Monday 15 August 2022 02:01 PM Ex-Yankees teammates Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez rekindled bromance over 'a ... trends now
Alex Rodriguez's on-again-off-again bromance with Derek Jeter was back in the spotlight during ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball simulcast, as the two former New York Yankees teammates shared a hug and indicated they ended their beef over 'a lot of cocktails.'
The two had been friends and rivals when Rodriguez was a member of the Seattle Mariners in the late 1990s, and were often compared to each other as budding All-Star shortstops. That all changed when Rodriguez was asked about Jeter by Esquire in 2001 and appeared to slight him by crediting other Yankees for the team's success, rather than his friend.
On Sunday, while promoting his self-produced autobiographical docuseries, The Captain, alongside Kay and Rodriguez, Jeter appeared to put the spat in the rearview mirror: 'You move on, you learn.'
The interview began cordially, with Jeter walking on set during Sunday's Yankees-Red Sox game and hugging A-Rod.
Kay, who works with Rodriguez on ESPN and has known Jeter for decades, began by asking: ''Are you guys OK?''
'Everybody asks me 'What's going to happen once they're in the same room together?' Kay continued.
Jeter poked fun at Kay by likening him to 1980s talk show host Phil Donahue.
While the famously tight-lipped Jeter was less forthcoming, Rodriguez offered 'something I've never told you before.' Specifically, the former first-overall draft pick, said he had his 'regrets' about how the relationship turned sour.
'When you talk about accountability,' Rodriguez began, 'in my career, one of the highest, best moments of my career, and one of the lowest, has been, No. 1, I really, really enjoyed playing with you, 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 made on and off the field — my regret is: I wish were as close as we were when we were teenagers in Seattle, when we played.
'I guess 2009 would still be the highlight, but that's one of my regrets.
The two talked, during which Rodriguez said he had 'a lot of cocktails.'
Jeter then revealed the two had met recently and discussed their problems.
'We talked about it,' Jeter said. 'When you're coming up at 20-years-old, 21-years-old, I think we're all professional athletes, Major League Baseball players, you're trying to find your place. You're getting a feel for the league, you're getting a feel for being a public persona for the first time. There's a lot of things that you have to deal with, and we had to deal with a lot growing up at a very, very young age.
'We've talked about it before,' Jeter continued. 'This isn't the first time I've seen him. We got together, what was it, about a month and a half ago? And [we] had some conversations.'
Jeter then referenced the passing of his former teammate and longtime friend, Gerald Williams.
'Things happen in life,' Jeter continued. '[I] lost one of my best friends in Williams [to cancer in February] and you realize life is short. You don't hold grudges anymore and you move on.'
Jeter also shared some complimentary words about Rodriguez, the player.
'He could do it all,' Jeter said. 'I don't know how else to describe it: hit, hit for average, hit for power, stole bases, played defense, strong arm, good base runner. He could pretty much do whatever you would want a baseball player to do.
'That's why, obviously, the baseball world fell in love with Alex when he came up.'
Jeter also addressed their frayed friendship in 'The Captain.'
Sunday's meeting was a departure from The Captain, during which Jeter admits Rodriguez is 'not a true friend.'
The 48-year-old Jeter pointed to the decades-old Esquire profile of Rodriguez, who had just departed the Seattle Mariners at the time to sign a record-breaking $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers.
Until that point, the two shortstops were often compared to each other, having debuted in consecutive seasons in the mid-1990s to immediate acclaim. Instead of a rivalry, the two All-Stars quickly became friends, socializing together and occasionally crashing at each other's apartments.
That all changed when Rodriguez was asked about Jeter by Esquire in 2001, by which point the former had already won four World Series titles to the latter's zero.
'Jeter's been blessed with great talent around him,' Rodriguez said, crediting the Yankees' power hitters for the team's success.
'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
