American Way: Will you settle in Miami when your career is over?

Rodriguez: I think so. It's really up to my wife and my family to see where we'll settle down, but I really see myself and my family being in south Florida and Miami. This is home.

American Way: On that note, you've given nearly $7 million to the University of Miami. What other local efforts are you involved in?

Rodriguez: I'm the national spokesman for the Boys and Girls Club. We built the Boys and Girls Club on 32nd Street in Coconut Grove basically from the ground up. We've also broken ground on the Alex Rodriguez Learning Center at the Boys and Girls Club. My wife and I are building the learning center there to stress the importance of reading. Through our foundation, we're also trying to replicate some of the successes we've had in Miami in the Washington Heights area of New York, where I was born.

American Way: Are you at all superstitious about wearing #13?

Rodriguez: I think any player who tells you he's not superstitious is lying. I'm superstitious about things like not being prepared or not working as hard as I can. The harder you work and the better you're prepared, the luckier you get. I think #13 is cool. It was my high-school football number, and my favorite quarterback, Dan Marino, wore it in Miami, so I thought why not?

American Way: Ted Williams said he wanted to hear people say, "There goes the best hitter who ever lived.†What would you like people to say about you when you're 65 and strolling the streets of your hometown?

Rodriguez: The best advice Cal Ripken ever gave me was to be in the lineup every day, play hard, and respect the game. So I hope people would say, "There's a guy who gave it 100 percent all the time and respected the game of baseball and gave back to his community.â€