Trading Secrets - 40: A-Rod’s Life Changing Moments, Record Breaking Deals & Secrets to his Empire! The MLB Legend, A-Rod PART 1

Episode Date: February 14, 2022

In this week's 2 part episode of Trading Secrets, Jason is joined by MLB Legend and business tycoon, Alex Rodriguez. Jason asks A-Rod about the exact moment that changed his life forever, his incredibly humble beginnings, and even his biggest regrets. A-Rod is 1 in almost 8 billion, but how? Luck?!?  A-Rod tells us how! From life advice for every listener to inside scoop regarding the World Series, it's another episode you can't afford to miss.    Pre-order The Restart Roadmap: Rewire and Reset Your Career TODAY!   Click HERE to join Jason's Restart All Access Membership and Networking Group, which includes an entry into our March Madness bracket with over $5,000 worth of prizes!  Host: Jason Tartick Voice of Viewer: David Arduin Executive Producer: Evan Sahr Produced by Dear Media.

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Whether you're new to Trading Secrets or you are a returning trader, welcome to Trading Secrets. We launch a new episode every single Monday. I'm your host, Jason Tardick, and today we have Alex Rodriguez, part one. Next week, we will have A-Rod part two. And the whole premise of this show is to trade secrets. To trade secrets about career, financial, personal, and most importantly, money management. Because there's a stereotype out there that we can't talk about money.

Money made, money we make in our jobs today, money lost, and that's what we're here to do. Crack that code. For every dollar lost and every dollar lost, and every dollar, gained, there's a story. And the more stories we tell, the better shape will all be in as we're trying to navigate this crazy, ever-changing world that we live in. Thank you for being part of this episode. The format of this show, if you're new to the show, is we ring in the bell, we have our main segment, and then we close the bell. And at the closing bell, we do a recap. And definitely stay tuned for the recap, because we have a special guest joining us.

That being said, before we ringing the bell with A-Rod, I also got to tell you, the pre-sale for my book is now out. The restart roadmap, rewire, and reset your career. You can go to Amazon right now and purchase it. And if you do, if you gave a five-star rating, I can't tell you how much it would mean to me. Thank you for tuning into part one with A-Rod. Enough of me. Let's ring in the bell. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. I am here live in Miami, Florida, at A-Rod corporate headquarters with the former New York Yankee star, Alex Rodriguez.

Throughout his 22 seasons in the MLB, Rodriguez played for the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, and then, of course, the New York Yankees for nearly 13 years up until his retirement. He is one of the best baseball players to ever live and made history more times than one, earning countless awards during his astonishing career. Arod has been named a 14-time All-Star, 10-time Silver Slugger winner, three-time MVP, and number four on all-time MLB Home Run List. That's not it. I could keep going, but we have a time constrict.

With his success came mega wealth, investments, brand deals with massive endorsements from brands such as Pepsi, Nike, Presente, Georgi Omani, Radio Shack planters, and many more. Alex retired from baseball in 2016, although those MLB checks are still coming in. One thing we'll have to talk about and ask Alex about, but he's been focusing on building his business empire, the A-Rod Corp, which we're at right now. In addition to his many business ventures and investments, as of April 2021, Rodriguez is an owner alongside Mark Lorry, a trading secrets favorite of the NBA, Minnesota Timberwolf. He's not our first shark on the show, but he has been a shark on the hit show Shark Tank and has worked as a sports analyst for ABC News, ESPN, CNBC in Fox Sports. Alex, thank you so much for being here.

Beyond excited to not only be in your office, but in your corporate headquarters. Well, Jason, welcome to our headquarters. Welcome and congrats on all your success. I just want to say, Jason, this has an opportunity to be the greatest interview of all time. And we have Presente beer. We have super coffee. And we have cabinated water. So anything can happen.

So listen on, it's going to be a great show. I love it. So you guys think you're coming to Alex Rodriguez's office. You got to bring the fancy wines and the cigars. All you need is a 12 pack of Presidente, and it works. I love it. You know, Alex, before we get into it, I got to tell you, I watched the Forbes interview when you were asked, why don't you just hang it up?

Just go on an island. You've made your money. You've done your thing. and you said something about creating an impact and being a leader to a youth. And I think specifically you said, so as a leader today, when I have young people in front of me, it's my job to give them an opportunity, but to push them in a direction they never saw themselves. So I just want to say, as we're sitting here right now, you have accomplished both of that because this is an opportunity I never saw in a direction I never saw myself in.

So thank you for being here. We appreciate it. You're welcome. Cool. All right. Let's get into it. So the first thing I got to ask is I'm thinking through this interview and I'm looking at everything you've accomplished, right? Best, one of the best baseball players to ever be born. What's interesting is you're also one of the most socially media followed baseball players. You're one of the most compensated, highly compensated athletes. You're one of the best athletes ever exist as far as it

relates to building business ventures. And then you throw the curveball in as being one of the most relevant people in pop culture. Like, so you'll look at our population in the world. You have about just under 8 billion people. This is one in almost 8 billion. The things you've been able to do at a young age in a multitude of different areas. So I was like, I've got to kick this off by just saying, what do you attribute this extremely outlying success to in all these different areas if you had to pinpoint it to one thing? Luck. I've been really, really, really lucky, Jason, to think to be born in 1975 in the greatest country in the world by two parents who were immigrants from Dominican Republic who had incredible

work ethic. It gave me an opportunity to, born in New York City, raised in Miami, amongst so many great people. And I think for me, being part of a team was life saving. My father left when I was 10. I quickly joined the Boys and Girls Club, which became like my second parent. It created incredible walls of protection around me and my childhood. And then sports kind of gave me this path that I started thinking when I was 11 or 12, boy, if I can get a good enough SAT, I can get a 3.0 in school. I get to go from Kendall, right here in Miami, a poor kid, to Palo Alto. Yeah. To go to school and Stanford and play shortstop there. And I knew that I had to go academically because you have to have certain grades for that. But I'm saying what country allows you

to go from Kendall to Palo Alto in a matter of eight years? And that was kind of my mission. When I started growing up early, I was like, maybe there's an opportunity I can go to college. through sports, it didn't matter what color you were, whether you were skinny or fat, smart, or not so smart. If you gave effort in sports and you brought something to the party, then you were welcomed on that team, and that's what I love about team sports. That's a beautiful thing. And one thing you mentioned in that dialogue is that you came from humble beginnings. And I think about, like, I came from a middle class family, but there are things I always saw some of the other kids maybe get that put a chip on my shoulder.

When you think about the success you had early on in your teens and 20s and, of course, now in your 40s, do you have any memories that stick in your brain as far as being a kid? And maybe you're deprived of a resource or, I don't know, maybe a toy you want. Is there anything that carries that chip on your shoulders as you continue to wake up every day and do what you're doing? If you looked at our parents' bank account, I was very poor. Yeah. But if you looked at my life and my experiences, I was very wealthy. And the reason why is I had a great school.

I went to elementary school, Everglades Elementary here in Miami. I was part of the Boys and Girls Club in US 1 and 32nd. But I was always part of a team. And when you're part of a team, it brings you incredible, like, protection, collaboration. And like when I walk in here every day and I see Ashley and Rachel and we're a team. And ultimately, they're going to go and go run their own companies, but they're always going to come back and look at Arod Corp as a place where they hopefully learned a lot. they learned how to position themselves, how to empower them, and then they're going to be able to go run some big empire somewhere, or they can be here forever, which is totally fine

with me as well. So I think I look at where we are today as Arod Corp, as all the things the teamwork did for me, the Boys and Girls Club, and the mentors in my life. Yeah. I mean, mentors, I think, have such an impact on our youth today and the things that you're doing as far as financial literacy is huge and is exactly what we're trying to do here. You talked about mentors and you talk about it often. I saw your interview where you mentioned Rich Hoffman. And it was kind of crazy when you discussed it because you discussed that he pretty much told you the blueprint that you were going to go through.

And you said that the next day it's when it like snapped in your head that he laid it out for you and you could do it and you did do it. And I wonder just like, think about your success at an early age. I mean, 17 years old, you're getting seven figure deals and we'll get into that. But at what point did you start believing? I know you had team and family and you had the right people around you. But when did you start to say to yourself, damn, like, I might be one of the best baseball players, certainly in my community, and maybe the entire country. Like, was there one moment you had where it clicked?

Everything changed for me when Rich Hoffman told me at 15 years old that I can. not only be a major league baseball player, but that I was going to be next year, the following year, one of the best juniors in the country, go represent the U.S., and then become the number one pick, and then very shortly after that, I'll be playing in the major leagues. And he has an eye for talent. I trusted him, just like I think that Ashley and Rachel can be CEOs one day. They probably don't see that in themselves yet. But it changed my entire thought about myself.

And what I learned is the power of mentorship and the power of words are so powerful. And that conversation changed my life. And I said, you know what? I have an opportunity to do something really special if I don't screw it up. Yeah, that's fantastic. It's good to hear things like mentorship and the things that impacted you and that you're still keeping those in the world that you live in today. I want to talk about that opportunity you talked about, though, seven years. you are given the opportunity to play for the Seattle Mariners.

My understanding is that the offer was $1.3 million, I mean, $1.3 million in a seven-figure signing bonus at 17. But you had also already talked about how college was one of the things that was an outlook for you. Where in the world can you come from nothing and go to Stanford? College and athletics were your resource to do just that. So for you, was it ever even a discussion or debate to go to university? in Miami and play baseball or football, or was it a no-brainer when the Mariners put that offer on the table for you? Oh, no. I mean, it was, it came to the 11th hour on a Sunday. Now, here's a great story how it comes full circle. I signed that contract when I was 17 in the middle of the

night in this building in Cogona Grove. And it was, this was called the Grand Bay Hotel. back then, and Aaron, who is sitting over there, she's a president to our real estate company, her and her mom, who she's been my best friends as we were in ninth grade, her and her mom dropped me off here late at night and a few hours later ended up signing the contract for 1.3. The story was that the Mariners had offered me a million dollars. My mom who had two jobs at the time and was secretary in the morning, serving tables at night, said absolutely not if we don't get $1.5 million, my son is going to college to the University of Miami where he's going to play quarterback and shortstop. And I was thinking, looking at my mom,

like, mom, are you sure? We're broke. This is a lot of money. And she was so courageous that at the very end, it came down to a box of bats. And two first class tickets as an American Airlines. So in the wee hours, we finally came to an agreement that it would be one point it would be a three-year major league contract. I was 17 and that the Mariners would buy me major league wood my Louisville slugger while I was playing in the minors. The wood in the major leagues is much better than the wood in the minor leagues. And then since I was 17 and I was supposed to be going to be a freshman in college, I was like, I'm going all the way to Seattle. my mom, because she get three first class tickets

that she can come see me three times a year. And they said, that's it? I said, that's it. I said, we got a deal. And then we started celebrating and everybody was happy. And at this, at 17, do you have an agent representing you? And how do you find an agent at 17? So my sister was technically my agent.

Okay. Because if you're an amateur and you hire an agent, you lose your eligibility. Interesting. So you can have what is called an advisor. Okay. My advisor at that time was Scott Boris, and Scott Boris was advising my mother, my sister, and I on what to do next. But it was super exciting time, but full of anxiety. Sure.

And think about my mom making, I don't know, 20 grand a year, 25 grand a year. We're renting an apartment. And we have, my mom is literally looking at them square in there and saying, stick that million, you know where. My son is going to get 1.5. And I was just like, wow, she has a lot more courage. than me. Well, I'm glad you said that because the first thing I'm thinking is to negotiate at that level, you've got to have leverage. And I'm thinking, like, what kind of, I guess the leverage there is that you know you can go to University of Miami. But was there anything else happening in the

background? And where I want to go with this too, Alex, is people right now that are maybe getting those kind of offers that aren't making as much that don't come from anything in a world where we're living in this like inflationary environment where you can get big deals. How do you not just jump at the first offer and stick your ground and say, you know what, I know what I'm worth. Pay me what I'm worth, even though what you're offering me can change my life. Yeah, I mean, that I took for my mom, honestly, my mother and my sister were more in charge of the negotiation than I was. They were basically not even asking for my opinion. My mom was running point. That's my manager. And it was crazy. My mom will get home at 1130 at night. I would take off like I did ever since I was 11 years old.

I would take her pouch away and start counting her for tip money. And anytime we have, had like 65 bucks. It was a great night. And here we are, like counting 65 bucks and tips and ones. And my mom's like, nope. It's one five or nothing. I'm like, mama, you nuts. And it was, it was just an incredible time. And it just really set the foundation for me of really kind of self-esteem and what, you know, self-value. Do you ever look back? As I saw, I think it was a cigar or aficionado you did an interview where you had mentioned like you wanted to be a quarterback. Do you ever look back and think of what your life would have been like should you have taken the route of football? I have for a minute, but I'm not someone that kind of looks back

too often. I'm really, and the girls here will tell you, they'll hardly ever, ever hear me talking about like my days with the Yankees or the Mariners. I'm really someone that kind of looks forward. I learn from my past, but I really kind of think about what's going to happen. and next. But the one thing that was interesting, in my senior year, we had three quarterbacks in our division, and they both went on to have incredible NFL careers. Danny Cannell, who went to Florida State, and then obviously played in the NFL for many years. And then Brian Greasy, who went to Columbus, and then ended up going to Michigan and had a wonderful career as well. And I was obviously doing broadcasting for ESPN. And then I was the third. So that was enough kind of,

I would say a consolation price that I thought I could have done okay. Yeah. Well, I think things turned out pretty well for you. And you picked the right sport, especially when you look at Tom Brady and his earnings from a year to date or just career to date, things have gone pretty well. But one thing you mentioned when I asked you, one in eight billion, you said luck. And I'm glad you said luck because one thing I think about, even with like a Tom Brady, who I just mentioned, greatest of all time, seven Super Bowls has had tremendous success.

But you still look at like each one of those years and there's crazy things that happened where luck might have been on his side, maybe a defensive play where he didn't have control. A Julian Edelman catch that was outrageous that got them the title. But I want to make this relevant for anyone listening. How do you think luck plays into professional and career trajectory? And then also, more importantly, how do you position yourself to put yourself in positions where you can get lucky.

Well, I was like Elon Musk, right? He recently said in an interview, you know, the harder I work, the more I prepare, the luckier I get. I kind of apply by the same kind of rules. And, you know, luck includes a lot of things. It includes self-awareness. It includes humility and incredible attitude, energy and effort, and discipline, right? And when you kind of put all these variables and you put them inside a box, you end up

getting luck luck luck luck more times than not lucky is not just hey i'm just going to wake up at five o'clock in the afternoon every day and hope that i get lucky sure that's not the kind of luck i'm talking about i do think that you know the better people you put inside a room the more open dialogue you have with a real voice and one of the things we do here at a rod corp is the entire company we hear from them every monday on our monday huddle meeting every single person speaks up and every single person for the most part has the same amount of time, right? And I want them over the weekend to start thinking about, you know, what is it that I'm going to speak up to my peers, to my teammates, what are my goals?

I want everybody to hear them. And then we're going to come back in Expundance and say, where are you on those goals, right? Yeah. Because a lot of it is if you respect the room, then you're going to do better off, more accountability. Yeah. That brings me to the next timeline in your just wild career life. is that at 2000, you are presented with the biggest deal that baseball's ever seen. And the Texas Rangers offer you this deal 10 years, $252 million.

And so I'm hoping we could take some crazy lessons away from that and also make it relatable to everybody because I'm curious how in a time like that where you're performing better than everybody. And your value clearly hasn't been technically established on paper because that deal has never happened. How do you quantify your value when you're the best at what you're doing and how do you speak up for yourselves? Like you have your employees speaking up every day to make sure that you're represented the right way when the numbers hit your desk because you did it once, you did it twice,

but I'm very curious this deal in 2000 when you broke the record of $252 million deal, 10 year deal. What was that like? Yeah, what's interesting about that is I've always fat of myself as a missionary, not a mercenary. And twice in that process, it didn't get a lot of pub, but twice I try to take half of that contract of 252. And growing up, the Mets were my favorite team, Keith Hernandez, Daryl Strawberry, like that 86 Mets team was incredible. And I had told my agent, look, whatever the Mets offer me, I'll take a 50% discount to go play for the Mets. Wow. So in this case, it would have been about a 125. That was maybe a little bit too missionary. But I would have willing, I was willing to do it because I thought that me going to the Mets, they had just

gone to the subway series with the Yankees. I thought, you know, Jeter on one side and me and the other, that could have been really fun for baseball. I think it could have been a great story. Yeah. So, so that was one. The second time I try to, you know, give a lot of money back was when the trade to the Red Sox, which actually happened. And there was four signatures needed. You needed the owner of the Red Sox, John Henry, and Theo Epstein. You needed myself, check, check. You got, at the time, Bud Sealy, who was the commissioner, check. And you needed one signature. And if we got this one signature, I would have had about a $40 million haircut. And I would have been the shortstop for the Boston Red Sox. But the one signature that was missing was Bud

Sealy, not Bud Sealy, I'm sorry, Don Fear. And Don Fear was the head of the union. And Don Fier said there's no way that I'm going to let any player concede $40 million because this is a union that includes 750 players. And if we let one player make that type of concession, it sets the wrong precedent for the other $7.49. At the time, I didn't really understand why Don Fier took this position. But in hindsight, I totally not only agree with his, but I totally understand it. So when people are looking at it, I'm trying to make an unbelievable.

story like that, also relatable to the many people listening. When they're looking at the places they work, I mean, we're hearing Alex Rodriguez saying he was going to take a $125 million pay cut or a $40 million pay cut to be in the right place. That's the value you were putting on being in the right organization that fit what? Your culture? What are some of these things that were worth $40 million and $125 million to you? And maybe some of those things that were worth those amount to you are worth to the people listening when they think about where they work and why. Yeah, I don't think it's fair to use kind of these monopoly dollars to, you know, someone at home that's, you know, grinding nine to five. But I can think about my mother who

used to make about $25,000 a year. Sure. That I know my mom would tell you this right now. She'd rather work and earn $25,000 over $35,000 in a place that she was respected and felt she had a voice and felt that there was some type of equality there. And I think we can all kind of position ourselves. And there's always a place that's going to pay you a little bit more money. So I always say from age 20 to 30, money should be the last thing in your radar. You should be thinking about who's your mentor, who's going to teach you, who's going to sponsor you, who cares deeply for you and your future. And then get all that knowledge, kind of like your MBA 2.0. Yeah. And then in 30s, then you start making your traction on like start making money and then 30s and then 40s and the rest is history. But too many people, especially in their 20s, are chasing the dollars, not their education, not the experience, not all the things that are really important to win at the highest level. They are not at the table probably to their 40s, right? And man, that's a big gap. It's a huge gap. And one of the things you talk about, and it's fun to take scenarios like this, which are such an extremity, but also bring.

common, I guess, resource to anybody listening is you talked a little bit about passion. Like if you're only chasing the bucks, you might want to rethink what you're doing. I tell people often when you're rethinking about what you're doing and why, what are your interests? And so suppose I come across a huge Yankees fan or a huge baseball fan. I say to that, do you know how many positions are within that organization or within that industry that you could have a very successful career? No one could hit the ball like you. but some people might be able to negotiate like you.

So, like, what is compensation for an agent in some of these deals? Because they might not be able to play baseball like you, but maybe there is a job under the world you live in that someone could pursue that's listening to that. And I just have no idea. How are agents compensated in a big deal like that? Generally, it's a 5% cut. Okay.

So if somebody makes a $100 million contract, you get paid $5 million, and you get paid pro rata exactly when the player gets paid. So if it's a 10-year deal and you make $10 million a year, the agent would end up making a million dollars, actually in this case, not $500,000 for 10 years in a row.

Gotcha. Okay, 5%. Didn't know that. All right. Now, I heard, and I read something that Warren Buffett, I told you to take insurance on that contract. Can you tell us a little bit about that story? Well, actually, when I signed that contract in Texas in 2001

for $252 million, it was double. the size of the largest existing contract, which was Kevin Garnett, the Minnesota Timberwell, was for $126 million. Gotcha. So this was an exact double. Because it was such a large contract and such a long contract, they had never been an insurance policy that's been able to really insure, especially the year 7, 8, 9, 10, right? Because contracts usually were three to five years.

So we were having a really hard time finding the insurance policy that would take the last three years. Because it's really hard to underwrite what's going to happen in 10 years. Of course. But I was, you know, 24, 25 years old. So you can kind of put your head around, okay, by the end of this contract, he's not going to be 44. He's going to be 34. So Warren Buffett thought there was some good value there. So Warren actually took the last three or four years of my contract at a much higher piece than the first five, first three, right? It's just like ABC, right? Sure. And when I heard that, I literally called, emailed him. His longtime assistant Debbie who's been there for over 40 years, quickly reached back out and

invited me to Omaha. And then that started kind of a five to seven year tradition of me going back every year to Omaha. Cold email Warren Buffett. That's a story that you'll never forget, right? I mean, that's pretty cool. So Warren Buffett, we're going to talk a little bit about access. One of the things I talked about in the intro was you would have died laughing, seeing my team as we're doing research and we're trying to figure out, much is, you know, money podcast, how much is Arod made in the league? And we're going through I'm like, wait a second, he's still being paid now. And we're putting this all together. And so I think my average listener would be wildly intrigued by that, especially when you took the Yankees

contract. So it was several years after you took the Texas Rangers contract. You get signed with the Yankees, 10-year deal, $275 million, which time value of money today, for anyone listening, it's around like $400 million to put in perspective. What happens? Like, so you leave a team that you had a 10-year deal with. To your average listener, there's no idea. Like, how does that work? And what are some, maybe, like, insight that you can give in going through an experience like that? You mean when I went from Texas to New York? Yeah. Because you didn't fulfill the whole 10 years, right? Yeah. So, you know, what's interesting about that is our owner, Tom Hicks, at the time, came to me and said, look, Alex, we have some financial constraints. We need to move some assets.

And even though you make the most, we have an asset in you that's actually tradable. So he said, give me three or four teams, if you don't mind, that you would be open to being traded to. And I gave him three or four teams. One of them was Boston, and that's when the trade to Boston happened. When Don Feard didn't sign that, it opened up a window for the Yankees to step in. And that window was probably two weeks before spring training started. Now, think about it. I worked in the Red Sox deal for like two months.

sure i mean almost every day every day and when that thing fell apart it was like a collapse of a building like oh my god two months and then i went to collect my MVP award and next to me was sitting brian cashman or the general manager of the new york angies and he was kind of kidding around i was having a little vodka vodka soda and i was like yeah that stunk and he was yeah i really stinks i'm really feel terrible for you he's like but in all seriousness i'm glad that shit fell apart yeah it all worked And he says to me, you know, if you're willing to play third base, maybe we'll get you to the Yankees. And I was just in my first pop. And I was like, yeah, third base, right?

By my third drink, I was like, hey, were you serious? We can do this. He goes, we can do this. And he goes, he said, really? And two weeks later, I'm being announced as the new third base of the New York Yankees in New York press conference. Obviously, at this point, you have all the money. You're one of the best players. Is that a little bit of an ego shot to be a third baseman?

or were there any struggles with taking on a role like that? You know it was funny. I've had this kind of big persona that like I'm the ultimate, you know, mercenary because it comes with a big contract and this ego. And like I have all these like pictures of my wall of like, I don't know, whatever they call it, a horse without a shirt. But I've always been very, very comfortable kind of deferring in the room. Yeah.

And really respect is really important to me. So, you know, Derek was a shortstop that had four championships and was one of the greatest players on the planet. And he's the captain of the team. And if George Steinbren is asking me to come to his team, I don't expect to be the CEO or the shortstop. I expect to be, you know, the president of the CEO or something not the CEO. But I did feel that, you know, the value of being a New York Yankee playing the president. in New York in front of the greatest fans in the world, the richest franchise in history with the New York Yankees, and to have an opportunity to play for someone like George Steinbrenner,

shoot, I could have played outfield. I didn't really care. Sign me up. And so that leads to inevitably your first World Series. And so I looked at this. It's about 16 years, 16, 17 years after you entered the league. At this point, you've accomplished so much. One of the things I had to ask myself was when you won the World Series, was that, do you look back at that as one of your greatest baseball achievements, or was that more of weight off your back because you had checked that box? Among the many other boxes, you already checked at that point. Without a question, all of the above. I mean, it was the most important thing I've accomplished in my career to be a small cog of an

incredible team to win a championship that forever you're kind of embedded into New York history. You're embedded with some incredible relationships that to this day we talk often. And the other part was an incredible relief of pressure. Yes, I was elated. I was thrilled. I was so excited. But growing up in this town in Miami, Florida, watching the Great Dan Marino and him gets severely punished for not winning a world championship or a guy like Charles Barkley,

who I loved growing up with the Sixers and sons. came so close and never won. Jim Kelly. You know, all these guys, right? Like, you feel the weight of history of these great players. And boy, when I won that championship and I was on that field, I was like, oh, my God, thank God, thank God, I was getting, I'm so happy. I cannot believe.

Third basement, I'll take it. I'm not, what you call me? I'm happy, I'm happy. So that was, that was probably, I certainly know the most important, you know, feet of my career. Yeah. And so this is, we're talking a lot of a lot of professional work as far as baseball. is related. With Mark Lorry, we had Amman. He's had a lot of successes. One of the biggest

regrets he says, after all the successes he has looking back at his career, was that he just didn't spend enough time with his daughters when they were young. Not professionally, but personally, with everything that you've achieved at this point, your World Series, huge contracts, everything we've already mentioned. Is there anything you wish you might have done different just personally or as far as managing career or maybe even finances? Yeah, I mean, look, there's a bunch of things, Jason. Dig, ding, ding, ding, we are closing in the bell to the A-Rod part one episode. Yes, we left you with a cliffhanger, but don't worry next week, we will have part two.

And as always, we have the curious Canadian with us, and we also have a special guest, given the fact this is a special episode. Before I introduce him, I just want to let you know that that, My book is now officially on pre-sale. So it'll be on the shelves on April 5th. You could buy the book right now. Just go to the link to my Instagram bio, which is Jason underscore Tartic.

The title's The Restart Roadmap, Rewire, and Reset Your Career. I can't tell you how much it would mean to me. If you bought it, it's $25 and gave it a read. It really would mean the world. That being said, enough of the book talk. We got to ring in there, close the bell with A-Rod. What an episode. It was surreal to be at the A-Rod Corp.

It was surreal to be in his presence. What a moment in an interview that I won't forget. And we'll talk about that. But we have a special guest today to close in the bell with us. It's Ryan Rucco. Ryan Rucco, he's an American television and radio sportscaster. So you might have recognized the name because he's a play-by-play announcer for the NBA, the WMBA, ESPN, you know, the old New York Yankees on the Yes Network,

which of course makes this relevant for Ryan. Brooklyn Nets, boxing, and more. What also is cool about Ryan, he has a podcast R2C2 with the former Yankees All-Star pitcher, C-C-Sabathia. So, you know, you think about the curious Canadian, you think about our recaps. Who better to bring in than Ryan? So, Ryan, thank you so much for being here on Trading Secrets

to wrap this up with us. We're excited to have you and excited on just your thoughts of the podcast. Man, thank you guys. for having me. I know Jason, we got to talk in the beginning of the pandemic, and you know, because you're a guest on a lot of, you know, shows that not every host stands out, and you really did. And so, and I remember even texting, you know, one of the members of your inner circle and saying, damn, Jason, like, he can do this. So I'm honored to be back on with you and to get to meet the curious Canadian, David. So I just, I got to tell you, man, I really enjoyed

the podcast. And I think for me, you know, just the first thing I think about from listening to that part one is how much Alex has evolved over the years. And Alex, I consider a friend of mine. And I didn't, even though I covered him, I didn't really know him well for the beginning of his Yankees tenure. And it really wasn't until after he had his steroid suspension that I got to know him. And I don't think that's a coincidence. He, you know, as he eventually, you know, he's talked a lot about kind of the steps he's taken to get to this place of openness and transparency and self-awareness. And I think it just opened him up to a lot of the people and things that were around him that maybe he just never really saw used for or didn't have an interest in.

and in his own world didn't really necessarily need. And then in the aftermath and in the, you know, sort of the back, not even the back nine, but really the final few holes of his career, he became a very, I think, you know, he became a great listener, someone who seemed genuinely curious and people who have been around him before and someone who was much more comfortable with admitting his own false and mistakes and talking about them in a very disarming way. like it's you know he's not defensive about missteps that he's made and I and I bring all of this up and this long answer to say I think what you heard in part one was in a lot of ways the manifestation

of that you know hearing Alex be very open and honest and the thing that stands out most to me from part one of the podcast that reminds me of kind of this evolution I'm talking about is when you ask him about like okay if there was one thing above all else that's you know, led you to these successes in baseball and business, whatever, what would it be? And he said luck. And I don't think he would have said that when he was 28 years old. I'm not sure he would have said it when he was 34 years old. I think that he really needed people to know how talented he was.

And he wanted that recognized earlier in his career. And then I think as he got older and he matured and he, you know, went through a lot of soul searching. I think he got to this place of being much more comfortable in his own skin and saying like, like, I don't, you know, I think he's gotten more secure. I don't think he needs to prove himself in that way. And I think it allows him to kind of have a different level of humility with something like that. And I don't think it's lip service. I think he really means that when he says it.

And to me, I thought it was the perfect sort of answer to show you just how far he's come as a person just in the last, you know, seven, eight years of his life. Yeah, I mean, I found that really fascinating too. The one in $8 billion comment, I didn't expect luck to be the answer, but he does talk a lot about self-awareness. And in part two, right where we cut off, where he addresses some of the challenges he's had, you see a different side of A-Rod that I think people saw from him back in the day, especially early on in his career. And Ryan, one thing I got to ask you about is that first contract. But before I do, I also have to be self-aware and real and say, I, I I'm not just the biggest baseball fan. I wasn't growing up. And so I got to know Aeron, front and center right in front of me. And I got to read a lot about him then. Front and center, that was one of the most impressive men I've ever been able to speak to. When you talk about his career in the tribulations and the highs, in the lows,

and also that like that little bit of an egotistical A. Rod, the A rod that I didn't know other than doing research on, I'm curious, is it fair to say that at one point, his career, he was a villain to the people. And if so, what made him a villain? Because in front of me, that A-Rod was nothing but what I look up to and honestly, like a mentor. Yeah, I think it is fair to say, maybe not to everybody, but to definitely a noticeable subset of fans, he was a villain at one point. And I think that there's a couple of reasons why, right? Like, number one, he's this like uber talented god-given gifts right that are like obvious to you and so people i think just naturally get jealous of that kind of thing right then he's he's also a very good looking guy right so

people are like all right well this guy's got all the talent his skill he's also handsome as hell like well what is this you know and then he kind of he didn't act accessible for a while you know and i think that, you know, it was hard to relate to him because here's this guy who's ridiculously talented, good looking, and doesn't kind of like let you feel like you know him. And then he's setting a record, you know, with his contract with Texas, and he's going to a place that's not going to really have success and everybody knows it, but he's just going for the money, it seems. And so you're kind of like, I don't know, like, this guy's just going to like sign the biggest deal but he doesn't care about winning you know and that was

kind of the perception at the time of Alex and I think you know for whatever reason and you know the pun has been intended when saying this by everybody he's been a lightning rod you know he has been a lightning rod for his entire his entire professional career and so I think what ends up happening is like limited amounts of evidence have gotten blown up to bigger things because people were sort of you know looking for this narrative, maybe this villain narrative with Alex, maybe wanting him to fail, and him not necessarily giving you reasons to not want him to when it came to accessibility to his personality. And I think that changed a lot. Because if you get to know Alex, he's a really like, he's a thoughtful, interesting guy, you know, and he's, he is actually really easy to root for.

And his story should make him easy to root for. And he tells a lot of them on a podcast, too, right? Here's a guy who's, you know, mom was working, you know, multiple jobs, keep the family going, whose father left him at 10 years old. I mean, that is, I can't, as someone who has a child now, I can't fathom the task of being a single parent because I know how hard it is having the best wife and partner you could possibly have. I still know how hard it is. And so I just marvel at single parents.

And then I can't imagine what it does to a child, not only to, you know, have someone leave you, but to happen leave you at 10 we're like you're like really aware you know like I mean it's not like Alex had a lot of formative years with his father in his life and then all of a sudden he was he was gone and you know maybe Alex it took a little while for him to be totally comfortable you know talking about the way that affected him but now he's he's disarmed so yeah I think I think all of those things like make him relatable but for whatever reason for those other reasons because people didn't necessarily feel like they had access to that he was kind of the villain for a while what i think so cool about the

interview jay and ryan is how often do we in our generation really get to have an athlete like alex rodriguez who was so came into our lives as such an impressionable age and see them go through their career and we have all these cast all these judgments and we have all these thoughts and all of a sudden you get to sit down with them five six 10 years after their sporting life which is all you know them, and you get to learn about the human being beside it. And you get to really understand all of those aspects of his life. And I grew up in Western Canada and idolized, you know, the Mariners growing up with Ken Griffey Jr. and Tina Martinez and Edgar Martinez and Randy Johnson, and he joined those

teams. And then he left for the money. And everyone hates the people who, it's boring. It's just the easy thing to do. And I think he'd got a lot of criticism because the Ranger sucked when he was there, despite he was still competing for MVP. And, you know, it's just so interesting where you learn a lot about him talking about moving to third base and being humble and not having to be the CEO and it's Derek Jeter's team.

But in the moment, you just, he just didn't have a genuine persona about him. And I think that vilified him to go back to your question, Jay. But, man, learning from this was just so interesting to see really like how humble he is, how much he's a listener, how much he wanted to learn, how much he's grown. It was, you know, just like we'll do with Tom Brady in five, ten years, like learn about these human beings after their polarizing position in sports is just such a unique opportunity. And I thought that my takeaway from this podcast interview was just that, just learning. I was blown away by that.

Right. I completely agree. And when we talk about the villain aspect too, Ryan, you and David both just listed off a bunch of things on his resume in which someone might perceive that as being a villain. Of course, in MLB, let's not forget one of those things in the one out of eight billion. I said is he's one of the most relevant people. still in pop culture and has been right so this guy's he's getting paid the most the more than any athlete in the world he's absolutely killing it on in the sport that he's at and then he's dating and

this is all within like a few years you got madonna bethany frankl you got cameron diaz i mean like the list goes on uxson right tory wilson kate hudson i mean obviously everyone knows jlo so the fact that he's so relevant in all these different areas is mind-blowing but i want to get back to the baseball in this statistics. So he told us about the 1.35 deal he signed as a 17-year-old. Ryan, you've covered the Yankees. You do play-by-play for the Yankees. Do you have any memories of either covering or doing research on A-Rod in his younger years? And if so, what were some of like your takeaways from watching this kid come into the big leagues? Just that his talent was ridiculous. He was a guy who was like just if you talk about

like just pure talent and ability for like right out the gates, which in baseball, you know, a lot of times it can take guys, you know, a little bit to find their footing, you know, when it comes to major league, everybody talks about the step from AAA to the majors being the, you know, the biggest step you could possibly take. That's why there's a lot of, they call quadruple A players who could dominate AAA forever. And they just, they can't even, you know, you can't keep on a roster in the major leagues, never mind, become a or never mind, become a star. But Alex is the kind of guy you watch him.

He was like, oh, my gosh. Like, that dude is just absurdly talented. I can only imagine David as a young Mariner fan watching Aeron and be like, wait, this guy's my shortstop for all these years, right? I used to have Ken Griffey Jr. Slugfest baseball game for Nintendo 64. And Ken Griffey Jr., it's his game. And I used to make this fantasy lineup and have Ken Griffey Jr. hit. And I'd be like, oh, maybe it's good.

And then Aeron would come up. It's like home run every time. Like he was a, he was like a video game player. as a 19-year-old, it was incredible. That's so cool. He's, he, the kind of talent, you know, Jason, that like, it's just so obvious. Like, whether you're a baseball fan or not, if you just went to a game and looked at, you know, 19, 20, 21-year-old Alex Rodriguez, you would watch a couple of in and you'd be like,

wait, who's that guy? You know, that, that's the kind of talent that he had. And so when he got that big deal with the Texas Rangers, the earth-shattering deal, that blew every single sports deal ever to be put in place from a contractual perspective over $200 million. You're covering this sport

or you're watching the sport as a fan trying to potentially imagine covering the Yankees and now you are. What is the buzz at this time in the sport of baseball when he gets that? It's easy for us to talk about 200 million now in 2023

because you see some of the things these guys are paid. But back then, like, how transitional and monumental was that? It was a total and complete game changer. And there is a generation of baseball players that should be thanking Alex Rodriguez for that contract. And as much as Alex may have come to want to reroute

from where he was and then as he talks about, get floated by the union and whatnot, What he did, honestly, not to say he necessarily had all this in mind, but the ripple effect has been profound. But at the time, it was unheard of it. I can remember I was in high school when he signed that contract. And I can remember sitting in the library, me and my friends would play fantasy baseball on the computer. It was just like when you were starting to learn how to navigate the internet with some sort of competency. And like we'd be on the computer all the time.

my friend Nick Barr and Greg Siever, shout out to them. I haven't talked to them for a really long time. But we did a fantasy baseball league where we just like everyday obsessed looking at stuff. And I can remember us like being in the library like talking about this deal as it went down. Like I was when it went down when I found out about it was there and just being like 10 years, how much what? But then thinking about him being like, well, you know, he's only going to be in his mid 30s when this deal runs up and realizing, like, because the money was ridiculous, but the years were too, you know, and then the other thought was thinking like, ooh, the Rangers suck. Like, is this going

to be like a good move for him when it comes to winning? Or maybe, you know, you're going to be able to build around him. But the tough thing in baseball is, like, one guy just doesn't, you know, like, you know, you have your quarterback in Buffalo, Jason, with Josh Allen, right? Like, Josh Allen changes your franchise you know like Alex Rodriguez being one of the most talented players in the history of baseball isn't enough in baseball it's just it's not enough he couldn't have played better those three years in Texas but it's not enough so I remember thinking too like well what else are they going to get around him now that they spend all this money on him because he's going to need more in order to win it's kind of like Mike trout right now with the

angels I I would compare and I'm curious in Ryan and Jason, your take on this, but would you compare the Alex Rodriguez contract in terms of changing the landscape of contracts forever? The only sporting comparison that I can think of is like how Tiger Woods changed golf and the purses in golf and the appearance fees in golf and kind of the money in golf. I feel like contracts change forever once A-Rod signed that 10 at 25 per similar to Tiger. I just, it's, you know, he referenced it the next biggest sporting contract at the time was Kevin Garnett for 120 million so you're not talking about like you're talking double you're talking double the biggest contract in the history of sports it's incredible

well it's like kind of like the way I felt it's different though because we've become sort of used to the monopoly money numbers but when you looked at the Patrick Mahomes contract a year ago and you saw yeah you see 500 million and you're like what you know it's but I think for me the one that open the only thing I can actually compare it to where it's a public contract and you're like, what? That is just like so outside market is Tony Romo in broadcasting, signing the deal he signed with CBS for 18, it was a 16 or 18 million year, I think 18 million a year.

Now look, gentlemen, I would love to someday get somewhere just within a stone's throw of an orbit around that stratosphere. But, you know, that's not normal. You know, that is so outside, like, if you think about like great great game broadcasters for we're making like four or five million a year like I don't know the exact numbers but like if you were thinking about like a Jeff Van Gundy a Joe Buck you know like a you know great you're talking about like five I don't know the exact north let's say somewhere like the three to six million dollar a year range

which is obviously amazing money for this got to get 18 million a year and like it'd be like a player contract. Like that's the, it's just like, wait, what? That's, thank you. Rising Tide raises all votes. Thank you. But this is so, that's the way I felt with the A Rod deal. Like it's just like so nobody is even like conceived of that kind of number yet in the industry when he got that deal. That is such a brilliant comparison. So I thank you for sharing that, Ryan, because that is such a good comparison when you look at like what Tony Romo is doing in broadcasting, how much he's making and to put in perspective of real time today, 2023. One thing I got to ask is, you know, you hang out with a lot of baseball players.

You cover a lot of baseball players. I had no idea about this agent comp, the 5%. Do you know anything about that? Is that pretty consistent with all the players? And are there a bunch of agents that kind of run the show? Or are there really just like a whole, you know, a flood zone of agents everywhere and people will just work with anybody and everybody? How's that world work?

And do you know anything about it? You know what's interesting. I know some about it. I had never heard the flat 5%, like Alex. mentioned, you know, like, for example, in broadcasting, it's very standard 10%, you know, and marketing is usually somewhere between like 15 and 20%, you know, but like your broadcast contract is very standard 10%. There could be exceptions, but for the most part, like that's, that's where you're going to be. In sports, I've heard some variability there. I'd never heard

kind of the consistent 5%. That was a little higher than what I expected. I thought it was more like in the 3% range. I know what David Cohn is one of my. broadcast partners at the Yes Network and was a, you know, a great pitcher who used to always intentionally sign short-term deals, try and maximize his per annum, bet on himself and build on that and did incredibly well. And it's just, he's, he's a brilliant, brilliant man. But he used to say that his philosophy was he would tell his agent, like, the first offers mine. Like, it's based on my performance. Like, you didn't do anything for it yet. Whatever we get above that, Like, that's where I'm giving you your commission on.

Interesting. Yeah. And, you know, maybe there's some agents or agencies that wouldn't work that way, you know. But to me, it made a lot of sense because the work is so clearly out there. You know, it's like, okay, why? Now, with Alex, it's a little different, right? Because with Scott Boris, who is probably the major, the biggest player in the field, what Scott Boris is doing is he's also, he's moving chess pieces.

behind the scene in advance of that first offer, that's really, like, Alex Rodriguez, never minded paying 5% on the deal, Scott Borris Scott, you know? But give us, like someone that just heard that, and they're like, Ron, I don't know what the hell you're talking about, moving chess pieces behind the scene before you get a $250 million contract. Give us an example of what moving a chess piece might look like in this world. Yeah. So I would say that Scott Boris, and I don't have complete and total.

you know, access to whatever information he uses. But he's known for having, like, very detailed, analytical presentations where he can tell you, like, look, this is how much an Alex Rodriguez, if that is worth to your franchise, because here's what the TV ratings are when he's not up, here's what they are when he is up. Wow. Here's what he means to wins. Here's what wins mean to your bottom line.

Here's what wins mean to your merchandise. Here's what this. Here's the shortstop market. if you don't sign Alex Rodriguez, you know, here, here, here's the opportunities. And so he's setting all that up in advance so that when the Texas Rangers come and they say, like, hey, we'd like to offer Alex Rodriguez 100, I don't know what an initial offer would have been. Let's say 150 million over 10 years.

Scott Boris is saying, well, like, you know, that's not just not even close to his market value, you know, and at that point, he's already engaged other teams, you know, he's combed what their shortstop prospects look like either through their farm systems free agency, incumbent roster and said like, look, if you don't sign them, this place is going to sign them. I know they're going to be able to get to at least this number.

Their TV ratings of this. They need a star on their network. This place is going to start their own regional sports network. You can't get ratings without a star. Like they're going to overpay him or whatever, not overpay him. They're going to pay him that money because they know they needed to launch the network.

You know, all of these sort of things. that go into it. And so now all of a sudden, Scott Boris is convincing that franchise that they're actually getting a steal as they offer up a historic number. It's brilliant. And anybody can sit at home and think about,

obviously these are monopoly dollars in totally different worlds, but think about the strategy that Scott is doing to present value. What can you do to present value to your boss? Obviously, there's got to be ways to do it. Ryan, I know we've got to let you go here. I'm going to let David ask you one question

Before I let David ask his last question, I just have to ask you this. You do a podcast with C.C. Sabathia, the former pitcher of the New York Yankees. They were teammates at one point, and you said you're friends with Arod as well. Do you have any behind the scenes insight or information as to, you know, what was Arod like as a teammate or is there anything else you might know as a friend of his that we didn't cover in this first part? You know, Alex, when you talk to his teammates, especially from, you know, the 09 championship, team, those later years with the Yankees, they rave about him. They rave about him as a teammate

because Alex Rodriguez is a baseball savant. The things he picks up on, and I mean, Jason, you could tell sitting across from him, he's just, he's an inquisitive, very intelligent man. And he, the stuff he picks up on baseball-wise, like I would have pitchers, including Cece tell me, like, Alex would notice something in a pitch sequence, meaning, you know, you throwing a curveball after a fastball or like in a two one count, why you're throwing this pitch or something mechanically where he's then going to pitchers, which almost never happens. Like hitters are almost never going to pitchers with advice. And Alex is going to pitchers and saying, hey, I'm noticing you're doing this.

Or like, why are you doing this in these counts? Or there are only, I mean, I can think of maybe like Robbie Alamar, Carlos Beltron, Alex Rodriguez, or guys I can think of who are capable of these kind of things as hitters in Major League Baseball. And so Alex was so helpful. He also took a lot of young guys under his wing. You know, Robinson Kanoe, Malki Cabrera, just to name a couple during his time with the Yankees. He's a dude who he loves the game.

And I think people respect that ultimately. When you love the game and you're desperate to win the way that Alex was, especially, you know, after he decided to play third base and come to the Yankees, which you talked about kind of the mindset behind that, I think you kind of had instant respect. Your availability as well. He was always available and his work ethic. Alex's work ethic is absolutely incredible.

So this is never a guy who was dogging anything. He left his soul out on the field. So any sort of like issues with Alex early on, I think we're more sort of, you know, media narrative driven, kind of the lack of accessibility we were talking about. Maybe somebody was insecure in his early years, wanted to let you know about his talent. felt like he would get, you know, defensive.

But when it came to his commitment to the game and how much he cared and what he poured into it, his teammates saw that up from jump. And then, of course, he ended up, you know, dropping the veil as he went along and ended up, you know, becoming accessible in a way that he wasn't early in his career to go with being this great teammate. So, like, when I talked to his teammates,

universally, CC included, they rave, rave, about Alex as a teammate and as a guy, you know, what I, and as a friend, what I appreciate is I appreciate the way he tries to learn and the way he engages with the people around him. Alex is a super busy guy. We know this. You know, he's obviously, he's in demand at a way where like, you know, everybody on our Zoom on our conversation right now is in demand in different ways, you know, personally, professionally. Alex, especially in a social media age, right, or an age where people can connect more easily, it's a hundredfold because of who he is. But when you get him, he's locked in. And I really appreciate that, you know. And so Ivan, like,

when he was thinking about getting into broadcasting, like he met with me several times, asking me about, you know, different things, advice, did I see value in it? Like, what could I help with? And he soaked that up. And what was amazing to me was his comprehension of our conversations to where a year later, he's pulling back out some little thing we talked about. And that makes you feel good, right? Because everybody wants to feel like they're heard. Everyone wants to feel like if they're giving time, it's valued. And I think Alex is really wonderful at that. So I just, I really, he's, I find him to be a really interesting, smart, enjoyable person to be around. I appreciate that insight. It's good to know some of the behind

the scene stuff. Before we wrap here, because I know we're wrapping in just a minute, David, you have one last thought. Yes. I have a question for you. that while I have you and doesn't have to be a long answer. I'm just so curious baseball fanatics opinion, if A-Rod didn't end up on the Yankees and he took the 50% pay cut to play for the Mets or the trade got signed

and he went to the Red Sox, which of the two options do you think would have had the biggest, longest-lasting impact on baseball as we know it? A-Rod going to the Mets and being short-stop and short-stop against Jeter or going to the rival Red Sox and going

against Jeter with the Red Sox? Man, that's a great question. You know, I'm going to say the Mets, and only because of this, because in the years where he went to the Yankees, that rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox was still turned up. You know, I mean, it was still turned up. And the Red Sox, they've done a lot of winning over more years than any Yankee fan would care to think of over recently. But they've done a lot of winning since that trade, right?

they won the first year in 2004, they won in 07, they've won two more times since then. So I'm not sure how much changes. Like, yes, that rivalry would have been present, but it already kind of was during that time. And the Red Sox had already turned the tie from, you know, what they experienced from 1918 through 2003. The Mets, I think, you know, Alex's star is bright enough that I think it could have taken them into a place that they've never experienced or at least haven't experienced

since the team that Alex referenced that he grew up loving, you know, the late 80s, Mets, mid-80s Mets, 86 Mets, and those late-80s Mets that probably would have won more championships if not for their off-the-field dalliances. But they, you know, I think, you know, they took over the town then and they were like a show. They've had success since then, but I don't think they've taken over the town completely

or been like, you know, I mean, when they went to the World Series in 2015 and they had Matt Harvey and some, you know, but I think it would have been totally different for what he did for them as far as like being center stage show, you know, and so I think that's the, that's the answer I give to that.

And also just the narrative of his career if he would have taken half the money to go there. Like he wouldn't have been vilified and going to his hometown team and Yankees have two rivals, one in their backyard, it would have been incredible. And you know, one thing on that,

because I do think this is relevant to kind of the themes that you guys talk about here, David and Jason, is like, Alex was vilified in the climate in which he signed that initial deal because of that money, right? And because of going to a team that was losing. But as we've progressed over the last, you know, 15 years, I don't think we ever begrudge athletes anymore for getting every last dollar. And in fact, I think in a lot of ways we applauded and say, like, no, they should get that money. And people think, like, well, why, why do I want it in the owner's pocket instead of

the players' pocket? Or people just have sort of more of an awareness of relatability of like, wait, at my business, I want to get every dollar. Like, why am I going to begrudge him for not? And, you know, and, you know, it's different when it comes to things like a labor agreement and a work stoppage, because then people do say, like, all right, guys, come on. But I think when it comes to just signing big deals, I don't think anymore people, like, I don't think people have any sort of negative feelings towards somebody signing, you know, big money deals. And that's very different than what the climate was like when Alex signed that initial deal. Yeah, that negative stigma with those big deals has changed. And that's the progression of everything that's going on.

That's what we tried doing on this podcast, too, right? Behind every money discussion, every dollar earned, a dollar lost. There's so many lessons to be had there. And I think you've seen a lot of players over the last 20 years or so since that big deal. Talk about the struggles they face. with the bosses. Talk about the struggles they face with the owners. Talk about the struggles they face with financial hardships after they're playing. And I do agree there's a lot more sensitivity with that. Well, guys, this was part one. Part one was incredible. We have one of the greatest baseball players of all time, one of the greatest Yankees of all time, and the Emmy Award winning Ryan Rucco, who is the voice of the Yankees all in one podcast. Part two is one,

you can't afford to miss. He talks about the challenges that he endured. and a whole lot more. So tune in next Monday for another episode of Trading Secrets, A-Rod part two. Trust me when I tell you, you can't afford to miss this one. Curious Canadian, Ryan Rucco, thank you guys for joining me. Making that money Living that dream