Alex Rodriguez ruined his friendship with Derek Jeter ... and then they became teammates

(suspense music) - Here are Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter in the '90s. They were opponents but

they

loved each other so much that it bothered their

teammates

. Here are Rodriguez and Jeter in 2017, so awkward that sitting together during an interview is a chore. What happened to this close

friendship

and what replaced it? Was it beef? (suspense music) At first it was the furthest thing from beef. Jeter had just been drafted by the Yankees when a starstruck Rodriguez, still in high school, met him at a college baseball game in 1993. Rodriguez was drafted that year by the Mariners and

then

the blossoming began.

His careers flourished as he made his way to the major leagues. In 1996, Jeter

became

Rookie of the Year and helped the Yankees win their first World Series since the 1970s. A-Rod

became

an All-Star, MLB batting champion, and runner-up for League MVP. American, but her Seattle team did not reach the postseason and their

friendship

blossomed. A-Rod and Jeter slept at each other's houses when their teams played and were so friendly during the Mariners-Yankees games that their

teammates

made fun of them for it. In fact, Jeter was publicly reprimanded by his teammate, Chad Curtis, for joking with opponent A-Rod during a fight between the Yankees and Mariners in 1999.

But the two were inseparable. They were Sports Illustrated's 1997 cover guys on MLB's great young shortstops and, well, I can't mention that without showing you the famous photo of the shirtless shortstops inside. For the record, I did not spend this magazine. This will come home to me. (Optimistic instrumental) So, things were going great, but there was an interesting, familiar dynamic forming in the meat story universe. A-Rod was better at baseball. He managed to excel even in lineups with monsters like Ken Griffey, Jr., Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez, but the Mariners lacked pitching outside of Randy Johnson and never got very far, and A-Rod's national popularity perhaps lagged behind in his individual excellence. .

Jeter was much more famous. He was young and handsome in New York, which gave him more attention from fans, the press, and Mariah Carey. Jeter's numbers were pretty good in their own right, and he was part of a historically dominant Yankees team that won the World Series again in 1998 and

then

also in 1999 and 2000. They reached that last World Series by defeating the Mariners in A-Rod in the American League Championship Series, and

they

were definitely A-Rod's Mariners at the time, having traded both Johnson and Griffey in the previous years. A-Rod was incredible in that series and Jeter wasn't much worse.

The Yankees won and Jetes became the Most Valuable Player of the World Series. Rodríguez became a free agent that winter and the Yankees were interested in his services, although they wanted him to move to third base since Jeter had the shortstop locked up. A-Rod said no, he'd rather beat the Yankees than be a Yankee. They have already won enough. But Rodríguez did flirt with the crosstown rival the Yankees had just beaten in that World Series. Super agent Scott Boras came to the New York Mets not only looking for a massive contract but also big market returns and fame that surpasses Jeter's.

A-Rod wanted his own office and marketing team, lots of billboards, access to a private jet, etc. The Mets said no, man, it doesn't matter. A-Rod ended up with the lowly Texas Rangers, signing what was, at the time, the richest professional sports contract in history: $252 million over ten years. With much less fanfare, Jeter was in the process of negotiating a new long-term deal to remain in New York, and the now mega-rich A-Rod had some ideas. On ESPN Radio in December 2000, Rodriguez speculated who, if anyone, could match his record salary and ruled out his friend Jeter. He didn't have the power numbers, he didn't do the same thing defensively.

Rodriguez even made some guesses about the money Jeter would eventually sign for, and the papers took notice. Jeter dismissed the comments. He wasn't trying to break salary records. He was trying to break championship records. Although that doesn't mean he wasn't paid. In February, Jeter agreed to stay with the Yankees on a ten-year, $189 million contract. As he finalized baseball's second-largest contract, he simply stated: "I don't play for money." I play to win. Everybody makes a lot of money." Man, I wish I was good at sports. So now both friends were making a lot of cash, but Alex wasn't done talking.

Esquire gave Rodriguez a big profile that ran early 2001. Jeter's name came up several times. It came up when Rodriguez complained about how sportswriters, like Mike Lupica, rank Jeter "highly" while describing himself as a "moron," and Jeter again came up. emerged when he provoked a. Bitten by Boras, Rodriguez said Derek had "been blessed with great talent" around him," never "had to lead" and was never the primary "concern" in a killer Yankees lineup. All points are fair, but they may not be the best thing you can say to the national media about your best friend. As soon as the article was published, Jeter was ambushed by reporters at spring training.

He told them that he would have to talk to A-Rod about his intentions in saying things like that. Rodríguez, who was privately stunned by how he came off in the article, insisted that the comments were taken out of context and that he would never go after his friend like that. He even enlisted the article's author, Scott Raab, to fax Jeter an apology, to which he received no response. Rodriguez realized the blame would fall on him and drove from the Rangers' spring training to Jeter's home in Tampa to apologize. Jeter was dining out at the time and allegedly extended his meal to delay the confrontation as much as possible.

The next day, Jeter reportedly seemed upset and still said he was confused by the entire incident, but told the media that he and Rodriguez had talked, he had given his friend the benefit of the doubt, they would still be friends. and I had a feeling. Alex was done talking like that. So, it's not exactly forgiveness, but Jeter wanted more than anything to stop talking about things other than baseball. This will be a topic. And that put an end to things. A-Rod said that he loved his friend and, in fact, didn't talk about him anymore. In their next game at Yankee Stadium, Rodriguez was booed and then hit a home run to help the Rangers to a rare victory.

And the interactions between the two at the All-Star Game were only notable because Alex introduced Derek to pop star Joy Enriquez, his date for the occasion, and she ended up being Derek's girlfriend. After that taste of beef, a little slippery, a patty, perhaps, things had calmed down and stayed that way for a few years. Jeter's Yankees hit their version of a drought, losing the World Series in 2001 and 2003 and failing to get that far in 2002. Meanwhile, Rodriguez was putting up MVP numbers in Texas, but the Rangers spent the entire time losing . After another bad season in 2003, Texas realized that paying a guy millions of dollars wasn't worth it if they were just going to lose all the time, so they tried to trade Rodriguez to the Red Sox in a big, fat deal. complicated that would have changed. the parameters of his contract and signed the Rangers Manny Ramirez and Jon Lester.

It would have been a great deal, but the Players Union rejected it because they did not want Rodríguez to voluntarily decrease the value of his contract in that way. Texas was now ready to move forward with A-Rod, but then the Yankees came in by surprise. The Yankees were reluctant to alter Jeter's role even with a better shortstop available, but they had a hole at third base after Aaron Boone suffered a rare offseason injury. So what happens if A-Rod joins the Yankees and changes positions? Something strange, but Rodríguez wanted to get out of Texas and an agreement was reached.

The best shortstop in baseball was now a Yankee, but he didn't play shortstop, and the guy he played with might still have a grudge against him. The press conference that followed, in which a somber-looking Jeter dressed A-Rod in his pinstripes, was appropriately awkward, but the two were saying the right things, and Rodriguez made the move from him to third base. calmly. Both players knew their relationship would be under scrutiny. Jeter stated that the worst thing that could happen to the local media would be if he and Rodriguez got along. Rodriguez joked that the paparazzi would have to see them holding hands and going to the movies to declare any meat dead.

Jeter, always wary of drama, tried to downplay any discomfort in spring training, no problem, let it go, it's over. Rodríguez also said that any enmity was behind him, but he was characterized by being more sincere. He revealed to the public that trip he had taken to Jeter's house to ask for forgiveness in 2001, and acknowledged that his friends, whom one had tied at the hip, no longer had the same relationship. Those were the kind of statements that would keep the media attention on the two of them, intentionally or not, and would definitely upset Jeter. Throughout that first season, the two were careful not to reveal any tension and things calmed down for the most part, but Rodriguez had some dramatic moments on the field against the rival Red Sox.

In July he caused a big fight at Fenway. In October, he was arguably the face of the Yankees' historic American League Championship Series collapse against Boston. He went 2-for-17 during New York's losses in games four through seven. That included the strange moment in Game 6 when, instead of simply executing the weak grounder he hit with Jeter at first, A-Rod knocked the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove, ruining New York's momentum in that inning and setting up a controversy that lasted long after Boston's eventual World Series victory. Notorious jerk Curt Schilling made unfavorable comparisons between A-Rod's lack of composure and Jeter's class.

Months later, Trot Nixon said that Rodriguez "couldn't stand up to Jeter" and other Yankee greats. Kevin Millar also joined in. The Red Sox deliberately and repeatedly used Jeter's name to annoy A-Rod. Jeter, naturally, was asked about those comments, but he refused to defend his teammate. That was really the way of this relationship for a few years. A-Rod generated stories, and Jeter tried very hard to avoid them ( upbeat music). The two never attacked each other directly, at least not openly. There was a flimsy rumor that they had gotten into a physical fight after a throwing error in a 2005 loss to Tampa, but the Yankees strongly dismissed that.

Tension came in indirect, passive-aggressive ways, like in 2006, when Yankees fans booed a slumping Rodriguez, Jeter somewhat ignored any responsibility to stop them when A-Rod briefly broke that slump. , with a game-winning home run, Jeter did not project. enthusiasm. He didn't even want to talk about it. He said, "Ask him how he feels... "Hopefully this will cheer him up." Later that year, when former Yankee Darryl Strawberry suggested that Jeter should support Rodriguez more, he said, what do you want him to do? But It's hard to distance yourself from the A-Rod drama when you're thirty feet away from him every game.

In August 2006, the Yankees were getting blown out by the Orioles, and a routine pop-up brought the two old friends together. Jeter watched two. holes in the back of A-Rod's head and he didn't even try to grab the ball. Both players tried to dismiss the moment as a meaningless mishap, but New York management had enough. Yankees manager Joe Torre. , spoke to his players, general manager Brian Cashman pleaded with Jeter to fix his body language, and hitting coach Don Mattingly, who had hated his teammate, Wade Boggs, when they were both Yankees, told him. Said Jeter: "I faked it with Boggs...

You have to fake it with Alex." Cashman said the same thing, he's just "pretending," pretending to be understanding. But Rodríguez continued to make it difficult. (suspense music) He hit so terribly in the 2006 playoffs that Torre slid him to eighth in the lineup. In spring training the following season, A-Rod said he was a "big kid." He didn't need support. And he admitted that he and Jeter, who were once blood brothers, didn't have as good a relationship as they once did, but it wasn't a big deal, and with that there, he asked that the media stop asking questions about Jeter, so he could stop lying. and say they were still great.

Jeter publicly said that he had no disagreement with Rodriguez, and that it didn't matter anyway, but he also hinted that he was bothered that A-Rod was talking about personal, non-baseball issues in public and on. private. It was like, "Why don't youShut up?" But keeping quiet wasn't his thing. That season he sparked another controversy by yelling at Blue Jays third baseman Howie Clark, causing him to drop a fly ball. Joe Torre publicly scolded A-Rod for another childish and impulsive act. , something everyone knew he would never have done to Jeter. Of course, Jeter never needed that kind of scolding.

He was the homegrown, attention-avoiding, classy man with a handful of rings, not the one. dramatic, me first, the braggart who didn't bring more glory to a city used to it A-Rod also won his second MVP as a Yankee that season, but... (instrumental optimist) Torre left that offseason, and after one. Typically difficult public negotiation, A-Rod reemerged with another gigantic contract with the Yankees. In 2008, the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time in Jeter's career, and in 2009 things got worse. Writing for Sports Illustrated, Selena Roberts reported. that Rodríguez had tested positive for steroids years earlier. A-Rod admitted the fact at a press conference attended by his distraught teammates.

Jeter expressed his support for his teammate: "You know, as teammates, we can help him, you know, realize that it's going to be difficult, you know, our job is to try to support him as he tries to get back on the field." -But he said that he had deceived himself and regretted that another individual error would negatively affect the many players who do not use the League. - I can't emphasize it enough. Not everyone was doing it. -It was another episode in which Jeter felt he had to answer for the controversy generated by his former best friend, and then A-Rod got hurt and missed the first month of the 2009 season recovering from hip surgery.

He had a relationship controversy, a steroid scandal and now an injury to recover from. This was his lowest point and might have been the best thing possible for his working partnership with Jeter. Rodriguez came back from injury strong, hitting a home run on the first pitch he saw and then helping to completely turn around a team that had been losing without him. Perhaps just as important is that he returned a changed man in Jeter's eyes, more humble, more focused and a better teammate. The rest of that season was a parade of joyful moments. Jeter broke Lou Gehrig's Yankees hit record in September, and there was A-Rod, happily congratulating him.

Both players dominated the ALDS against the Twins and reveled in each other's excellence. They were then seen having dinner together with their famous girlfriends to celebrate. The two led New York to win the World Series and their renewed friendship only grew from there. Each faced a different drama before retiring, but together they had earned a ring. The fight is over... Or is it? In 2011, Ian O'Connor published The Captain, a biography of Jeter that details many of the stories I just told you, and much more about Jeter's private animosity toward his former best friend. Jeter publicly disavowed the book, and A-Rod never acknowledged it, but it definitely revived the idea of ​​Rodriguez as a selfish diva who craves validation and Jeter as a lucky curmudgeon unwilling to help him.

And the years since the book have seemed frigid. New York Magazine profiled Jeter in 2014, and when asked to talk about A-Rod, Jeter shut down that entire line of questioning. When A-Rod finally retired in 2016, Jeter reached out and received no immediate response from Rodriguez, who said his inbox was full. And then there's this. Both players attended a big charity event in 2017. They both agreed to an interview on CNBC and then realized, with great discomfort, that they would be interviewed together and asked about their relationship. All of his answers were deflections and were very uncomfortable. - It's a pleasure to see you two together.

Now that they've both hung up their shirts, they're friends now, is that what's happening? - Shortstop, third base, it's exactly how we were in the past. (laughs) - Just together, right? Both? - Yes. - Side by side. - But you greeted each other warmly. The press made a little fuss about the comings and goings between the two of you. Was that ever real or serious? - I think we are returning to stories from about twenty years ago, eh? - (laughs) There's the history channel. - Yes, that's what we're doing. -Later, it was reported that Jeter was "besides himself angry" about the interview in which he was also questioned about the possibility of buying the Marlins.

That same month, A-Rod was one of the few Yankees teammates absent at Jeter's jersey retirement. He claimed to have been elsewhere with his mother since it was Mother's Day, but did not answer whether or not he had been invited to the event in the first place. And that's where things are. As their post-playing careers continue, A-Rod and Jeter publicly praise each other, but the air between them still seems icy. And how could it not be? When they were young and new and untainted by fame and fortune, it was easy to be friends, but their reputations diverged almost to opposite poles, and it irritated Rodriguez enough to say some things he could never take back.

A-Rod's career became more complicated as Jeter worked hard to keep quiet. But then they became teammates in a massive media market and even the slightest creak between those two opposing people was magnified for everyone to see. If anything, this beef story is a story of triumph, of estranged friends and rivals who went through a lot before finding a way to win together. But maybe a World Series victory won't be enough. It may be a long time before Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter fully unpack their past, much less get over it, but once they do, I think they'll discover that, even if privately, even if intermittently, they've had enough. experience. beef.

Thank you very much for delighting yourself with my meat. If you want to know more about Jeter, the Yankees and the 2001 World Series, here's an episode rewind. Or if you're just here for the meat, here's an episode about an old-school feud between the Yankees and Red Sox.