September 9, 2002 – At The Ball Park in Arlington – Texas Ranger shortstop Alex Rodriguez breaks his own single season record for homeruns by a shortstop by hitting his 52 and 53rd homerun. Against his former team the Seattle Mariners. Both were 3 run shots, one in the eigth off Aaron Taylor gave the Rangers a 4 run lead and the other in the 6th off Jeff Nelson broke a 5-5 tie..  He helps the Ranges win the game 12-7. He will extend the record to 57 by seasons end and finish second in MVP Voting.

However his plan to move to a team that could compete more will have to wait until he is traded to the yankees in February of 2004. The Mariners at the time were 84 and 59, seven games out of first and the Rangers were 66-77, 25 games of first and 18 games behind Seattle.