Alex Rodriguez Names Fenway Park As One Of His Favorite MLB Stadiums

20 years ago, ARod was almost a Red Sox player. That, of course, never happened, but he still has high praise for Boston's ballpark. Yesterday Alex Rodriguez stated that Fenway Park was one of his top five favorite baseball stadiums in Major League Baseball.

Now, there's a lot of history here. This is not ARod just rattling off the most iconic ballparks in America and calling it his "best of" list. Throughout Rodriguez's 22-year career, he played for three American League franchises with the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, and New York Yankees. That means a lot trips to Lansdowne Street, especially as an American League East divisional opponent.

Posting to his social media accounts, Rodriguez called this list his favorite stadiums and experiences. After explaining a few West Coast parks that ranked three through five, we get to Boston.

"This one's gonna hurt a little bit, I'm gonna go with Fenway Park," Rodriguez says in the video. "You have the monster, its a small, it feels like high school, college, intimate, but you still have almost 40,000 people, and smart fanbase, knowledgeable, they drive you crazy but they are kind of the 10th man for the Boston Red Sox."

So, why is this interesting? Well, for starters, Rodriguez's post-playing career has been fascinating. As part of the Fox Sports World Series team, CEO of ARod Corp, and the host of a podcast called "The Deal," ARod has established himself as a prominent figure in sports entertainment culture. In fact, you could argue he is more popular (and just as successful) now as opposed to being a polarizing figure when he was playing baseball.

Then, there's the fact that #13 on the Yankees was quite the villain at Fenway Park. On July 24, 2004, Rodriguez got into the infamous scuffle with Jason Varitek at Fenway Park. This launched this already heated rivalry into another level of intensity. Remember, this was ARod's first year as a Yankee and the year he was supposed to be part of the Red Sox.

The Yankees returned to Fenway Park that fall for the ALCS and we all know how that turned out.

There's a slim chance Fenway Park being one of Rodriguez's favorite places to play will now make him a fan-favorite in city, but fans do respect his passion for the history of the game.

The other reason Alex Rodriguez has been in the news lately is that he and his business partner Marc Lore have had some challenges securing the controlling interest of the Minnesota Timberwolves, as they had intended.

Three years ago, the duo had become minority owners with plans to take on more of a controlling stake over the upcoming years. "We will fight for our dream, we will fight for the fans of Minnesota," ARod stated on the Dane More NBA Podcast regarding where they stand with the Timberwolves.

Rodriguez appeared very hands-on in Minnesota, often showing up courtside at games and having a nice relationship with the players. There's hope he and Lore can get back in the picture. In the meantime, you can watch ARod's video going through his favorite MLB ballparks here.

Boston Red Sox left fielder Alex Verdugo wears number 99. Closer Kenley Jansen wears number 74. At first glance, you may think these are not typical baseball uniform numbers. The organization has 11 options that are immediately unavailable. The Red Sox retired numbers include 10 players that are forever Yawkey Way legends, and one player who is forever a MLB legend.

The Red Sox first retired a uniform number in 1984. It was #4 which belonged to Joe Cronin, who spent 48 years in baseball. The nod was to honor the fact that Cronin was a player, manager, and executive with Boston. Five days later (May 29, 1984) the Red Sox retired Ted Williams' #9. It would be four years until another number was retired with Bobby Doerr.

In April of 1997 all of Major League Baseball retired #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson.

Walking into Fenway Park you will see banners draped along the outside walls of the stadium honoring each player who has their number retired. You will also see them displayed high above right field inside the park, complimenting the Pesky pole.

So, if you are catching a game this year and wondering why a starting pitcher like Nick Pivetta is sporting #37, it's important to know what his options were to select from. Here are the Red Sox retired numbers.