Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez, the youngest of Dominican immigrants Lourdes' and
Victor Rodriguez's three children, is born in Washington Heights, N.Y. Victor, a
former catcher in a Dominican pro league, will eventually introduce his son to
baseball.
1979
Victor decides to close his Manhattan shoe store and retire. He moves his family
-- Lourdes, Alex and Alex's brother, Joe, and sister, Susy -- to the Dominican
Republic. It's there that Alex begins playing baseball. He later says, "In
D.R., playing ball was tougher. No one had anything. In the U.S. there were $200
gloves, and the fields were like
paradise."
1983
Victor's retirement is short-lived. The Rodriguez family leaves the Dominican
Republic for Miami, where Victor opens another shoe store.
1984
Alex's world is jolted as Victor leaves his family and moves back to New York.
His parents divorce, and Lourdes takes two jobs (working as a secretary during
the day and a waitress at night) to support her children. "I kept thinking
my father would come back, but he never did," Alex told SI's Gerry Callahan
in July 1996. "But it was OK. All the love I had for him I just gave to my
mother. She deserved it. Sometimes people ask why I still live at home, and I
say, 'Why shouldn't I like living with my mother? She's one of my best
friends.'"
1985-1990
Growing up in the Miami suburb of Kendall, young Rodriguez keeps a life-sized
poster of Cal Ripken Jr. over his bed. He also wears the number 3 on the back of
his baseball uniform, a tribute to another of his idols, Atlanta Braves
outfielder Dale
Murphy.
Winter
1991
As a junior at Miami's Westminster Christian Prep School, Rodriguez plays both
baseball and football. As quarterback, he leads the Warriors to a 9-1 record.
Spring
1992
Rodriguez's squad is named national champion by the National High School
Baseball Coaches Association and Baseball America.
Spring
1993
After giving up football, Rodriguez dominates Florida high school baseball his
senior year, leading Westminster to a No. 1 national ranking by USA Today
while batting .505 with nine home runs and 36 RBIs in 33 games. He also steals
35 bases in 35 attempts. He is a first-team prep All-America selection, and is
the only high school-aged finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, given annually
to the top amateur player in the country.
June 3, 1993
An historic professional career gets under way when the Seattle Mariners select
Rodriguez as the first player in the free-agent amateur draft. "He's the best
[amateur prospect] I've ever seen," says the scouting director for one American
League team. "He might be the best player ever in the draft [which began in
1965]. He's as talented as Ken Griffey Jr., but he plays with more intensity.
The Mariners loved [pitcher Darren] Dreifort, but you couldn't pass on this
guy."
Mid-June
1993
Rodriguez, who wants to play in the National League so he can be close to Miami,
has reservations about playing in Seattle. He signs a letter of intent with the
University of Miami after being offered a baseball
scholarship.
Aug. 30,
1993
After several weeks of contentious negotiations between Seattle management and
Rodriguez's family and his his adviser, Scott Boras (Rodriguez wanted $2.5
millionper year, Seattle offered $1 million), and just hours before he is to
attend his first class at the University of Miami, Rodriguez signs a guaranteed
three-year, $1.3 million contract with a $1 million signing bonus.
1994
Rodriguez makes a rapid ascension through the Mariners' minor-league system. The
organization originally plans to have him play half a season at Class A Appleton
(Wisc.) and half a season at Class AA Jacksonville (Fla.) before calling him up
in September. However, after just 65 games with Appleton and 17 with
Jacksonville, Mariners manager Lou Piniella decides he needs Rodriguez on his
roster.
July 8, 1994
The highly touted prospect makes his major league debut in Boston, just 13
months after graduating from high school. He is the youngest player -- at 18
years, 11 months -- to make the major leagues since Jose Rijo joined the New
York Yankees 37 days shy of his 19th birthday in 1984 . "It's funny,"
Rodriguez says. "Last year I would have paid anything to go watch a major
league game. This year I'm playing in one." He goes 0-for-3 in his debut.
Winter
1994
After the '94 season, Rodriguez returns to the Dominican Republic and plays
winter league ball. "It was the toughest experience of my life," he
later says of his three months there, during which he batted only .179. "I
just got my tail kicked and learned how hard this game can be. It was brutal,
but I recommend it to every young
player."
Aug. 31,
1995
Rodriguez is recalled to the major league club for the fourth and final time. He
rarely gets off the bench during the last month of the season, as Seattle makes
a run all the way to the American League Championship Series, but he has no
complaints. "It was an awesome experience," he says a year later.
"I was 20 years old. It would have been ludicrous for me to think I should
have been in there. I understood my role -- I was there to pinch run or fill in
if someone got hurt -- and it didn't bother me at
all."
Oct. 8,
1995
After dropping the first two games of the best-of-five Division Series to the
New York Yankees, the Mariners pull off a stunning comeback. They trail 5-4 in
Game 5 and score two runs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game and the
series. Rodriguez gets just one at-bat in the series and goes 0-for-1. But after
the thrilling victory he says, "It's kind of ironic, isn't it? At first, I
didn't want to play in Seattle. Now I can't imagine playing anywhere else. This
is the perfect place for
me."
