A-Rod Gives Anti-Steroid Talk to Students

As of late Yankees star player Alex Rodriguez has been on a reputation rebuilding campaign after being smeared in the media for his confession a few months ago that he took performance enhancing drugs earlier in his career. While its not certain if this was his idea, or a PR push to rebuild his reputation to ensure he doesn’t lose any more sponsorship/spokesperson opportunities, one this is certain, this latest public outreach by Rodriguez is great for the target audience. Students. We often forget how much young ball players look up to their favorite players. And when it comes to baseball A-Rod is the favorite player of many. For him to admit what he did was a mistake, and the fact he is now willing to talk about the err of his ways is a great message for developing ball players.

Here is what the Baltimore Sun had to say about the recent A-Rod talks with students:

New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez made an unexpected visit to 500 students at a Baltimore County school to deliver an anti-steroid message Tuesday, months after admitting publicly that he used performance-enhancing drugs earlier in his career.

At the time of his admission, Rodriguez vowed to turn his past transgressions into a positive lesson for young athletes and he apparently is attempting to uphold that promise by discreetly speaking to select students this season. It’s under the agreement, however, that the talks are not covered by the media.

After previously addressing groups in New York City and Texas, he presented his anti-steroids message at Milford Mill Academy on Tuesday, hours before Rodriguez’s Yankees played the Orioles at Camden Yards.

He talked for about 10 minutes and answered several questions from Milford Mill athletes, who did not know the identity of their guest speaker until shortly before the three-time American League Most Valuable Player stepped to the podium.

Rodriguez had this to say to the students about his steroid use earlier in his career:

“I’m here because I made a mistake, and one of my missions in life is to turn a negative into a positive,” Alex Rodriguez told a gathering of student-athletes at Milford Mill Academy. “And to actually tell the truth, it feels pretty darn good and liberating. It is very important to me professionally and spiritually.”