- [Narrator] Here are Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter

in the 90s.

They were opponents but loved each other so much

that it bothered their teammates.

Here are Rodriguez and Jeter in 2017,

so uncomfortable that sitting

through an interview together is a chore.

What happened to this close friendship

and what replaced it?

Was it beef?

(suspenseful music)

It was the furthest thing from beef at the outset.

Jeter had just been drafted by the Yankees

when a starstruck Rodriguez, still in high school, met him

at a college baseball game in 1993.

Rodriguez was drafted that year by the Mariners

and thereupon began the blossoming.

Their careers blossomed

as they worked their way into the Majors.

In 1996, Jeter became Rookie of the Year

and helped the Yankees win their first World Series

since the 70s.

A-Rod became an All-Star, MLB Batting Champion,

and AL MVP runner-up,

but his Seattle team fell short of the postseason,

and their friendship blossomed.

A-Rod and Jeter would sleep at each other's homes

when their teams played

and were so chummy during Mariners-Yankees games

that teammates would tease them about it.

In fact, Jeter got publicly chastised

by teammate, Chad Curtis, for goofing off

with the opposing A-Rod

during a Yankees-Mariners brawl in 1999.

But the two were inseparable.

They were the cover boys in a 1997 Sports Illustrated

about MLB's great young shortstops,

and, well, I can't mention that

without showing you the famous shirtless shortstops photo

on the inside.

I didn't expense this magazine, for the record.

This is coming home with me.

(upbeat instrumental) So, things were going great,

but an interesting dynamic was forming,

a familiar one in the beef history universe.

A-Rod was better at baseball.

He managed to stand out even in lineups featuring monsters

like Ken Griffey, Jr., Jay Buhner, and Edgar Martinez,

but the Mariners lacked pitching

outside of Randy Johnson and never went far,

and A-Rod's national popularity

perhaps lagged behind his individual excellence.

Jeter was much more famous.

He was young and good-looking in New York

which got him more attention from fans

and press and Mariah Carey.

Jeter's numbers were quite good in their own right,

and he was part of a historically dominant Yankees team

that won the World Series again in 1998

and then in 1999 and 2000 as well.

They made that last World Series

by defeating A-Rod's Mariners in the ALCS,

and they were definitely A-Rod's Mariners at that point,

having traded both Johnson and Griffey in the years prior.

A-Rod was unbelievable in that series,

and Jeter wasn't much worse.

The Yankees won and Jetes went on to be World Series MVP.

Rodriguez became a free agent that winter,

and the Yankees had interest in his services,

though they'd want him to move to third base

since Jeter had shortstop locked down.

A-Rod said nah, he'd rather beat the Yankees

than be a Yankee.

They've already won enough.

But Rodriguez did flirt with the crosstown rival

the Yankees had just vanquished in that World Series.

Super agent, Scott Boras, came to the New York Mets

not only looking for a massive contract

but for big market perks and fame surpassing Jeter's.

A-Rod wanted his own office and marketing team,

billboards galore, access to a private jet, and so forth.

The Mets said nah, man, nevermind.

A-Rod wound up with the lowly Texas Rangers,

signing what was, at that point,

the richest pro sports contract ever,

252 million dollars over ten years.

With much less fanfare, Jeter was in the process

of negotiating a new longterm deal to stay in New York,

and the newly mega-rich A-Rod had some thoughts.

On ESPN Radio, in December 2000, Rodriguez speculated who,

if anyone, might match his record salary

and ruled out his pal, Jeter.

He didn't have the power numbers,

didn't do the same stuff defensively.

Rodriguez even threw out some guesses on the money

for which Jeter would eventually sign,

and the papers noticed.

Jeter dismissed the comments.

He wasn't trying to break salary records.

He was trying to break championship records.

Doesn't mean he wasn't getting paid though.

In February, Jeter agreed to stay with the Yankees

on a ten year, 189 million dollar deal.

While finalizing baseball's second largest contract,

he simply stated, "I don't play for money.

"I play to win. Everybody makes good money."

Man, I wish I was good at sports.

So now both friends were making yacht loads of cash,

but Alex wasn't done talking.

Esquire gave Rodriguez a big profile

that ran around the start of the '01 season.

Jeter's name came up a few times.

He came up when Rodriguez grumbled about how sportswriters,

like Mike Lupica, rank Jeter "way up there,"

while painting himself as a "dickhead,"

and Jeter came up again when, provoked a bit by Boras,

Rodriguez said Derek had "been blessed with great talent

"around him," never really "had to lead,"

and was never the main "concern" in a killer Yankees lineup.

All fair points, but maybe not the coolest thing to say

to the national media about your best friend.

As soon as the article published,

Jeter was ambushed by reporters at spring training.

He told them he would have to chat with A-Rod

about his intentions in saying stuff like that.

Rodriguez, who was privately flabbergasted

at how he came off in the article,

insisted the comments were taken out of context

and he would never dog his friend like that.

He even enlisted the article's author, Scott Raab,

to fax Jeter an apology to which he got no reply.

Rodriguez realized the blame would fall on him

and drove from Rangers spring training

to Jeter's house in Tampa to ask forgiveness.

Jeter was dining out at the time

and supposedly prolonged his meal

to delay the confrontation as long as possible.

The next day Jeter reportedly looked miffed

and still said he was confused about the whole incident

but told media that he and Rodriguez had talked,

he'd given his friend the benefit of the doubt,

they'd stay friends, and he had a feeling Alex was done

running his mouth like that.

So, not exactly forgiveness,

but Jeter wanted more than anything to stop talking

about stuff that wasn't baseball.

This will be a theme.

And that did put a stop to things.

A-Rod said he loved his friend,

and he was indeed done talking about him.

In his next game at Yankee Stadium, Rodriguez got booed

and then he homered to help the Rangers to a rare victory.

And the interactions between the two at the All-Star Game

were only noteworthy because Alex introduced Derek

to pop star, Joy Enriquez, his date for the occasion,

and she ended up Derek's girlfriend.

After that taste of beef,

a little slider, an empanada, perhaps,

things had quieted down

and they stayed that way for a few years.

Jeter's Yankees hit their version of a drought,

losing the World Series in 2001 and 2003

and failing to make it that far at all in 2002.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez was putting up MVP numbers

over in Texas, but the Rangers spent the whole time losing.

After another crappy season in 2003,

Texas realized paying one dude a gajillion dollars

wasn't worth it if they were just gonna lose all the time,

so they tried to trade Rodriguez to the Red Sox

in a big, complicated deal that would have changed

the parameters of his contract

and netted the Rangers Manny Ramirez and Jon Lester.

It would've been a big deal,

but the Players' Union shot it down

because they didn't want Rodriguez voluntarily diminishing

the value of his contract like that.

Texas was now ready to move on with A-Rod,

but then the Yankees came calling by surprise.

The Yankees were loath to mess with Jeter's role

even with a better shortstop available,

but they did have a hole at third base

after Aaron Boone suffered a freak off-season injury.

So what about A-Rod joining the Yankees

and shifting over a position.

Kind of weird, but Rodriguez wanted to get the hell out

of Texas and a deal was done.

The best shortstop in baseball was now a Yankee,

but he wasn't playing shortstop,

and the guy who was playing shortstop

maybe still had a grudge against him.

The ensuing press conference,

in which a kind of glum looking Jeter dressed A-Rod

in his pinstripes, was fittingly awkward,

but the two of them were saying the right things,

and Rodriguez took his move to third base in stride.

Both players knew their relationship

would be under scrutiny.

Jeter claimed the worst thing that could happen

for the local media would be

for him and Rodriguez to get along.

Rodriguez joked that paparazzi would have

to see them holding hands and going to a movie

to declare any beef dead.

Jeter, ever wary of drama, tried to downplay any discomfort

at spring training, no problems, let it go, it's over.

Rodriguez also said any feud was behind them,

but he was characteristically more candid.

He revealed to the public that drive he'd taken

to Jeter's house for forgiveness in 2001,

and he acknowledged that friends,

who had one been tied at the hip,

didn't have the same relationship anymore.

Those were the kind of statements

that would keep the media spotlight

on the two of them, intentionally or not,

and definitely annoy Jeter.

Throughout that first season,

the two of them were careful not to betray any tension

and things mostly quieted down,

but Rodriguez had some dramatic moments

on the field against the rival Red Sox.

In July, he provoked a huge brawl at Fenway.

In October, he was arguably the face

of the Yankees historic ALCS collapse against Boston.

He batted two for 17 during New York's losses

in games four through seven.

That included the bizarre moment in Game Six when,

instead of simply running out the weak grounder he hit

with Jeter on first, A-Rod slapped the ball

out of Bronson Arroyo's glove,

screwing up New York's momentum that inning

and generating a controversy that lasted

well after Boston's eventual World Series victory.

Noted asshole, Curt Schilling, drew unfavorable comparisons

between A-Rod's lack of composure and Jeter's class.

Months later, Trot Nixon said Rodriguez "couldn't stand up

"to Jeter" or some other longtime Yankee greats.

Kevin Millar joined in, too.

The Red Sox deliberately and repeatedly

used Jeter's name to pick on A-Rod.

Jeter, naturally, was asked about those comments

but refused to stick up for his teammate.

That was really the shape of this relationship

for a few years.

A-Rod generating stories,

and Jeter trying so, so hard to avoid them.

(upbeat music) The two never went directly at each other,

at least not openly.

There was a flimsy rumor that they'd physically fought

after a throwing error in a 2005 loss to Tampa,