Today, six years after his retirement from the MLB, the former Yankee, Alex Rodriguez stands as one of the most popular faces surrounding the world of baseball. However, there was a time his popularity graph faced a significant downfall, and he reached the bad side of his beloved Yankee fanbase.

Notably, after A-Rod’s name officially came out in the steroid scandal, and following the delayed hearings, the MLB suspended the Yankee for the 2014 season. After a mentally challenging and emotional suspension, the slugger came back, all guns blazing.

A-Rod’s magnificent comeback to baseball

Alex Rodriguez made a comeback to the MLB in 2015. While the Yankee went on to smash 33 home runs in that season, the journey the slugger encountered was emotion-filled and sentimental. He compared his return to the MLB with Rocky Balboa’s return and said that he tried to make it to the team “as a broken-down 40-year-old that didn’t have a lot of allies.”

A-Rod went on to talk about achieving 30 homers at that age. He said, “I did that at 40 and 100 percent clean, and no one can take that away from me. It told me everything about who I was.” After retiring, he served as an advisor to then-New York Yankee owner Hal Steinbrenner.

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He described that by saying, “From where I came from, that honor is like hitting 800.”

Why did Alex Rodriguez play as first baseman after his return to baseball?

After A-Rod’s one-season ban in 2014 came to an end, he was already 40 years old. So the 40-year-old, out-of-shape shortstop couldn’t continue playing at his usual position. Throughout the 2015 summer, then Yankees manager Joe Girardi planned to make the slugger play at first base, upon a fitness-influenced decision taken by A-Rod. However, his stint at first base didn’t last too long. And he moved to start the season as a designated hitter.

Eventually, after the 2016 season, A-Rod said goodbye to baseball. Even then, the Miami Marlins wooed A-Rod for a while. Finally, his manager announced A-Rod’s official decision to step away from baseball.

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Post-2017, the slugger served as a “special advisor” to Yankees’ owner Hal Steinbrenner.