Amy K. Nelson: Alex Rodriguez's compliant cousin

A few years ago, Roger Ball called his good friend Yuri Sucart about getting tickets to a Texas Rangers game for a female friend. Sucart willingly helped Ball; he could, since his younger cousin was the team's star shortstop. When the woman who would be picking up the tickets asked how she would recognize Sucart, Ball didn't hesitate.

"He's the Dominican Shrek," Ball said. "Yuri looks like this big, mean thing coming at you, but he's got the softest hands. … He's sweet as a baby."

Sucart might physically resemble Shrek, but in everyday life, he is more like the green ogre's friend and companion, Donkey. For the past 16 years, Sucart has been Alex Rodriguez's loyal lieutenant, a full-time assistant -- and salaried employee -- whose job has been to safeguard his cousin and devote himself, at times blindly, to whatever the superstar desires.

"He lives and breathes to please Alex," one source close to both Sucart and Rodriguez says. "He seriously does whatever Alex tells him to do. He depends completely on Alex's good nature."

Perhaps even if that meant acquiring steroids illegally and injecting them into the New York Yankees third baseman, who had a two-hour meeting with Major League Baseball officials Sunday.

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Michael Schwartz for NY Daily NewsYuri Sucart has worked for his cousin since his pro career began in 1993.Yes Man


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