seven or eight of the parents like reaching over the gate, buying like, you know, chips, or Coca Colas, or this or that. And I never had a parent to do that for me, because my mother was busy working, serving tables, right? Yeah. But as a result of that, I had to be highly self-motivated. I didn’t have that extra push. But I also didn’t have obnoxious parents that were just driving me crazy, where it was more about them than the 12-year-old Alex.”  

This confession shows the “bright side” he found in being left alone: the ability to be independent without his parents’ help. Being alone gave him the emotional and mental strength he needed to build everything he did, both on and off the field.

Well, who would have thought that A-Rod’s troubled relationship with his father would unexpectedly shape important business decisions years later? But it did. Rodriguez told The Athletic that he bought the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Lynx 21 years later because they got back in touch in 2000.

Rodriguez thought about the experience and wrote on Wednesday, “Two decades before I became an owner of the @Timberwolves and @minnesotalynx, I reconnected with my father in the Twin Cities for the first & only time.” That Father’s Day meeting at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome was the first time Victor had ever seen his son play professional baseball, sixteen years after he left the family.

Alex Rodriguez subsequently said, “Every time I think of Minnesota, I think of that moment.” “It was maybe the most important four days of my life from an emotional point of view to close a loop that had been open and had been a big wound on me that I worked through a lot in therapy over the years.”  Victor Rodriguez has passed away, but his son’s success story continues to grow.

A-Rod’s relationship with his father was not great, but with his mother? Well, they share a great bond.

Father left, Mom stayed, and she can still “out dance” A-Rod

Alex Rodriguez and his father have had a rocky and distant connection for a long time. When Alex was just 10, his dad departed. This left a hole that neither time nor success has been able to fill. That absence made the relationship difficult, with more emphasis on what was lacking than what was there.

His relationship with his mother, Lourdes, on the other hand, is happy and full of life. Alex Rodriguez says that she is “the biggest inspiration in my life.” She took on both parental responsibilities and did so with unbreakable strength and love.

A-Rod talks highly of his mother and says that she still amazes him, even after all these years. Alex chuckles that at 89, she can still “out dance me and out drink me.” He remembers waking up to stories about how she partied until 5:30 a.m. at a holiday party. “Wow, Mom,” he replied, impressed. That’s not simply mother-son pleasure; it’s a bond of respect and happiness.

This difference precisely shows what A-Rod said when he said that growing up without the parenting that other kids got was not a tragedy, but also a surprise gift that made him who he is today. His difficult history may affect how he feels about his father, but his relationship with his mother is strong and sincere. She has always been there for Alex Rodriguez, from when she worked two jobs to now, when she has the energy to stop the party.