There's a new book about Derek Jeter coming out next month, and the New York Post had an "exclusive" look this weekend. The Captain, by Ian O'Connor, presumably covers Jeter's entire career, but the Post understandably focused on the frosty relationship between Jeter and his one-time BFF, Alex Rodriguez. Just one of the juicy snippets:
Book Details Derek Jeter’s and Alex Rodriguez’s Frosty Relationship
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Jeter’s unyielding insistence on loyalty and his dislike for A-Rod during the third baseman’s early years in pinstripes was so legendary that one Yankee official admitted he was too scared to talk to Jeter about making amends with his teammate.
“It would’ve been the last conversation I ever had with Derek,” the official said. “I would’ve been dead to him. It would’ve been like approaching Joe DiMaggio to talk to him about Marilyn Monroe.”
Don Mattingly, then the hitting coach and former captain, tried to intervene, citing his own unfriendly history with teammate Wade Boggs. “I faked it with Boggs,” he told Jeter. “And you have to fake it with Alex.”
This is all very interesting in a tabloid-y sort of way, I suppose, with the subtext being that a captain really isn’t supposed to behave this way.
The relationship between Jeter and Rodriguez supposedly didn’t improve until 2009, when Rodriguez “hit rock bottom,” having “been ‘emasculated,’ outed as a steroid user and an unfaithful husband the year before.”
So the Era of Jeter's Big Freeze runs from 2004 through 2008, at which point Brian Cashman is quoted as saying the Yankees' clubhouse was "broken," necessitating the addition of "team builder" CC Sabathia.
Here’s how many games the Yankees won in those five seasons: 101, 95, 97, 94, 89.
Yes, in 2008 the Yankees won only 89 games and missed the postseason for (so far) the only time since 1994. Did they miss the playoffs because of Jeter's poor captaining? Or did they miss the playoffs because Darrell Rasner finished third on the pitching staff with 20 games started?
I guess we can wait for the book, and decide then.
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