Alex Rodriguez is bidding adieu to Major League Baseball… at least as a professional player.

The 41-year-old Dominican American New York Yankees designated hitter, nicknamed “A-Rod,” is retiring from the sport after 22 seasons with the MLB.

Rodriguez, widely considered one of the greatest players in baseball history, and often one of the sport’s most controversial figures, will play his final game on August 12 when the Yankees face off against the Tampa Bay Rays. Following his retirement, A-Rod will become a “special advisor and instructor” for the Yankees through the end of 2017.

The announcement came on Sunday in an emotional press conference called by the Yankees organization.

“We all want to keep playing forever. But it doesn’t work that way,” Rodriguez said, openly weeping. Fortunately, the 14-time All Star, who achieved over 2000 runs scored, 3000 hits, 696 home runs, a 2000+ RBI and a .297 career batting average, will still be earning money from the team.

A-Rod has $7 million left on his contract for the remainder of this current season and an additional $21 million next year. The Yankees are legally obligated to pay him in full for the rest of his contract, adding considerably to the more than $400 million he’s earned since going pro right out of high school in 1993 as the #1 overall draft pick.

Rodriguez played with the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers before joining the Yankees in 2004.

With a record matched only by some of the greatest players of all time, Rodriguez has also seen his share controversy over his career. Among them, Rodriguez angered fans and colleagues alike in 2007 when he opted out of his contract with the Yankees in what turned out to be a hardball negotiation that netted him a 10-year, $275 million contract. A-Rod was also revealed to have used performance enhancing drugs between 2000 and 2003 and was later suspended in 2014 after violating the league’s performance enhancing drugs policies after receiving human growth hormone treatments in 2013.