Alex Rodriguez Retirement: Should We Tell The Whole Story?

In the baseball community, a fair amount of attention has been directed towards Alex Rodriguez and the question of whether he will or will not retire. While some report that Rodriguez is retiring, the New York Post stated that he may not be finished quite yet. With a contract that doesn’t end until 2017, he has plenty of time and games left before making the final decision on whether or not to give up the game for good. Rodriguez spent the entirety of the 2014 season on suspension for performance-enhancing drugs. If he can hit 27 more home runs in his career, A-Rod will tie the legendary Babe Ruth at 714. As the rankings stand right now, he currently sits in fourth place overall.

Aside from being one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, Rodriguez is also a father. Formerly married to Cynthia Scurtis, who holds a master’s degree in psychology, the two had a daughter, Natasha Alexander. After divorcing, he is currently dating Anne Wojcicki, ex-wife to Google cofounder, Sergey Brin. Stories of this relationship seem to lead with the fact that Wojcicki is the ex-wife of Brin. Some will note later, though, that Wojcicki is successful in her own right, being the CEO and co founder of 23andMe, a genetic testing company. She also graduated from Yale University with a BS in Biology. In sum, Wojcicki is not just someone's ex-wife. One might add, this is just the most current girlfriend of Rodriguez, who has dated the likes of Madonna, Kate Hudson, and Cameron Diaz, as well as others and being romantically linked to many. Each of these women have also accomplished quite a bit in life.

It’s easy to see how ridiculous it sounds to include the details of Alex Rodriguez’s personal dating and family life in an article about his possible retirement. Yet this is how women are written about all the time by the media. Lindsey Vonn fractured her knee during a ski race, but her personal dating history and her Sports Illustrated body paint modeling were also brought up. And in discussing her dating history, the story failed to note that Vonn had been dating the ex-husband of Elin Nordegren.

All of this points to a larger story. What men accomplish is often reported independent of their family life. But women's accomplishments can't seem be a story by themselves. Part of the story people tell about women has to include the men who are part of their lives. Yes, this is ridiculous. We don't bring this information up when we talk about men and we need to stop doing this when we talk about women.

You can follow the author of this article on Twitter at @katieeliselee.