Landon Buford
Former Major League Baseball Player John ‘J Rod’ Rodriguez [JRod5353 on Twitter] was being impersonated on Twitter under the OfficialJohnRod verified handled. The Twitter account has since been disabled following the news that he is not the Real John Rodriguez, according to Twitter user PlayboiLeb.
On October 9, 2021, the real John Rodriguez tweeted out the message “This is me on the left “The real John JROD Rodriguez.”
“The guy on the right OfficialJohnRod has been impersonating me and has developed a following and is verified using my identity. Please report this guy! Thank you. Go Cardinals.”
On Saturday night the real John ‘J Rod’ Rodriguez chose to hopped on Twitter Spaces hosted by Twitter User CGen100 to clear his name.
“I found him from his Twitter before I even spoke to him; I found him on Instagram. Because he started following my [youngest] son. That is how he got the Albert Pujols pictures,” said Rodriguez.
Chris ‘Hendo’ Henderson who is someone that interviews MLB players regularly told a story about one of Rodriguez’s former teammates with the St. Louis Cardinals and Henderson happen to be on Twitter Spaces one day listening and said John Rodriguez on Twitter Spaces. The former teammate said that’s not the real John Rodriguez, “he sounds nothing like that,” said Hendo.
In one of the Twitter Spaces [OfficialJohnRod], Hendo shared that he played with Mike Trout, which was not valid because the Real John Rodriguez retired before Trout even entered MLB.
“I retired even before Mike Trout started playing. My last year was 2009 in Triple-A with the Yankees,” Rodriguez said.
Before he got off Twitter Spaces, the Real John Rodriguez recapped the story after Hoop Hypes’ Michael Scotto asked how he found out about this.
“In October, my boy, Nelson Figueroa, was on one of these chats, but with ex Major League Baseball players. Yes, It was the real Nelson Figueroa because he texted me and asked whether you are on this chat. I was like, what are you talking about? He is like, you got Twitter? I was like, no! So, that’s how I found out. This guy has been impersonating me since 2009!”
He added, “That is exactly what I’m going to do, I’m going to call Nev [Schulman] from Catfish. If you guys have Nev’s Twitter account tell him to hit me up.”
The Real John Rodriguez shared that he tried to contact Twitter months ago to prove OfficialJohnRod a fraud but did not receive a response.
