WATCH: Chris Wallace Confronts Alex Rodriguez Point-Blank Over Why He Felt He ‘Had To Cheat?’

Tommy ChristopherOct 1st, 2022, 2:51 pm

CNN anchor Chris Wallace confronted retired baseball star Alex Rodriguez over his use of performance-enhancing drugs, asking why he’d ever feel he “had to cheat?”

New episodes of Wallace’s series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace premiered on HBO Max Friday, featuring in-depth interviews with filmmaker Judd Apatow, Chef José Andrés, and baseball great Alex Rodriguez.

Things got tough during the wide-ranging interview when Wallace confronted Rodriguez about the cheating scandal that has kept him out of the Hall of Fame:

CHRIS WALLACE: Let’s talk about your career in baseball over 22 seasons, and these numbers are astonishing, you hit 696 home runs. That’s the fourth most in history. You won three most valuable player awards, and you were 14 time all-star.

But when you became eligible for the Hall of Fame this year, your name appeared on 34.3% of the ballots and you need 75% to get in. Alex, how do you explain it?

ALEX RODRIGUEZ: Well, that’s that’s on me. You know, I made mistakes. I’ve talked about them. I served the longest suspension in major league baseball history

CHRIS WALLACE: For taking perform– performance-enhancing drugs.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ: My mistakes. And it was the most embarrassing moment of my career. And it was a mistake that I have now forgiven myself but it took me a while. And Chris, it took a lot of turning the lens inward. And doing a lot of therapy and understanding some of the mistakes and why I was making them how it ties into my childhood.

But when I think about those mistakes is the biggest gift and the biggest curse of my life. I look at that. And I think about that every single day that I did that to myself. And I hope that because of that mistake, the lesson is I get to be a better father, a better partner, a better friend, a better son. And hopefully other players can learn from my mistakes.

CHRIS WALLACE: To the degree you feel comfortable sharing. You said that’s on me and your childhood in therapy.

I mean, help us understand because, you know, you’re such a gifted athlete, you were were such a skilled and accomplished athlete. And you say, why on earth would Alex Rodriguez ever feel he had to cheat?

Well, that’s my question why?

ALEX RODRIGUEZ: Well that was a great question, Chris. And I think about at some point, if I ever write a book or ever do a documentary, I will get into it a deeper and deeper.

Here’s what I would say is surrounding yourself with the best people that are going to keep you accountable is very important. The other part is and this is not an excuse. My father leaving at 10 was — I had a big void In my life, you know, I also had from age 15, when they said I was gonna be the best player in the country at 15.

To the age of 25, I had two coaches that was Rich Hough from my high school coach and Luke Panella in Seattle. And Chris, I lament, I wish I had an extra three years with both of them, because both of them were mentors. And it took a little bit of a father figure.

And sometimes you need a good kick in the ass. And I got it at 38, when finally Major League Baseball said, You know what? You’re suspended for a year.