New details of Yankees great Alex Rodriguez’s relationship with Jennifer Lopez were revealed in a fascinating Vanity Fair that hit the internet Tuesday.
This 4,500-word article by Bethany McLean is a must-read.
Odd first date
Their first date, dinner at the Hotel Bel Air in Beverly Hills in February 2017, A-Rod texted J-Lo from a restroom after he realized this indeed was a date and the couple leaving the restaurant due to a fire alarm going on
Here are their recollections of that night:
J-Lo: “He was sitting there in his white shirt, very confident and manly, but then he was just so talkative! I think he thought I was going to be this loud person, but I’m not. I just listen. So he’s talking, talking about his plans, about how he had just retired from baseball, about how he saw himself getting married again, all these things you wouldn’t normally talk about on a first date. I don’t know if he thought it was a date. I thought it was a date. Then I knew he was nervous because he asked me if I wanted a drink. I said, ‘No, I don’t drink,’ and he asked if I minded if he had one. He was nervous, and it was really cute.”
A-Rod: “I didn’t know if it was a date Maybe we were seeing each other at night because of her work schedule. I went in uneasy, not knowing her situation. It would be incredibly productive for me to sit with one of the smartest, greatest women in the world, especially for a guy like me who is coming through tough times, rehabbing himself, re-establishing himself to folks out there. I thought it would be a win-win no matter what. She told me around the third or fourth inning that she was single. I had to get up and go re-adjust my thoughts. I went to the bathroom and got enough courage to send her a text.”
J-Lo: “So I’m sitting there and he’s walking back, and I get a text,” “It says … ‘You look sexy AF. … And then it took a turn. The fire alarm went off, and we had to evacuate. No, really. The fire alarm went off!”
A-Rod and Warren Buffett are buds
Alex Rodriguez has had a long friendship with one of the richest men in the world, Buffett’s Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett.
They’d been friends since meeting in December 2000 after Buffett’s Berkshire insured A-Rod’s $252-million contract with the Texas Rangers
Buffett told Vanity Fair that Rodriguez “has what I call a ‘money mind,’ meaning he instinctively knows many things about dealing with money that other people never learn and to some extent can’t be taught. A-Rod would have done very well in business if he had never seen a baseball.”
A-Rod revealed the best advice that he’s received from Buffett.
“On the business side, it was always non-recourse debt. Don’t personally guarantee it. And cash is like oxygen: You need it, but you don’t need too much of it. You’d rather have your money in great businesses.”How J-Lo honors A-Rod in concert
When Jennifer Lopez performs in concert, she has a New York segment in which she wears a sequined baseball jersey.
“If you look closely, you’ll see what number she’s wearing on her jersey,” Rodriguez said.
J-Lo picked No. 13, the number A-Rod used during his Yankees years.
Here are some things we learned: