Mary A Lupo / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name:
Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez
Birth Place:
New York City, New York, US
Date of Birth:
July 27, 1975
Race or Ethnicity:
Dominican
The American professional baseball player was born to Dominican parents. A-Rod himself was born in the US but spent some time in the Dominican Republic in his youth. He is able to speak Spanish as well as English.
The majority of Dominicans, about 73 percent, are made up of multiracial people. While the remainder is made up of African and European descendants. Rodriguez appears to be of mixed heritage, which would mean he possibly has African, European and Native Taino heritage.
In a 2005 article on ESPNdeportes.com Rodriguez proudly stated “I am going to play for the Dominican Republic, and I am going to make the Dominicans feel proud,” in the lead up to baseball’s first World Classic.
Source:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2106934
Celebrities sharing similar heritage:
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
Next Comments →
AWoww alot of stupid ppl around here my name bn is khriz and im dominican my mom is dominican.black.skinn and my dadd is dominican light skinn, im lighter than alex rodriguex and all spanish ppl have mixed if ur live in nyc u can see alot of dominican black and white like milk
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
just saying if your gonna say every dominican black then what about the puerto ricans there more black then dominicans even if they dont look it and what about cubans you cant just put everyone into one cultural they are hispanic and im black just saying one of my best friend dominican and her family crazy and there not black at all they cant even speak english so that what you call black im black because my parent are from africa and im not spainish im not going to say im spainsh and im not going to say im dominican just because there dark im a pround lack girl dont need no one to tell me that dominicans have black in them there hispanic learn you thing before you start writing. ;)
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
1
He doesn’t look African American nor Puerto Rican at all. Not even the darkest Dominicans look African American to me.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
1
thats because you hate youself- we are mixed with the same things pal, read some history books- only your european blood/ white blood- comes from spain- we dont know where ours came from because because of our history with slavery in the US to erase our identity- ask your friend zoe saldna she knows dominicans are black! Now I cant say all Dominicans are black but most are mixed with African blood- which would be the same thing as an African American- Actually you Dominicans look alot more blacker and closer to Africans than African Americans – so stopping hating yourself!
Awesome or Offensive:
1 
0
Just because I don’t call myself black I’m in denial? Come on girl, I am mixed. I’m not going to deny my European and Taino roots to call myself “black”. And no, you’re wrong. Most African Americans don’t look mixed. The vast majority of you look pred. black. Mixed looking African Americans are overrpresented in the media. Most I see in my area look like DMX and Whoopi Belberg.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
1
I meant Whoopi Golberg. Like half of the African Americans of my area look like her. The other half look like DMX and Kanye West.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
1
Most Dominicans look like most Afro Americans. I’ve been to the Dominican Republic and I’m just a regular caramel complexioned African American and they couldn’t belive I wasn’t Dominican and didn’t spoke Spanish.
Most Dominican “Mullatos” or “Indios” you say look mostly of African heritage and do not look like the typical biracials I’m used to seeing in the US.
And that’s an ignorant statement saying that most Afro Americans look like DMX, when alot of Afro Americans in your area are of West Indian ancestry. Where I’m from in Atlanta, there’s a full range from almost White looking, to as dark as a African from Congo, and they all consider themselves to be black. Alex Rodriguez would not stick out in the Afro American community here in Atlanta, there are many African Americans who look like him.
Awesome or Offensive:
1 
0
I wonder why all these African Americans why to portrait Dominicans as a Spanish version of them. You’re complaining about me making ignorant statements about AA but you are the ones who don’t know anything about Dominicans. You’re obviously not used to seeing DR’s.
In the Dominican Republic the level of admixture varies by region. The north(the most populous area of the country) is the most European and Native influenced. The East is the blackest region (minus the capital city which is a melting pot) while the southwest leans to the afro in some provinces and more to the euro in others, not to mention that is the second most native influenced region. About 53% of DR’s population is in the North. The East and the souhwest are not that populated. Only 8% of the country’s total population lives in the East and about 12% in the southwest. 30% of the country’s population lives in the metro area of Santo Domingo which is a melting pot. The East is the area of the country where most tourist spots are located not to mention that the majority of the Dominican baseball players are from there. But it is not some homogeneous jamaica-esque region. It varies a lot. Check this video-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ra-c-BSXOI&feature=related
The North (also called Cibao) has been historically the most populated region of the country, at one point just the province of Satiago had more people than the the entire east, plus the region is the cultural, economic powerhouse of the country. Check this-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cibao
Many people think small touristic towns represent the entire country . Those tourist towns, don’t even have an authentic Dominican culture, anyone who truly loves or wants to learn about Dominican culture/people should visit the towns of the interior instead, there they’ll find true Dominican culture in it’s purest form.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
I know African Americans varies but my point is that most of them are pred. African while most Dominicans are balanced mulattoes and triracials. As I said before, the average Dominican is about 50% European while the average African American is only 20%. Besides, there is a considerable segment of the Dominican population (about 25%) which is pred. European including descendants of Iberians and Canarians from the colonial times. Triracial Dominicans are the norm among the population. The native component among us is higher than the one among African Americans. The average Dominican is 5%-10% native. AA’s with detectable native admixture are a minority according to one study.
I have never seen an AA who looks like A-Rod because Alex has a very typical caribbean latino look. His euro component is mediterranean which make him look way different from mixed looking AA. And highly admixed AA are not that common either. It is a fact they’re a extreme minority. Alex could pass for biracial American though. In fact, in my area it’s very common for biracial Americans to get mistaken for Dominicans.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
1
By the way, have you even been in touch with Dominicans? Dominicans are way more European than African American (and more diverse). Most Dominicans are mulattoes and triracials. The average Dominican is only 42% African while the average AA is 80% Afro.
http://www.pnas.org/content/107/suppl.2/8954.full?sid=ca180063-8b4a-4618-90ce-e2738a96ec4c
Dominicans are 46% European, 42% African and 11% native American according to this genetic study.
And again, not even the darkest Dominicans look African American to me. At least not the majority. Our European component is mediterranean and yours is Anglo/North European. The only African Americans that can pass for Dominicans are the mulatto ones (like Beyonce) and those are an extreme minority. Someone like T.I. could pass for dark Dominican but T.I. doesn’t look typical AA to me.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
1
This is such an ignorant comment. For one, they didn’t even say he was Puerto Rican. They said DOMINICAN. Two TOTALLLY different nationalities. And how could you say that “He doesn’t look African American” and “Not even the darkest Dominicans look African American to me.” That is a very uneducated statement. African Americans come in different shades, so even lighter than white people themselves, so don’t even go there. And most black Dominicans are DARK-SKINNED! I know because I have been there. I can tell you right now that the black people there are darker than the black people that you would normally see here in America. They actually look closer to their African Ancestry than the black people here in America! Don’t go around posting these ignorant comments on the internet like that. Try to do something more productive okay?
Awesome or Offensive:
1 
0
And T.I. is lighter than Beyonce. T.I. is a lighter complexion than most Dominicans. And is Black by the way. Not Mulatto.
Awesome or Offensive:
1 
0
Amber Berg, why are you replying under another name?
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
Stop inventing stories because I’m pretty sure you have never been in DR.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
He looks like he is definitely mixed with black, as plenty of other Latinos are.
Awesome or Offensive:
1 
0
This has got to be the best looking man in all of Baseball. I thought he was Rican.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
1
he looks African American, then again alot of Dominicans do, since we are mixed with a lot similarities
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
I don’t know what percentage of which races came together to make Alex Rodriguez, but it was a perfect mix! A touch of this, a dash of that, a pinch of something else. Like grandma’s homemade cookies, you can guess some of the ingredients, but the exact recipe is a secret, and in both cases the end result is even more delicious than you could have ever imagined!
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
My entire neighborhood is Dominican and I’d say he looks like a typical one.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
To Bryan
Maybe of your neighborhood,the ones around here are darker
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
Where do you live? I’m from an area full of Dominicans. In fact, the bulk of the Dominican American population is in my city. They’re the second most numerous Hispanic group around here.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
XXX. CORRECTION. He looks clearly mixed and looks to ‘leans towards european descent’. This does not mean he isn, you cannot tell someones genetic mix by looking at them, you may think you can but your wrong.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
CORRECTION. 76% of Domincans are MIXED RACED. 11% are of full African descendants, 16% of full European descent.
Alex Rodriguez is clearly mixed, but leans towards European descent over anything else.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
These numbers do not add up. 103%? You obviously made this up, or you got this from some incorrect source. Try again.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
I love his looks green eyes & dark skin
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
It’s not that we think of ya’ll Dominicans as being a Spanish version of AA’s. But the fact of the matter is, the physical similarities between us is so obvious that you DR’s love to downplay and bring up racial % when it means nothing compared to how you look.
A Rod doesn’t look all that different from Senator Harold Ford.
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2010/01/12/alg_rep_harold_ford.jpg
While his look is not the most common in the AA community. AA’s who look like him are not rare.
Dominicans
http://caribbeandigital.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Parte-del-grupo-de-dominicanos-y-dominicanas-que-apoyan-a-Mejia-en-Virginia-EE.UU_..jpg
AA’s
http://www.fullerfamilyreunion.myevent.com/clients/75299/3270003_sta.jpg
The difference is not as big you play it out to be. A lot of those AA’s you see in your area are of West Indian descent and not ethnically AA’s, its the same way ya’ll say a lot of darker dominicans are haitians and not ethnic Dominicans.
Most Dominicans I’ve seen when I was in Santo Domingo looked racially similar to most African Americans and alot of them were darker than alot of AA’s even while looking “mixed”. I did see alot of light skinned triracials who resembled PR’s while I was in Santiago and Santo Domingo, but most Dominicans I saw looked like light and medium brown AA’s with a Spanish mixture. Zoe Saldana and Manny Ramirez look like a whole boatload of AA’s from across the country and those two were by far the common looking Dominicans I’ve saw.
I’d say there is a 50% overlap between African Americans and Dominicans physical wise, with the other 50% who look similar to Puerto Ricans physically.
But most Dominicans are dark, you can’t deny that.
Awesome or Offensive:
1 
0
Most Dominicans are brown and yellow. Dark people in DR make around 25%-30% and majority look mixed. The rest of the population is a balance range of real mulattoes, pred. european mulattoes, brown/yellow triracials, white skinned triracials, quadroons/octoroons and whites, though real whites make no more than 10% and most tend to be upper class.
I think the ranges of looks among Dominicans is wider than the one among African Americans. That’s why we can’t overlap all the time. I know a lot of DR’s can look like AA but to say we all look like them make no sense to me. That’s like saying Dominicans look like Puerto Ricans when a lot of DR’s can’t pass in PR. Most light skinned AA’s seem to have their own look. I think people like Corbin Blue, Chris Brown, J. Cole, Quincy Brown and T.I. could pass for typical Dominicans but not people like Common the rapper for example. Not saying he can’t pass, it’s just that he doesn’t look typical DR to me.
Awesome or Offensive:
0 
0
Next Comments →