"Look, I pray every day I get a chance to get in to Hall of Fame" - Throwback to Alex Rodriguez caught in candid conversation about his HOF inclusion
In January 2019, former New York Yankees legend Alex Rodriguez participated in a thoughtful conversation on ESPN's "First Take" with Molly Qerim Rose, Max Kellerman, and Stephen A. Smith. He opened up about praying every day to get into the prestigious Hall of Fame.
Alex Rodriguez, who has a mottled history of using illicit PEDS during his MLB career, handled the interview with grace. He faced several questions about his steroid usage and the impact it had on his MLB career.
In the first half of the interview, Stephen asked Alex about his thoughts regarding what history with PEDs means for Hall of Fame candidates. Rodriguez responded by saying:
"Look, I pray every day I get a chance to get in Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is the ultimate place."
Alex's transparent and straightforward answers won the hearts of MLB fans.
Alex Rodriguez owned up to his mistakes and spoke about making peace with himself if he doesn't get into the HOF
Alex acknowledged his steroid usage during the interview and stated that he would be perfectly content if he doesn't get inducted into the Hall of Fame.
"I would love to get in [to the Hall of Fame], but I understand that I made my own bed. So if I don't make it to the Hall of Fame, I can live with that. I will be bummed, it would suck and I can't believe that I put myself in this situation. But if that happens, I have no one to blame but myself."
There are 31 players in MLB history that have produced at least 100 career WAR.
Three of them are not in the Hall of Fame and they were all on the 2022 ballot (Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez). https://t.co/NLgrq5RNtD
"There are 31 players in MLB history that have produced at least 100 career WAR. Three of them are not in the Hall of Fame and they were all on the 2022 ballot (Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez)." - ESPN Stats & Info
Alex Rodriguez's name appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2022. Rodriguez received 40.9% of the 161 publicly available ballots for the Hall of Fame on Ryan Thibodaux's vote tracker. A-Rod was thus disqualified from the Class of 2022.