Rangers Ex Alex Rodriguez vs. Yankees 'Captain' Derek Jeter: 'No True Friend'

It is Jeter's belief that he was trying to knock down Jeter because of the pressure the Rangers star felt due to his 10-year, $252 million Rangers contract.

ARLINGTON - The New York Yankees experienced plenty of success when they teamed Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez in the early 2000’s.

But that success didn't happen due to their friendly relationship. Rather, it seems it happened despite it.

In the upcomign docu-series "The Captain,'' Jeter addresses the bad blood that existed due to comments Rodriguez made while a highly paid member of the Texas Rangers.

What Rodriguez said in a 2001 interview with Esquire magazine: “He’s reserved, quiet. Jeter’s been blessed with great talent around him. 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.”

Rodriguez has said he apologized for his remarks at the time. Still,it is Jeter's belief that he was trying to knock down Jeter because of the pressure the Rangers star felt due to his 10-year, $252 million Rangers contract.

“Those comments bothered me ... I’m very, very loyal,” Jeter said in the upcoming documentary, per the New York Post. “As a friend, I’m loyal. I just looked at it as, ‘I wouldn’t have done it.’ And then it was the media. The constant hammer to the nail. They just kept hammering it in. It just became noise, which frustrated me. Just constant noise.

“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.”