Episodes 3 and 4 of the ESPN documentary “The Captain” touched on the relationship between former New York Yankees players Derek Jeter and former teammate Alex Rodriguez. Jeter and Rodriguez have been rumored to have a feud after Rodriguez’s interview with Esquire magazine in April 2001.
Both players were close friends in the past despite playing for different teams as Rodriguez was still with the Seattle Mariners at that time. In the Esquire interview, Rodriguez made a comment that downplayed Jeter’s role in the Yankees.
“Jeter’s been blessed with great talent around him,” Rodriguez told Esquire. “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 because you go into New York trying to stop Bernie [Williams] and [Paul] O’Neill and everybody. You never say, ‘Don’t let Derek beat you.’ That’s never your concern.”
In the third episode of the documentary, Jeter addressed the feud rumor.
“You can say whatever you want about me as a player. That’s fine,” Jeter said. “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.”
After the interview was published, Rodriguez admitted in the documentary that he immediately apologized to Jeter. However, he said that he still maintained the same sentiment about Jeter’s performance.
A few years after the Esquire clash, Rodriguez transferred to the Yankees and became Jeter’s teammate. They won the 2009 World Series during their shared time on the New York team.
On Thursday, Jeter also informed the media about his current relationship with Rodriguez.
“We’ve spoken, so there is no wedge,” Jeter said. “Everything’s good. I know people to this day when I go places, that’s one of the first things they ask me about, but there are no issues between Alex and I at all.”
Episodes highlights
This week’s episodes did not only discuss the relationship between Jeter and Rodriguez, before and after that monumental interview. The third episode also brought up the Yankees’ efforts to win titles in 1999 and 2000. It mentioned the 2000 Subway Series between the Yankees and the New York Mets as well.
The fourth episode talked about the dynamics of basketball post-September 11. Games were halted right after the attacks, but during the playoffs, teams returned to the field. According to Jeter, the Yankees attempted to provide “a semblance of normalcy” for New Yorkers.
“We were truly playing for something way, way bigger,” Jeter told the interviewer.
Toward the end of the fourth episode, the documentary showed the Yankees’ struggle to stay afloat in championships. The highlighted scene was their loss to the Boston Red Sox during the 2004 American League Championships Series (ALCS).
Up to 2009, the Yankees faced bigger losses that might be brought up in the next two episodes that will air next week.
The Captain consists of seven episodes, with the first one aired on July 18. It depicts Jeter’s experience with the Yankees in the 1990s and 2000s. The episodes are available on ESPN and ESPN+.