Alex vs ARod

- A-Rod is a Shakespearean figure.

He's one of the greatest players who ever played.

Big, strong, good-looking, the whole thing.

This guy was an immortal player,

but he also was an incredibly flawed individual.

- You know, I say this proudly.

I don't think there's ever been a baseball player

that has loved the game like Alex has.

You could say whatever you want,

say he took this, he took that.

At the end of the day, he's gonna put up numbers.

He's gonna hit the baseball. That's what he was born to do.

This wasn't about baseball.

I think this was about life.

One thing I've definitely learned in life,

the truth is always gonna come out.

It might take 30 years, it might take 2 years,

it might take 40 years.

The truth is gonna come out, and you're gonna have

to deal with it at some point.

- You know, Alex Rodriguez is just a seminal player.

You know, it comes along once in a generation,

maybe a lifetime.

You take away all the extraneous nonsense,

he's one of the best players who ever lived.

Again, it always begs the question to me--

and I wonder if he's lying alone at night,

looking up at the ceiling--

why did I ever do any of it?

- Why rich and powerful people cheat, part one.

There is an arrogance that often comes with power.

The aura of power surrounding you

makes you feel immune from consequences.

You feel you can do things that mere mortals

are forbidden to do.

You see other wealthy people living a façade in public

and a different life in private.

The key to pulling this off

comes from keeping your public and private life

as separate as possible and creating an image

that shields you from a closer scrutiny.

Yeah, this is a-- a train wreck ready to happen.

This whole idea that you're

one person in front of the camera

and you're a completely different person off-camera.

And that's exhausting, 'cause you're trying to keep up

with the shit you're trying to get away with.

Not fun, and full of anxiety and stress.

And there's a sense, I won't get caught,

'cause you actually think you are better than other people.

There's nothing more stupid than that, right?

- You learned that the hard way, though, didn't you?

- I did learn that the hard way.

- And now a great New York tradition,

time to hand out one of New York's

most prestigious honors,

the keys to the city.

- I mean, the thing when you win,

especially if you win in a place like New York,

there is a celebration tour that can last five months.

And then you're like, okay, this is fun,

but I got a season that I gotta get ready for in 2010.

We gotta--we gotta repeat.

Alex, I know it's a cliché,

but what a difference a year makes.

Last year, I remember we sat here

and you were apologizing to the fans and all that.

And I mean, how much different is this season for you?

Well, it's much different.

And, uh, you know, I'm in a much better place right now.

I know that last year, we sat here...

- In the past, the pressure for him cracked pipes.

In 2009, the pressure created a diamond.

You know, you just shut everybody up.

Everybody that doubted you, everybody that said,

yeah, he's the creation of pharmaceuticals--

he did it.

Now, when spring training was starting,

I said, well, he's gonna have a monster year,

because, you know, he's free of everything.

You know, he's won his World Series.

What do you think? - I hope so.

- Yeah? - I hope so, yeah.

- Another MVP, another world championship?

- The only goal is the same goal we had last year,

was A, to have a lot of fun, play as a team.

And I look forward to defending a world title.

- You seem happy. - I am happy.

- High drive, center field deep.

Going back rows.

Looking up.

See ya!

There it is!

Number 600!

Alex Rodriguez, the youngest man

ever to get to 600 home runs.

- I felt like the World Series came and went.

- And that one is driven deep to left center field.

Going back, Van Every.

On the track, at the wall!

- I was basically at the pinnacle

of my baseball career.

But, I mean, there was just--

there was a lot going on at the time.

- I think a lot comes with success.

I mean, you check on guys, you know.

How are you doing? Everything okay?

- I think in 2010, there was a big hangover

from winning the World Series.

- And Rodriguez caught looking.

- I had never seen Alex start losing the love of the game,

like not wanting to train as much

or not wanting to practice as much

or not wanting to be around baseball as much,

and that's what I saw happening.

- The Texas Rangers, our American League champions!

- And I also think that he was struggling

with where he was at a personal level.

You know, now you're getting older, the kids are older,

and you're on the road a lot.

And it was tough. His divorce was tough.

- We functioned very quickly co-parenting.

The girls, you know,

in order to see him, they have to travel,

and they're so small, so I would travel with them.

He would come back and he would--you know,

if he had a day off, he would come.

And he was amazing when he was present.

It's just that those times were just so select.

- Valverde deals, and a swing and a miss!

Valverde strikes out Alex Rodriguez,

and the Detroit Tigers

are headed to the American League Championship Series...

- Something was off with my game,

but it was less about that

and more about self-development.

From the time I was drafted at 17,

six years later, here comes the 252.

Six years later, here comes 275, controversies,

the championship after that.

Everything was moving so fast.

It was a blur.

I could have been really mature on the field

but that doesn't mean that my off-the-field development

was caught up to that.

And there was a huge disconnect.

I had a lot of work to do.

As a person, I had a lot of work to do.

Around that time, in 2010,

I was on a flight with a friend.

I expressed to him that I was going through a tough time.

And he said, well, I have someone you should meet,

but this guy is like nobody you've ever met before.

My first appointment, I flew out to Evergreen, Colorado,

this beautiful small town,

kind of in the middle of nowhere.

It was cold, it was snowing.

I didn't know what to expect.

Oh, man.

Oh.

You know, I never came in this house.

We would always go around to his office.

I mean, it's a bit shocking being back here.

Dr. David has passed,

and that's a tough pill to swallow.

Everything's pretty much the same.

He had his desk, two computers, third one here.

The couch was over here.

We would do our sessions.

And he had a chair right here, and he has a little table.

He would always have, like, water there,

but I never saw him eat anything, drink anything,

or ever go to the bathroom.

So at one point, I asked him, are you human

or are you just a robot with no emotions?

Yeah, he would never laugh at any of my jokes, so.

The minute you're around Dr. David,

you just know he's different.

He just--very, very serious person, an academic,

and has done retreats all over the world.

I wish it was a retreat.

It wasn't a retreat.

There's so much significance in this room for me.

I'm just picturing Dr. David.

I mean, I can feel him all over the room.

Interesting.

I think in many ways, it feels like a lab

or a batting cage where I got so much work done.

He described it as rewiring the brain.

And he said, if you start this process, you have to finish.

You can't stop in the middle, because it'll be even worse.

I was like, okay, this sounds intense.

That first session was really about

feeling each other out a little bit.

There was a lot of, like, volleying and back and forth.