Alex Rodriguez played professional baseball.
Alex Rodriguez . He played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball ( MLB ) for the Seattle Mariners , Texas Rangers , and New York Yankees . In 1996 , he became the Mariners ' starting shortstop and finished second in voting for the AL MVP Award . Had the original suspension been upheld , it would have been the longest non-lifetime suspension in Major League Baseball history . The Biogenesis baseball scandal broke in 2013 when several Major League Baseball ( MLB ) players were accused of obtaining performance-enhancing drugs ( `` PEDs '' ) , specifically human growth hormone , from the now-defunct rejuvenation clinic Biogenesis of America .