Bryan Trayer

Alex Rodriguez says his mother, who worked two jobs and sometimes brought home just $65 in tips, refused a $1,000,000 offer from the Seattle Mariners when he was 17 years old and their family was broke, because she believed he was worth more “The story was that the Mariners had offered me a million dollars. My mom, who had two jobs at the time, was a 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.’” “She was so courageous that at the very end, it came down to a box of bats and two first-class tickets on American Airlines. So in the wee hours, we finally came to an agreement that it would be $1.35 million. It would be a three-year major league contract. I was 17, and 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 one 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, can she get three first-class tickets so that she can come see me three times a year?’ And they said, ‘That's it?’ I said, ‘That's it.’ So we got a deal, and then we started celebrating, and everybody was happy.” “Yeah, I mean, that I took from 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 would get home at 11:30 at night. I would take her pouch away and start counting her tip money. And anytime we had like 65 bucks, it was a great night. And here we are, counting 65 bucks in tips and ones, and my mom's like, ‘Nope, it's $1.5 million or nothing.’ I'm like, ‘Mom, are you nuts?’”