Alex Rodriguez is to play his final game for the New York Yankees on Friday after announcing his retirement.
The 41-year-old announced the end of his Major League Baseball career after being released from his 10-year, $275 million contract, which was due to run through 2017.
Rodriguez, once Major League Baseball’s most valuable player, is having one of the worst years of his professional career, hitting nine home runs with a batting average of .204.
He has 696 home runs in his Major League career, which began with the Seattle Mariners in 1994.
"This is a tough day. I love this game and I love this team," an emotional Rodriguez, known as A-Rod, told a Yankee Stadium press conference. "Saying goodbye may be the hardest part of the job."
Rodriguez has numbers that rank among the best in baseball history but has also seen his reputation tarnished by performance enhancing drugs. He missed the entire 2014 season due to a doping suspension.
He will be unconditionally released by the club from his player contract in order to sign a contract to serve as a special adviser and instructor with the Yankees through December 31, 2017, the Yankees said in a statement
When asked by a reporter what made him decide to step down nearly three months before the end of the season, Rodriguez said: "That was the Yankees' decision and I am at peace with it."
