Former New York Yankees teammates Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have seemingly rekindled their friendship after a decades-long feud.
Jeter, 48, and Rodriguez, 47, were close friends early on in their respective Major League Baseball careers until Rodriguez was asked to discuss his friend during a 2001 interview with Esquire, where he appeared to suggest that Jeter’s success had more to do with his team’s talent.
During the interview, Rodriguez, who had just left the Seattle Mariners to sign a $252m contract with the Texas Rangers, making him the highest-paid athlete in the world, began by claiming that there was “no rivalry” between the pair, and that, if anything he was Jeter’s “biggest fan” and “vice versa”.
However, Rodriguez then went on to insinuate that Jeter’s success may have been due to his teammates, with the baseball player adding: “Jeter’s been blessed with great talent around him. He’s never had to lead. He can just go and play and have fun. And he hits second - that’s totally different than third and fourth in a lineup … You never say, Don’t let Derek beat you. He’s never your concern.”
While the comments have long been cited as the reason the pair stopped being friends, the former athletes have seemingly put their feud behind them, with Jeter and Rodriguez hugging during ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball simulcast and revealing that they’ve met up to clear the air.
During the reunion, which saw Rodriguez stand up to greet his former friend with a hug, the former shortstop acknowledged that one of his “biggest regrets” is failing to maintain the close relationship that he and Jeter had as “teenagers”.
“I do want to address something with Derek that I’ve never told you before,” Rodriguez said. “When you talk about accountability, you know, I think in my career, one of the highest, best moments of my career, and one of the lowest, has been a part of you. Number one, I really really enjoyed playing with you, and learned so much from you, your leadership. 2009 was unbelievable and I think one of the great moments, I think, of both of our careers.”
“One of my biggest regrets, and a lot of it is because of my craziness, and all the mistakes I’ve made on and off the field, my regret is I wish we were as close as we were when we were teenagers in Seattle when we played,” Rodriguez continued. “I guess 2009 would still be the highlight, but that’s one of my regrets.”
In response, Jeter acknowledged that “things happen in life” and that he’s gone through things in his own life, such as the death of his close friend Gerald Williams to cancer, that remind him that “life is short”.
“You move on. You learn. Things happen in life,” Jeter said. “[I] lost one of my best friends in Gerald Williams and you realise life is short. You don’t hold grudges anymore and you move on.”
While the pair appeared ready to put their differences behind them, Jeter also admitted that the ESPN appearance wasn’t the first time they’d talked, as he revealed that he and Rodriguez got together a few months earlier, with Rodriguez noting that it was with “a lot of cocktails”.
“We’ve talked about it before, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen him, and you know, we got together about a month, month and a half ago, and had some conversations, and look, you move on,” Jeter said, while acknowledging that the former friends had a lot to deal with and a lot of growing up to do when they became professional athletes at such a young age.
During the interview, Jeter also praised his former friend’s athletic abilities, noting that the former Yankee could “do it all”.
“He could pretty much do whatever you would want a baseball player to do,” he said. “That’s why, obviously, the baseball world fell in love with Alex when he came up.”
The reunion came after Jeter opened up about the pair’s friendship in The Captain, the ESPN documentary about his career. In the documentary, the former athlete said that he didn’t feel Rodriguez was a “true friend” after his comments to Esquire.
“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,” he said.
However, while speaking to Time last month about where the pair’s relationship stood then, Jeter said he had “no issues” with Rodriguez.
“I have no issues with Alex. None whatsoever. We’ve had conversations. The past is the past. It’s over and done with. You’ve got to remember, this was a long, long time ago. People evolve over time and they change. You have life experiences. I have zero issues with Alex,” he said.
On social media, the recent conversation between the pair prompted praise from fans and viewers, with many glad to see the former friends, who played together for the Yankees from 2004 to 2014 and who won the World Series in 2009, seemingly moving on from the feud.
“Wow this is great to see,” one person wrote, while another said: “I legitimately never thought I’d see this in my life.”
