Bob Nightengale

USA TODAY Sports

MIAMI - Alex Rodriguez, wearing a blue-collared knit shirt and black pants, leans back, clasps his arms behind his head and crosses his legs, enjoying the view from the stands.

This is his heaven — the University of Miami baseball field. The stadium was renamed in his honor. He’s even on the board of trustees, donating about $4 million to the school.

Beyond the outfield wall, there is his hell — the vacated building of the now-defunct Biogenesis clinic. It’s the place that left his reputation in tatters and nearly ruined his baseball career.

Rodriguez, 40, his eyes covered by dark sunglasses, is in deep reflection this balmy afternoon, thinking that if not for the most horrific period of his life, he might never have discovered the anguish and torment buried deep inside of him.

He realized that, ever since he was a teenage prodigy, he worried so much about becoming famous and chasing the bright spotlight that he had no idea it had faded to black.

It took a year-long suspension, the longest in baseball history, for his involvement with Biogenesis and use of performance-enhancing drugs for the light to start flickering.

“There were a lot of doubts, a lot of sleepless nights,” Rodriguez told USA TODAY Sports. “But I think the suspension in many ways was a catalyst for me. It really helped me.

“In order for me to move things forward and to really understand myself, I was going to have to have a paradigm shift.

“It’s propelled me to be in a much better place.”

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Finally, after all these years of trying to live up to surreal expectations, Rodriguez has found peace.

When he pulls into the New York Yankees complex this week for the opening of spring training, the man getting out of his car is one who has extraordinarily restored his image, morphing from pariah into lovable star.

It’s not the kind of star who won three MVP awards, hit at least 50 home runs three times and racked up 14 All-Star appearances by the time he was 35.

But this A-Rod, the 40-year-old DH, perhaps earned more goodwill while hitting 33 home runs in 2015 than he did in his previous two decades in the game.

“He has grown up and has started to accept who he is,” said Jim Bernhardt, 74, who has known Rodriguez since A-Rod was 8 and has worked with the Boys and Girls Club of Miami-Dade for 50 years. “The difference in him now is night and day. To watch his progress is fascinating.

“When he first came back, he told me, ‘Mr. Bernhardt, I made a lot of mistakes. I’m going to surround myself with better people. I want to meet good people.’ That’s one of the things that got him into a lot of trouble. He was hanging with the wrong people.

“You look at him now, and he not only has lived through it, but, really, he has become a true man. He took a few different side roads to get here, but now he’s heading down the right path.”

It’s clear the toxicity that followed his ensnarement in the Biogenesis scandal — and his aggressive, futile attempt at contesting his suspension — has passed.

He was shunned by the marketing and endorsement world a year ago. Now, the phone won’t stop ringing, with three national companies vying for his signature.

The Yankees, who barely acknowledged him, let alone honored him, when he tied Willie Mays on baseball’s home run list May 1, have scheduled Alex Rodriguez Bat Day for May 14.

And the Yankees, who did celebrate his 3,000th hit in September, inviting his mother and two daughters for the ceremony, have even grander plans if he were to hit 27 home runs and tie immortal Babe Ruth at 714 and third overall on the all-time list.

The guy who attacked Major League Baseball and the Yankees when he was suspended, sued the players association and distanced himself from virtually everyone in the game has become almost an ambassador.

“I think Alex has really done a nice job re-entering the game,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “He had a lot of help and support in the process, but he made a genuine effort, and everyone saw it.”

Do you know anyone else in the game who can pick up the phone and call Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf for lunch; chat about investments with Marc Lasry, CEO of Avenue Capital Group and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks; ask Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria about artwork; or have a steak dinner and chocolate milkshake with Warren Buffett, the world’s most successful investor?

Rodriguez, who took classes in investing and marketing during his 2014 suspension, was back in a classroom Friday, presenting an MBA orientation for athletes and artists at Miami’s business school.

“I like him. I like him a lot,” said Reinsdorf, who had lunch with Rodriguez in January and dinner a few weeks ago. “Sure, he made a mistake, but he paid the price, came back and never complained.

“You’re talking about a very, very smart man, and very creative. He’s like a sponge. He picks the brain of some of the smartest people he knows and absorbs all of this information from everyone, to evaluate business opportunities.

“When he’s done playing, he’s going to be a conglomerate. I wouldn’t be surprised if he buys a team one day.”

Said Loria, “Really, he can do anything he wants in life.”

Rodriguez, who has grossed more than $400 million in baseball salary, is captivated by the business world, and the business world is enthralled by him. It doesn’t see the ballplayer. It sees the creative and imaginative mind.

“When I first met him, to be honest, I didn’t know what to expect,” Lasry said. “You think of Alex Rodriguez the ballplayer. His reputation preceded him.

“But he’s so different. Very inquisitive. An extremely talented individual who understands the business side. What makes Alex so special is that he loves life and is a perfectionist but wants to keep learning. It’s finally nice to see that other people are now seeing the same things we always saw in him.”

The day after the Yankees were eliminated in the American League wild-card game in October, Fox Sports executive producer John Entz contacted Rodriguez to see if he’d be interested in being a postseason analyst.

It turned out to be a stroke of brilliance. Rodriguez, who was initially reluctant, was superb on-air: passionate, honest and self-deprecating.

“I’ve never seen anybody hit the ground running like Alex did,” Entz says. “From Day 1 on the air, it was hard not to stop what you were doing to hear what Alex had to say.

“I think people had this image of Alex. But once you got to know him and people saw his personality, how humble he was and how much passion he had for the game, they really embraced him. His ceiling now is through the roof.”

By the time the World Series was over, fans cheered him as he walked on the field. Opposing players stopped to say hello. He freely interacted with MLB officials as if he were part of their management team.

There was not a shred of controversy last season between Rodriguez and the Yankees. They even agreed to donate Rodriguez’s $6 million bonus for tying Mays’ home run total to charities, stopping a potential grievance when the Yankees declined to pay the bonus after Rodriguez’s drug suspension.

“It turned out to be a great situation where everybody benefited,” Yankees President Randy Levine said. “Alex really handled himself well all season.”

Rodriguez’s image was renovated as cleanly as a Hollywood facelift, leaving precious few visible scars. Rodriguez says he’s indebted to his business partner, Jim Skidmore, and Ron Berkowitz, president of Berk Communications, for the tough love and resulting image makeover.

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“One of the things I focused on a lot serving my suspension was the impact my actions had on other people,” Rodriguez said. “Just the responsibilities for my actions. I spent a lot of time thinking about that.

“I’m a better teammate now, a better father, a better friend, a better partner in business. Really, everything.”

Maybe the image makeover never would have happened if Rodriguez fizzled on the field last year. Rodriguez stunned even himself with his 33 home runs, his most since 2008, pushing his total to 687.

“I think it always starts on the field, especially when you’re a New York Yankee,” Rodriguez said. “You expect to go to the World Series every year. But in a world where we get judged by wins and losses, home runs and RBI, I started thinking about other things.

“How do you get along with your teammates? What kind of relationship do you have with MLB, the union, ownership? What kind of impact do you have in your community? They became very important to me.”

Sure, he’d like to surpass Ruth this season and eclipse Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds one day, too. He’d love to have a second World Series ring.

But there are plenty of more important things on his bucket list, he says.

“I’d like really to make an impact in the Hispanic community, really throughout the country,” Rodriguez said. “I would like to help out in financial literacy for the Hispanic community and the athletic community.

“I know I’m only going to be a player for a short time longer, but I know I can make a difference off the field forever.”

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Rodriguez could win the Nobel Peace Prize and there still would be those who never forgive him. Some will never understand why he cheated. The doors to the Hall of Fame might never open.

Rodriguez realizes his mistakes and forever will have to live with the repercussions. But in the end, he benefited.

It wasn’t too late for him to rip open and explore his soul.

For the first time since signing his first major league contract as an 18-year-old with the Seattle Mariners, he actually likes what he sees.

“I’m in a good place now,” Rodriguez said. “A great place, really. I never knew it was possible for me to feel like this.”

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