Alex Rodriguez must be bored in retirement, because he can’t turn down a social invitation. The former Yankees star seems to pop up everywhere history is made: at the Super Bowl in 2020; at the Oscars in 2019; and at the 2018 VMAs, where he gave “You’re doing amazing, sweetie” energy.
Besides being a MEL-approved wife guy — hopefully he and Jennifer Lopez can finally tie the knot this year — A-Rod is the modern-day Forrest Gump, as noted by ESPN staff writer Joon Lee. They both can’t go a day without wearing a fitted suit and a crew-cut haircut, and they’ll pop by any historical event free of charge.
This week, A-Rod woke up and decided to swing by the Biden-Harris presidential inauguration. Ya know, just some casual Wednesday-morning pandemic plans.
Rodriguez was there, of course, to support his fiancée, who sang “This Land Is My Land” and “America the Beautiful” (with an eyebrow-raising reference to “Let’s Get Loud”).
Lee, the unofficial stenographer of Rodriguez’s pivot to seat filler, quickly spotted A-Rod in the telecast. “At least once a year, I turn on a national event and A-Rod will somehow just be there for some reason, fulfilling his destiny as baseball’s Forrest Gump,” he tweeted.
“As a baseball writer and someone who grew up watching A-Rod, it’s just something I’ve noticed while tuning into award shows and big national events. It just always seems like he’s there in unexpected circumstances,” Lee tells me.
A-Rod, buddy, I smell a Where’s Waldo collab in your future. Call it Identifying Alex.
It’s not just that A-Rod shows up everywhere. His 6-foot-3 frame dominates the screen. Lee posted to Twitter a screengrab of Rodriguez standing in front of Obama. A-Rod didn’t just get an invite to perhaps the most highly anticipated event of the year — he scored a more favorable seat than the 44th president. “Turning on the inauguration today and randomly seeing his face pop up (before knowing that J.Lo was performing) felt like the pinnacle” of Forrest Gump A-Rod, Lee says.
He tries to fall in line behind his fiancée. But when you’re A-Rod, with a megawatt smile and glowing skin (do we think he uses J.Lo Beauty?), all eyes are naturally drawn to him. He’s the focal point of Lady Gaga’s reaction photo to winning an Oscar in 2019.
Since retiring from the New York Yankees in 2016, he’s been on Shark Tank, at the Met Gala, in the front row of New York Fashion Week, on Saturday Night Live, a mainstay of FS1 and always, always in the arms of Jennifer Lopez.
It’s fitting that his relationship with Lopez is so public. No couple is as comfortable in the spotlight as these two. And based on his penchant for selfies, A-Rod is lowkey baseball’s most important influencer. Hell, A-Rod is already on TikTok dancing with Charli D’Amelio.
Joseph Longo
Joseph Longo is a culture and entertainment journalist whose work has appeared in The Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly and more. He's still trying to understand what it means to be a Gemini Rising.
