Michael Kay dropped a few hints about it before he finally asked Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter how their famous relationship was going.
The two ex-Yankees players laughed as Jeter deftly sidestepped the question by jokingly referring to Kay as “Phil Donahue” and bringing up a 2017 CNBC interview in which he discussed the same topic.
After they had a good laugh discussing “The Captain,” an ESPN documentary about Jeter’s career, Rodriguez eventually came back to the topic.
According to A-Rod, he shared his “regrets” about his tumultuous friendship with Jeter, “something he’d never told [Kay] before.” A month and a half ago, they got together to put an end to their feud, which they did after “a lot of cocktails,” at least for him, as Rodriguez pointed out.
Even though the Yankees lost 3-0 to the Red Sox on Sunday at Fenway Park, one positive was the “therapeutic” conversation that took place between Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter.
Though they appear to have settled their differences, Rodriguez’s awkwardness was evident even before Jeter entered the studio. Kay made fun of the antagonistic relationship between the two when he presented Sunday’s guest list, asking Rodriguez if he was “OK with this” when Jeter’s name was announced.
However, as soon as Jeter walked onto the set, they shook hands and gave each other a hug.
Kay mentions how Rodriguez and Jeter were close friends as rising stars in the late ’90s, even going so far as to stay at each other’s homes when traveling for games. After Rodriguez’s comments about Jeter in an Esquire story in 2001 seemed to paint the Yankee star’s success as a product of being on a great team rather than his individual talents, the pair’s bromance crumbled.
From 2004 to 2014, Jeter and Rodriguez were teammates for the Yankees, where they helped the team win the 2009 World Series. Due to PED use, Rodriguez was suspended for the entire season, so he did not play in Jeter’s final season.
Rodriguez admitted he was “cringing” over his past mistakes with Jeter and is now making an effort to be a better friend. They joked around like old friends on Sunday about parenthood and a cringeworthy Sports Illustrated photo shoot from when they were in their early twenties, and they both expressed amazement at Aaron Judge’s monster season.
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