Alex Rodriguez, the embattled Yankees' third baseman, is suing Major League Baseball, claiming they have gone on a "witch hunt" to destroy his reputation and career.
"In the complaint, Rodriguez's lawyers claim an investigator paid $150,000 in cash for records related to Rodriguez, which were apparently stolen. A portion of the cash 'was handed off in a bag at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., area restaurant,' the lawsuit says.
"The lawsuit specifically accuses Major League Baseball of engaging in 'tortious interference,' essentially interfering with Rodriguez's existing contracts and future business relationships.
"Major League Baseball, in a statement Friday, said, 'We vehemently deny the allegations in the complaint,' while a spokeswoman for [Anthony Bosch, the owner of an anti-aging clinic at the center of the scandal] on Friday denied that Bosch had been paid for his cooperation."
Remember Rodriguez, one of baseball's brightest stars and its highest paid player, is in the middle of appealing a 211-game suspension, which the league handed down alleging that he had used numerous "performance enhancing substances" and had then tried to cover it up.
The lawsuit, reports the Times, does not address the doping allegations. ESPN reports that it may also be the first of many filed by Rodriguez.
ESPN adds:
"The 31-page lawsuit levels a series of charges at [outgoing Commissioner Bud] Selig and MLB, including the allegation that the commissioner has violated the collective bargaining agreement to "make an example of Mr. Rodriguez ... to gloss over Selig's past inaction and tacit approval of the use of performance enhancing substances in baseball ... in an attempt to secure his legacy as the 'savior' of America's pastime."
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