Alex Rodriguez was clearly not expecting to see his eldest daughter, Natasha, at the NBA playoffs.
Rodriguez, 48, seemed genuinely shocked when Natasha, 19, surprised him while he sat courtside with her younger sister, Ella, at the Dallas Mavericks-Minnesota Timberwolves game in Dallas on Sunday, May 26. As Natasha stealthily approached them, Ella tried to distract her dad by pointing at the jumbotron. When Rodriguez noticed Natasha — who’s wrapping up her fresman year at college — he gave her a big hug and she did a happy dance.
“I could not believe it!” the former New York Yankee said Monday, May 27, via Instagram. “Ella and @thenatasharodriguez you two got me so good.”
Rodriguez, known by his nickname “A-Rod,” shares Natasha and Ella with his ex-wife Cynthia Scurtis. He married Scurtis in 2002 and they divorced six years later.
In April, Rodriguez posted an Instagram tribute to Ella on her 16th birthday.
“You light up [every] room you walk into and I am so proud of you in every way,” he captioned a photo carousel, which featured shots of Ella at various ages: As a baby sitting on her dad’s lap; as a little girl sporting a Yankees jersey; as a teen standing on a boat with Rodriguez underneath a double rainbow.
And last August, Rodriguez got emotional about leaving Natasha at the University of Michigan for her freshman year of college. He posted a series of social-media photos of the two smiling in her dorm room, among other locations on the Ann Arbor campus. He also included a video of himself waving goodbye from his car window as he sat next to his girlfriend, Jaclyn “Jac” Cordeiro.
“Left my heart in Michigan,” he wrote at the time. “Dropping off @thenatasharodriguez at college was one of the hardest, but most proud moments of being a father. Can’t wait to watch her take on this big new chapter.”
Weeks ahead of the drop-off, Rodriguez spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about Natasha making the decision to pursue her BFA and study performing arts.
“My only condition is because all these young actors want to bypass college and I’m always saying, like, ‘You can [study] drama, you can do whatever you want, but as long as you’re taking your business classes at Michigan; they have a great business school,’” he shared with Us. “And that was [the] deal.”
The retired MLB star said Natasha is “crystal clear on what she wants” in life.
“She’s such a hard worker and doesn’t expect any free rides [and] wants to work for everything she gets,” Rodriguez said. “She’s [a] special young lady and I think her goal is to perform in one of those big [shows] like a Hamilton or something like that.”
