Baseball star Alex Rodriguez announced as Rally conference speaker

Alex Rodriguez (photo/Fox Sports)

Baseball-star-turned-businessman Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez is scheduled as a keynote speaker at this year’s Rally innovation conference in Indianapolis.

Conference organizer Elevate Ventures made the announcement Tuesday. The conference is set to take place Aug. 27-28 at the Indiana Convention Center.

Rally, which debuted last year, features keynote speakers, breakout sessions, networking opportunities, a pitch contest, a demo area for startups, and one-on-one meetings between entrepreneurs and investors. The event is designed to attract entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, educators and others from a variety of business sectors.

Rodriguez, 48, who is also a MLB studio analyst, is the second keynote speaker announced so far. Rally organizers announced last month that business executive, entrepreneur and media personality Marcus Lemonis is scheduled to speak at the event.

During a 22-year career in Major League Baseball, Rodriguez played for the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and New York Yankees, amassing 3,115 hits and 696 home runs in his career. Despite his eye-popping statistics, Rodriguez’s admitted use of performance-enhancing drugs has kept him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

After retiring from playing in 2016 he went on to found A-Rod Corp., a Coral Gables, Florida, based venture capital firm whose investments range from real estate projects to tech startups to sports and fitness.

“We are thrilled to welcome Alex Rodriguez to our stage,” Elevate Ventures CEO Christopher Day said in a prepared statement. “Alex’s transition from a storied MLB superstar to a towering figure in entrepreneurship embodies a wealth of teachings for our audience.”

As was also the case in 2023, this year’s programming at Rally will focus on six topic areas, which organizers call studios: entrepreneurship, software, health care, hard tech, sports tech, and agriculture and food.

Last year’s event drew more than 3,110 attendees from 39 states and 15 countries. The 2023 keynote speaker lineup included athletes Peyton Manning and Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and media personality Guy Raz, among others.