A-Rod's most infamous off-field controversies

The New York Yankees will release designated hitter Alex Rodriguez on Friday amid one of the worst seasons of the struggling 41-year-old's career.

While things have normally been peachy-keen for the legendary slugger on the field, he hasn't always impressed off it, earning himself a lot of attention for a number of incidences.

Here are some of the most infamous moments of A-Rod's off-the-field career.

Mirror, Mirror

In one of the more outrageous moments of A-Rod's career, the slugger decided it would be a good idea to let Details Magazine photograph him kissing himself in the mirror, among other things.

The photo shoot caused an embarrassing stir in the Yankees organization, with a number of his teammates laughing at his expense.

A-Rod would also take jabs at the photo in 2015. "Enjoy yourself. Remember to have fun. If you ever do a photo shoot, don't kiss any mirrors," Rodriguez joked on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon."

Torre's trash talk

In 2009, former Yankees manager Joe Torre criticized Rodriguez in his book "The Yankee Years," referring to his former player as 'A-Fraud' and describing how the slugger was obsessed with teammate and shortstop Derek Jeter.

In the book, Torre revealed that A-Rod had "developed a 'Single White Female'-like obsession with Jeter and asked for a personal clubhouse assistant to run errands for him."

Torre managed Rodriguez from 2004-07, never winning a World Series title during their time together.

Sharing popcorn with Diaz

During Super Bowl XLV in 2011, Rodriguez was taking in the big game with his then-girlfriend Cameron Diaz when the cameras caught him being fed a snack from the hand of the actress.

The scene went viral and reportedly caused A-Rod to go "ballistic," accusing the cameraman of being "out to get them in a paparazzi-like shot."

Rodriguez and Diaz split up in 2011.

World Series opt-out

In 2007, A-Rod proved he was bigger, and more interesting, than the World Series.

During the deciding game between the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies, the superstar and agent Scott Boras announced during the eighth inning of the contest he would opt-out of the final three years of his contract with the Yankees. The decision was certainly controversial and was immediately frowned upon for its lack of grace.

A-Rod would later sign a 10-year, $275-million contract to return to 'The Big Apple.'

Half man, half horse

Yup, Rodriguez was once depicted as a centaur, a mythical creature that is half-man, half-horse.

But, the most embarrassing part about this A-Rod moment is that he admitted during a 2009 magazine interview with US Weekly that he had two portraits of himself in this form hanging around his house,

What's worse is the portraits were hanging above his bed.

Season-long suspension

On Jan 11, 2014 the decision to suspend Rodriguez for the entire 2014 season and postseason occurred for his role in the Biogenesis scandal, where he not only purchased illegal performance-enhancing drugs from a Florida clinic, but also tried to hinder Major League Baseball's investigations into the matter.

The suspension became the longest drug suspension in a non-lifetime ban scenario upon its announcement.

Rodriguez' suspension was initially for 211 games, but was later reduced to 162.

Tabloid superstar

Rodriguez made headlines, mostly on the front covers of tabloid magazines, in 2007 when he was caught leaving a Toronto strip club with a female who was not his then-wife Cynthia.

The New York Post would later run a headline on the front page of their paper titled Stray-Rod accompanied by a photo of him and the mystery woman.

Cynthia would later divorce A-Rod for "extra marital affairs and other marital misconduct."

A-Rod sues baseball

After an arbitrator handed down a season-long suspension to Rodriguez in 2014, the slugger took it upon himself to sue MLB and the MLBPA in an attempt to have his suspension overturned.

Rodriguez believed the player's association failed to protect his rights, claiming "this inaction by MLBPA created a climate in which MLB felt free to trample."

He would drop the suit a month later and go onto serve the entirety of his 162-game ban.