"I can’t run away from [my salary]" - When Alex Rodriguez justified a $22,000,000 paycheck with enthusiastic entrepreneurial vision

Alex Rodriguez was no stranger to big contracts in his MLB career, and signed a 10-year, $252 million deal with the Texas Rangers in 2000. After being traded to the New York Yankees in exchange for for Alfonso Soriano and Joaquin Arias, Rodriguez was introduced to the media in February 2004.

Controversy over the amount of money players are paid has been a theme of every offseason for decades. Back in the early 2000s, Rodriguez was the focal point of the discussion.

Per CBS, Rodgriguez earned $22 million with the Rangers in 2003, more than any other player in the MLB at the time. Speaking in 2004 as a Yankee, he was asked his opinion on it.

“I can’t run away from [my salary]," Rodriguez said to TIME. "I think we’ve been put in this situation, Cynthia and I, from a philanthropic point of view, to help thousands of kids.”

In Rodriguez's 2009 biography, "A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez," author Selena Roberts touched on the topic of Rodriguez's philanthropy and the mood at the time.

"Whenever Alex was asked to justify his otherworldly paycheck, he would talk enthusiastically about the joys of entrepreneurship and the satisfaction gained from delivering hope to struggling families," Roberts wrote.

"Alex wrote seven-figure checks for the University of Miami’s athletic program and made more modest donations to Boys & Girls and UNICEF."

Rodriguez established AROD Corp in 1996, which had multiple high-end investments that gave to his charity, the AROD Family Foundation. This foundation's mission is to effect a long-term, positive change in the community regarding education and poverty.

When Alex Rodriguez discussed the importance of financial planning

Alex Rodriguez earned $344.968 million over his MLB career, playing for the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and New York Yankees (figures via Spotrac). Signing big money deals from a young age, Rodriguez knows the dangers that can come with high earnings.

High earnings normally go hand in hand with high expenditure, and an MLB career is a short one. Speaking to "CNBC Make It" in 2018, Rodriguez touched on the importance of financial planning and the advice he would give to others, as well as his younger self.

“You’re going to make probably 90 to 95 percent of your lifetime income from age 20 to 30, and you have to ask yourself, ‘What’s going to happen from age 30 to 80?’

"You have an incredible opportunity if you’re frugal and you’re smart and you put your money away early,” says Rodriguez. “The ability to have compound interest over 20, 30, 40 years — you can be a very wealthy young person in a very short period of time.”

Alex Rodriguez believes that the key to lasting wealth is to prepare for what happens after you retire. Given the age at which baseball players retire, that leaves a significant amount of time for players to prepare for.