Baseball history will never be the same.
On Wednesday, Derek Jeter announced he will retire at the end of the 2014 season. 2014 will be Jeter's 20th Major League season. The humble young man from New Jersey, raised to be a Yankee fan and more importantly, a gentlemen, will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame some six years from now.
Yet prior to the 2014 season, history has already been made. Alex Rodriguez will not play in 2014, having been suspended for performance-enhancing drug use. After being teammates for ten seasons, Jeter and Rodriguez will never play on the same field again.
It all began in 1993, when the two ballplayers met for the first time at a Miami baseball home game. They became fast friends, who respected one another based on hard work and determination. Of course, that all changed in 2000 after Rodriguez signed his 10-year, $252 million contract with the Rangers. In an interview with ESPN Radio, Rodriguez questioned the skills of his good friend.
"Jeter's been blessed with great talent around him," Rodriguez told Esquire magazine in 2001. "He's never had to lead. You go into New York, you wanna stop Bernie [Williams] and [Paul] O'Neill. You never say, 'Don't let Derek beat you.' He's never your concern."
In baseball, you have three strikes. With Derek Jeter, you have one. Rodriguez struck out on his friendship with the current Yankee captain and never fully reclaimed it. When the Yankees traded for Rodriguez in 2004, Jeter seemed less than pleased. Reports surfaced that unnamed teammates called Rodriguez a "phony." Jeter excluded Rodriguez from his life, so much so that in 2006, Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman told Jeter to "fake it" when it came to his relationship with the Yankees' third baseman.
"The reality is there's been a change in the relationship over 14 years and, hopefully, we can just put it behind us," Rodriguez said in 2007. "You go from sleeping over at somebody's house five days a week, and now you don't sleep over. It's just not that big of a deal."
Despite hostilities between the two men, they are forever intertwined in baseball history. Rodriguez won two MVPs with the Yankees and his postseason heroics in 2009 gave Jeter a fifth World Series ring. No two Yankees have spent more time on the left side of the infield together since SS Frank Crosetti and 3B Red Rolfe played from 1932-1942.
Unless Jeter decides to pull a Brett Favre and "change his mind," we can assume he and Rodriguez will never again be teammates. I doubt Rodriguez will ever be invited to an Old Timer's Day game, unless he has completely changes himself over the next year.
Jeter and Rodriguez's first regular season game along side one another happened on March 31st, 2004; opening day vs. the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Japan. Jeter went hitless in five at bats, striking out once. Rodriguez had one hit, a double off of Devil Rays RHP Victor Zambrano in the sixth inning. Their final game together took place on September 6th at Yankee Stadium. The opposing team fittingly was the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees most hated rival and team who almost traded for Rodriguez before the Yankees did in 2003 off-season.
Jeter and Rodriguez each went hitless; Jeter in four at bats and Rodriguez in three at bats. In a way, it's only fitting that the two went hitless in their final game as teammates. As a Yankee, Rodriguez couldn't accept the fact he wasn't Derek Jeter. He couldn't accept that in New York, he would be second fiddle. Rodriguez was number two in every way to Jeter except one. Rodriguez could never be No. 2. He could never be the captain. And that alone is the legacy of their relationship. Jeter was the best and Rodriguez was not Jeter.
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