“First of all, Cher was unbelievable, wildly talented,” Alex Rodriguez said a couple of weeks ago. The former Yankees third baseman was on the phone to talk business—he has a new role as an ambassador for Ralph Lauren Fragrances and its new Polo Blue Gold Blend scent—but it was a few days after the Met Gala, and he was breaking down the night with all the considered enthusiasm of his baseball broadcasting. And here’s Cher now, stepping back into the batter’s box. . .

“The first time I've seen her in person, and she just looked like she was absolutely in her prime,” he said. “So inspirational. And I thought [the Met Gala] had a nice pace to it. It moved nicely.”

It’s been three years since Rodriguez hung up his spikes, but he’s as omnipresent a media force as ever—arguably more than in his playing days. He’s an analyst for ESPN and Fox. He’s got a broadening business portfolio of real estate and gyms. And he’s become a red-carpet fixture with his new fiancée, Jennifer Lopez. In the last several months he’s done his first Oscars; the Grammys, where he bobbed his head to Lopez’s Motown tribute and Dolly Parton’s performance; and the Met. Out: the sports pages. In: wide-eyed, happy-to-be-there Instagrams, warm accounts of the couple’s relationship. It seems to be suiting Rodriguez just fine.

“I mean, all I'm told is, ‘we're leaving the house at 6:45,’” Rodriguez said. “And that's just to make sure that I don't mess that up. I don't have much to contribute to that part of our lives, because she’s the queen of that.”

Well, maybe he can contribute the occasional pop of color.

“She pushed me to pink several times now,” he said. “It’s fun.”

A-Rod has somehow evolved this new look from the ever-scrutinized, sometimes-antagonistic figure he cut throughout the course of his 22-year baseball career. Signing what was at the time the most lucrative contract in the sport’s history to play in its biggest media market had something to do with that. And it’s far from a given for ex-pros to move seamlessly into roles as respected commentators. (See: Paul Pierce’s adventures this N.B.A. postseason.) But in conversation these days, Rodriguez even seems loose.

“Thank you for thinking it’s natural,” he said, when it was suggested that his transition to sports media has mostly been a smooth one. “I mean, look. I certainly work very hard at it.”

Today, the Rodriguez of red carpets—the easy-mannered, entrepreneurial bon vivant—is getting into the luxury fragrance game. “The call came and I was thrilled,” Rodriguez said when asked about what led to the Polo job. “The campaign was beautiful. And I'm a believer. I thought it was on brand for me.”

While ending up seaside in a double-breasted blazer for a glittering campaign may be an apt encapsulation of this stage of Rodriguez’s career, he said he didn’t think of it in those terms. “I don't think about it at a micro level,” Rodriguez said. “I think it is a great honor. I'm flattered that I was asked, and enjoy doing it. And you know, I'm doing things that I enjoy, things that are fun.”

In undertaking his current medley of ventures, not all of it is designed to permanently stick. “I'm still in kind of the getting to know period,” he said, “of what is it that I really enjoy to do the most.”

So as far as style, even as he continues to mold this new, fashion-facing phase of his career, it’s not a total surprise that Rodriguez said, “maybe I’m done pushing.” Does that mean we’ll never see his aughts-era frosted tips on the red carpet?

“Ah! You never say never!”

And since Rodriguez is now the face of Polo Blue Gold Blend, it was natural to wonder what that smells like.

“It smells . . .” he started, before trailing off, perhaps in search of a fragrance note: grassy vetiver, or fresh-sliced grapefruit. Instead he returned to a word he used often during the interview. “It feels aspirational.”

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