Alex Rodriguez to Get Ball from 3000th Hit

Seated next to Rodriguez during a news conference celebrating the deal, Hample reached into his backpack and pulled out a ziploc bag with the authenticated ball in it. He took the ball out of the baggie and he and A-Rod together held it up for photographers.

“As I told Alex, I wanted his kids to have that ball, so they would always have a special memory about that night”, Steinbrenner told the Daily News in a text Friday afternoon.

The relationship between the famous designated hitter and Yankees’ brass deteriorated after Rodriguez was targeted by the MLB’s Biogenesis drug investigation and was suspended for the entire 2014 season.

The first of those occurred earlier this season, when Rodriguez surpassed Willie Mays on the all-time home run list after hitting his 661st career home run.

All along, the Yankees asked Alex Rodriguez to act like a Yankee, even understanding the Derek Jeter bar was impossible to reach for him, much less anyone. In return, the Yankees will donate $150,000 to the Pitch In For Baseball charity. With A-Rod’s history, the Yankees felt the feat was not marketable. In the minds of the Yankees, the home run milestones have lost all their luster due to the fact that some part of those dingers were PED induced.

The slugger has participated in the Midsummer Classic on 14 different occasions, said he “dreams” of making appearance No. 15 this year at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

He added: ‘If I choose to sell it, he’s welcome to come bid on it – but I don’t think that A-Rod deserves a favor from a normal civilian like me.’. He became the second player to record his 3,000th career hit with the Yankees, joining Derek Jeter, who accomplished the feat on July 9, 2011 against Tampa Bay. “I really regret and I apologize for any negative thing that I said”.

Commissioner Rob Manfred, whom sources said played a significant role in shaping the agreement, “will determine the initiatives to be supported by the $2.5-million contribution after consulting with Mr. Rodriguez, and taking into consideration the focus of Mr. Rodriguez’s past charitable contributions”, the statement said.

And so, Rodriguez won’t collect $6 million in bonus money and instead, $3.5 million will go to charity.

The Yankees are required to donate more money to help A-Rod solve one of his problems.

“One person familiar with the discussions said at some point they were involving a scenario whereby they’d ‘split the difference, ‘ a suggestion that the Yankees would pay about $3 million”, with the other half going to charity.