Back in the 1990s, when both of their careers were going up, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter might have been best friends. However, A-Rod’s rude comments about Jeter in an interview left a mark on their friendship that many people thought would remain strong forever.
Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriquez were very good friends despite playing for two different teams – the Yankees and the Rangers. However, A-Rod’s 2001 Esquire interview changed that all when he said:
“Jeter has been blessed with great talent around him. So he’s never had to lead. He doesn’t have to, he can just go and play and have fun, and hit second. I mean, you know, hitting second is totally different than hitting third or fourth in a lineup.”
Alex Rodriguez also said that, compared to the other big names on the New York Yankees, Derek Jeter was never a worry for the other team.
“You go into New York, you wanna stop Bernie [Williams] and [Paul] O’Neill,” A-Rod was quoted as saying. “You never say, ‘Don’t let Derek beat you.’ He’s never your concern.”
These comments created a rift between the two Yankees stars. In the ESPN docuseries The Captain, Derek Jeter then acknowledged that Alex Rodriguez’s 2001 comments “fractured their bond.”
According to him:
“As a friend, I’m loyal,” he said. “I just looked at it as, ‘I wouldn’t have done it.’ And then it was the media. The constant hammer to the nail. They just kept hammering it in. It just became noise, which frustrated me. Just constant noise. “You can say whatever you want about me as a player. That’s fine,” Jeter later added. “But then it goes back to the trust, the loyalty. This is how the guy feels. He’s not a true friend, is how I felt. Because I wouldn’t do it to a friend.”
Alex Rodriguez called Derek Jeter soon after his interview was made public to apologize. He also tried to downplay the rift but let the public know about their relationship in 2007 when he admitted that these comments were true. During that interview with Tyler Kepner of the New York Times, A-Rod admitted that things had changed between him and Derek Jeter.
“We were best of friends about 10, 13 or 14 years ago, and we still get along well,” Rodriguez told. “We have a good working relationship. I cheer very hard for him, and he cheers hard for me, and, more importantly, we’re both trying to win a world championship. We’ll leave it right there.”
Even though they have put their differences aside and worked together for the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez said that they don’t hang out as much and they don’t have sleepovers anymore.
“People start assuming that things are a lot worse than what they are, which they’re not. But they’re obviously not as great as they used to be. We were like blood brothers.”
Before this, neither of them had said that things had changed in their relationship. Alex Rodriguez also wants them to forget about it and move on.
“The reality is there’s been a change in the relationship over 14 years and, hopefully, we can just put it behind us,” he went on to say.
Alex Rodriguez’s tribute to Derek Jeter
After Derek Jeter was inducted into the Hall of Fame, many players and fans told him how proud they were of him, but there was one person in particular who should be mentioned. Alex Rodriguez was the one who did it. During their playing days, the two had a rough time getting along, but they seem to have made up and moved on. Moving on so much that Alex Rodriguez paid a touching tribute to his former teammate after he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
“To The Captain Derek Jeter – congratulations on taking your rightful place in the Baseball Hall of Fame where you will be, for eternity, as one of history’s greatest players, at any position, in any era.” – Alex Rodriguez via Twitter
No matter what was said or done, the two always put their differences aside when they played for the Yankees. As a result, they won many trophies together.
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