In HBO's "Alex vs. ARod" (Part one streaming now, new episodes Thursdays, 9 p.m. ET/PT), sports talk radio icon Mike Francesa calls former Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez "a Shakespearian figure" and a flawed man.
The person Francesa was talking about couldn't agree more, saying that the media personality's observation is, "the line of the documentary."
"I think that flawed man and the suspension, led to a man that needed help," Rodriguez, 50, tells USA TODAY over Zoom. "I went into therapy with Dr. David and he saved my life in many ways."
The suspension Rodriguez refers to came in 2013, when MLB banned A-Rod for an entire season over the use of performance-enhancing drugs. As for "Dr. David," that's Dr. David Schnarch who Rodriguez reveals was his therapist from 2009 until the psychologist's death in 2020. In the final installment of the series, A-Rod returns to Schnarch's Colorado home and reflects on his journey to "rewire my brain."
"He helped me really understand some of the issues that I survived from being a younger kid," Rodriguez says. "And he taught me some incredible lessons."
