So what does Alex Rodriguez think of all the adulation and ceremony surrounding Derek Jeter’s retirement?
The shamed slugger told ESPN The Magazine he is just as much in awe of Jeter — his frenemy, foil and longtime Yankees teammate — as everyone else.
“Derek’s been a leader from day one. He’s been the head of his class in every way, both on the field and in terms of character,” Rodriguez said. “That’s hard to do. Being undefeated for 20 years? In New York City? That’s remarkable.”
Rodriguez, quietly serving a yearlong MLB suspension for being mixed up with Biogenesis and performance-enhancing drugs, did not attend the Derek Jeter Day festivities at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 7 or even send a text to Jeter on the occasion (“I opted to reach out to Derek in a private moment”). But he admits to pangs of regret watching the afternoon unfold.
“When you realize, an hour before the game, 50,000 people are in their seats, ready to go, excited, energetic. When you see Michael Jordan and Cal Ripken, two of the biggest icons of my lifetime — I thought it was a great day. I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Rodriguez said.
The long feature on Jeter’s farewell also includes a passage in which Rodriguez turns wistful about the beginning of his fast friendship with Jeter, which fractured in 2001 over comments Rodriguez made in Esquire magazine. The night they met, as teenage baseball phenoms, Rodriguez says, Jeter talked him out of following his commitment to the University of Miami and into turning pro.
“We sat there for nine innings, talking shop,” Rodriguez says. “I’m very inquisitive, I asked everything under the moon — and what he told me that day, that night, had a huge influence.”