Alex Rodriguez believes that an infamous Squire article published in 2001 when Rodriguez was a member of the Texas Rangers strained his relationship with his former best friend and future teammate Derek Jeter “for years,” even though Rodriguez had no intention of insulting him.
“That Squire article, I thought it was pretty vanilla,” Rodriguez admitted in episode 2 of HBO. Alex vs ARodwhich premiered on Thursday, November 13. “I complimented the whole team and they took that and ran with it. It put a strain on our relationship for years.”
In the article, Rodriguez spoke glowingly about Jeter’s teammates with the Yankees — but in a way that seemed to disparage the Yankees icon.
“Jeter is fortunate to have great talent around him,” he said. “So he never had to lead. He doesn’t have to, he can just go play and have fun and get to second. I mean, you know, getting to second is totally different than hitting third or fourth in a lineup because you’re going to New York trying to get a stop. Bernie [Williams] And [Paul] O’Neill and everyone. You never say, “Don’t let Derek beat you.” It’s never about you.
Jeter, 51, admitted to 2022 ESPN docuseries The captain that the discussions around the article had frustrated him.
“As a friend, I am loyal,” he said. “I just looked at it as, ‘I wouldn’t have done it.’ And then it’s the media. The constant blow of the hammer on the nail. They kept hammering him. It became noise, which frustrated me. Just constant noise.
That noise became louder when the Rangers traded Rodriguez to the Yankees shortly before the 2004 season.
“People made a big deal about how are they going to get along? “, explained Jeter in Alex vs ARod. “It was a story before the opening press conference. My job was to limit distractions. I knew the stories could snowball and I tried to cut them short.”
Jeter added that his goal, as a four-time World Series champion at the time, was to keep winning. He believed that if Rodriguez could help give the Yankees another championship, then “we wouldn’t need to go to dinner every night.”
It didn’t help that Rodriguez, who moved to third base to accommodate shortstop Jeter, struggled in the field to start.
Early in their first season as teammates, a miscommunication led Rodriguez and Jeter to drop a noise between them. For fans and talking heads in New York, it showed their personal drama had spilled over onto the court.
“Of all the stories going around about me and Alex, people made a big deal out of an abandoned pop-up,” Jeter recalls. “‘See, they don’t like each other? They started a pop-up.’ But one thing Alex has always hated is pop-ups.
Laughing, Rodriguez confirmed that he prefers to take a line drive or ground ball rather than catch a pop-up.
Rodriguez eventually adjusted to his position and the two played together for a decade, winning the 2009 World Series together.
The first two episodes of Alex vs ARod are now streaming on HBO Max.
