Alex Rodriguez Brings Jennifer Lopez and Baseball Glove to Houston For Strange Sunday Night Date

Alex Rodriguez certainly didn’t come to Houston empty handed. He brought his international superstar honey, Jennifer Lopez, with him. And a baseball glove.

Yes, one of the greatest shortstops/converted third basemans of all time — no matter what you think of his steroid use — showed up at the Houston Astros game Sunday night with his own baseball glove. It was an impressive, big dollar black model too. A-Rod put it right next to him on the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast table.

JLo was a little farther away during the broadcast. But not by much. Lopez sat in the stands two seats to the right of Rodriguez. Sunday Night Baseball’s crew was calling the game from the Crawford Boxes as part of its Sunday From the Seats tour. Hence the glove. As close as Minute Maid Park’s left field seats are, there was a chance Rodriguez could have a chance to play extra deep outfielder and catch a home run ball.

Call it a TV gimmick. But A-Rod seemed into it.

“Are you kidding me?” Rodriquez says as he settles into his spot. “This is great.”

Baseball’s surprise hit analyst seems to be enjoying this unexpected second act. And his romance with Lopez appears to be as heated as ever. She’s traveling with him to regular season games. If these two can find a way to be together, they’ll do it.

Does this baseball game somehow still count as a date with Alex Rodriguez working it?

JLo and A-Rod became something of Houston regulars during last October’s World Series. Lopez went to the games as Rodriguez worked and often cheered for the Astros. The two stayed at the Houston Four Seasons, an easy walk or black car ride, to Minute Maid and had fun with each other’s kids.

For this Astros regular season series finale with the Boston Red Sox, JLo wore a fur frock (that Minute Maid air conditioning can be a little fierce?) and distinctive gold glasses. A-Rod came decked out in a brand-new Roberto Cavalli shirt.

A-Rod in The Seats

On this Sunday, Rodriguez and the rest of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast team — the still underrated Jessica Mendoza and play-by-play voice Matt Vasgersian— got an up close and personal look at the Astros World Series championship trophy.

Anita Sehgal, Astros Senior VP marketing and communications, brought the trophy over right before first pitch and Mendoza and A-Rod both enthusiastically took selfies with the prized hardware.

Being nearly elbow-to-elbow with fans in the Crawford Boxes brought its own opportunity for more selfies and unique interactions. A-Rod and JLo both received shout outs throughout the game from enthusiastic broadcast rubber neckers.

Fans sitting around them also became an unexpected part of the show.

“My daughter, who’s home from college in Wyoming, and my wife are big JLo fans, so they’re happy campers,”  Spring’s Alan Schafer says from his Crawford Box seats, just one row to the rear of Rodriguez.

“It makes the game a little more exciting,” Sandra Schafer says.

Rodriguez had a Houston police officer seated behind him and there were other cops assigned to the area near Lopez, but the extra security proved largely unnecessary. Houstonians are getting used to seeing these two around.