Why Was Alex Rodriguez Banned From Playing in 2014?

Alex Rodriguez is one of Major League Baseball's most accomplished athletes. He was only the third 18-year-old in the history of the league to be drafted to shortstop since 1900 when he joined the Seattle Mariners in 1993. In 1996, he established the best batting average in the league with a .358, which is the highest for a right-hand slugger since Joe DiMaggio.

His long list of accomplishments isn't without controversy, however. And newer fans of the sport who didn't live through his heyday are wondering: Why did he get suspended from play?

News about A-Rod's suspension began circulating on the internet after the beloved player addressed his former controversy in the docuseries Alex vs A-Rod.

In January of 2014, the BBC reported that Rodriguez, who was 38 years old at the time, was "one of a few players who have been linked to a closed Florida clinic which allegedly supplied banned performance-enhancing drugs."

As a result, Rodriguez was banned from competing for the New York Yankees, putting him $22 million in the hole for not being able to play for an entire season. The ball player staunchly opposed the ban in a formal appeal, calling the decision down to "one man" and that it wasn't "put before a fair and impartial jury."

Furthermore, he stated that the ban didn't "involve [him] having failed a single drug test" and that the suspension was "at odds with the facts." A-Rod went on to say at the time: "I have been clear that I did not use performance-enhancing substances as alleged ... and in order to prove it I will take this fight to federal court."

At the time, his ban from play was the longest in league history, and there were 13 other players involved in the scandal. This included Everth Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta, and Nelson Cruz. Of the 14 players banned, A-Rod was the only one to file an appeal. Others were given a 50-year ban, but Rodriguez was out for 211 games.

The BBC reported that the MLB "disagreed with the ruling but recognized that 'a final and binding decision has been reached."

A-Rod's punishment was geared towards his purported use of testosterone and human growth hormone, along with other drugs "over the course of multiple years," the outlet penned.

The famed Yankees athlete was also accused of trying to obstruct the inquiry into his alleged PED usage, which is why he received a harsher sentence. Rodriguez maintained that while he admitted to using steroids while playing for the Texas Rangers between 2001 and 2003, he hadn't used any of them since then.

One Reuters article highlighted another issue Rodriguez had with the ban: that it was a way for the league to finagle players out of salary deals. "This injustice is MLB's first step toward abolishing guaranteed contracts in the 2016 bargaining round, instituting lifetime bans for single violations of drug policy and further insulating its corrupt investigative program from any variety of defense by accused players, or any variety of objective view," the outlet reported A-Rod as saying.

Ultimately, A-Rod lost his appeal, although his suspension was dropped to 162 games, still making it the longest in the league's history. He would return to the league in 2015 and continued to play for the Yankees until Aug. 13, 2016, when the club released him.

He stayed with the team in an advisory position, ending a 22-season career that saw him accrue a myriad of accolades. Rodriguez was the youngest shortstop in MLB All-Star Game history. When he retired in 2016, he was selected as an All-Star 14 times, received three AL MVPs, and 10 Silver Slugger distinctions on top of a World Series Championship win.

His offensive prowess is impossible to ignore. He's only one of 30 players in league history to make 3,000 hits. And he's clocked the fourth most home runs of all time with 696. That's right behind Barry Bonds with 762, Hank Aaron with 755, and Babe Ruth with 714.