Alex Rodriguez has been famous for a multitude of reasons. Not the least among them being his bumper contracts. But the first truly great deal that A-Rod seems to have gotten can be attributed almost completely to his mother. At least so he says. The baseball superstar came to the major leagues in 1993 as the 1st overall pick in the draft and chose professional baseball over going to the University of Miami as their starting quarterback.

However, the story of how he turned up for the Seattle Mariners that season has a few more angles than we would’ve initially guessed. And A-Rod recently revealed the tough negotiations that got him onto the diamond aged 17.

A-Rod, while recently speaking to a media organization, revealed the inside scoop on his initial contract negotiations with the Mariners. Rodriguez signed on with the Mariners from the 1993 draft and played in Seattle until 2000. In his first free agency, A-Rod signed on for the Texas Rangers for what was at the time a record deal.

However, his stay in Dallas was cut short in 2003 when he switched teams to play at the Bronx instead. He spent the rest of his career in New York, even winning the World Series there in 2009. However, the story of where it all started is perhaps more interesting than we would give it credit for.

Alex ‘A-Rod’ Rodriguez’s first contract

As with a majority of young athletes, you would have expected that Rodriguez’s parents were involved in initial negotiations. With the teenager entering the majors aged 17, it is obvious that he would have needed some help. But perhaps we underestimate just how much Rodriguez was helped by the presence of his mother in securing his deal. Speaking to Jason Tarthik on the podcast ‘Trading Secrets’, A-Rod opened up about his first deal.

He spoke about how his mother was the one that pushed the value of his initial deal up. While the Mariners had offered him a $1 million deal, his mother had some other plans.

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Negotiation Tactics

Coming from humble beginnings, A-Rod speaks about how his mother worked 2 jobs and made only about $20,000 to $25,000 a year and still showed tremendous guile in negotiations. Speaking to the Mariners about his initial contact, Rodriguez recalls that his mother said, “If we don’t get $1.5 million a year my son is going to college at the University of Miami.”

A-Rod had outstanding offers to play for the U of M as a starting quarterback and as shortstop, and that is exactly what his mother told the Mariners he would do.

A-Rod recalls feeling confused at the time. “Mom, are you sure? We’re broke. That’s a lot of money, “ said A-Rod. Harkening back to a time when Rodriguez would be counting tips in $1 bills every night with his mother, he remembers how brave his mother would have been to make the demands. “It’s 1.5 million or nothing,” she said.

A-Rod remembers thinking, “Mom, are you nuts?” But it all worked out in the end. A-Rod ended up signing with the Mariners on a 3-year contract worth $1.3 million and a $1 million signing bonus too and he has his mother to thank for it.