Alex Rodriguez jetted to New York late yesterday and headed straight for old pal and new teammate Derek Jeter’s Big Apple pad just hours after A-Rod officially became a Yankee.
Rodriguez arrived as Bronx Bomber fans rejoiced that their legendary team had nabbed the best player in baseball – who was unsuccessfully wooed in December by their hated arch rivals, the Boston Red Sox.
The city’s newest sports phenom flew into New York by private jet late yesterday afternoon with his wife, Cynthia, and was immediately driven with Jeter in a black SUV to the Yankee captain’s $13 million apartment in the Trump World Tower near the United Nations.
A-Rod will be formally welcomed by the Yankees today, at a press conference at the House That Ruth Built, where he will don a pinstripe jersey bearing his new lucky number – 13.
“This is a great day for the New York Yankees and for the City of New York,” crowed team owner George Steinbrenner after baseball Commissioner Bud Selig gave final approval to the blockbuster deal that sent Rodriguez here from the Texas Rangers.
“In acquiring Alex Rodriguez, we are bringing to New York one of the premier players in the history of the game.”
Rodriguez, 28, made the trade possible by agreeing to move from shortstop, where he won six All-Star team slots and last season’s American League MVP award, to third base, allowing Jeter to stay at his position.
Rodriguez, who was born in New York, will begin spring training in Florida with the team next week.
A-Rod just beamed when a Post photographer caught him outside Jeter’s apartment and asked him how he liked being in the Big Apple.
Yankee GM Brian Cashman was not so reserved.
“I really cannot describe how happy I am to have been able to acquire a player of the caliber of Alex Rodriguez,” he said.
“It was perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I am ecstatic that a lot of hard work enabled us to consummate a deal of this magnitude.”
Yankee skipper Joe Torre said, “It’s tough to come up with words to describe how you feel when a player of Alex’s ability and class is suddenly in your lineup. I know the fans of New York are going to love having him here on an everyday basis. I couldn’t be happier.”
The Yankees will pay Rodriguez $112 million for the remaining seven years of the unprecedented $252 million contract he signed with Texas three seasons ago. The Rangers, in an unusual arrangement, will pay A-Rod the $67 million balance of the contract through 2025.
In exchange for A-Rod, the Rangers are getting star second baseman Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named later from the Yankees.
The deal gives the Yank, who lost last season’s World Series and who have not won it since 2000, a player considered to be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame.
And it gives A-Rod, whose Rangers have been dreadful despite his presence, the chance to play for a legendary winning team. The Yanks in recent years have either strongly contended for or taken the American League title, and have worn four World Series crowns since 1995.
The trade stunned the baseball world, which had expected A-Rod to stay with the Rangers after a recent aborted attempt to trade him to the Sox.
“I think this is one of the best trades in the history of baseball,” said former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a rabid Yankee fan. “This is going to make the season very exciting.”
Manhattan teacher Amy Strassler-Goldstein, who traveled to the Stadium yesterday to buy tickets, said, “It’s the A-Rod icing on the Yankees cake.”
Anthony Sedia, 38, a construction worker from The Bronx, was there, too.
“The minute the trade was confirmed, I said, ‘I’m gonna get season tickets for me and my son,’ ” he said.
There also was glee in Rodriguez’s old neighborhood of Washington Heights.
“I think this is a beautiful thing,” said Carlos Rodriguez, 34, a building superintendent in the upper Manhattan community. “It’ll keep New York in the buzz. I’m so excited for baseball to begin again.”
Additional reporting by Amit Srivastava, Lorena Mongelli and Dan Kadison