Derek Jeter Says He Realized Alex Rodriguez Wasn't A 'True Friend' After This

Derek Jeter opened up about the end of his friendship with former pal and teammate Alex Rodriguez in a new docuseries.

The two shortstops had been friends long before they both played for the New York Yankees. But in his new docuseries "The Captain," the 48-year-old MLB Hall of Famer said that he lost "trust" in the former Texas Rangers player, 46, after Rodriguez spoke negatively about him in a 2001 interview with Esquire.

"Those comments bothered me because, like I said, I’m very, very loyal. As a friend, I’m loyal. I just looked at it as, 'I wouldn't have done it," Jeter was quoted as saying by the New York Post, adding that the "constant noise" from the media made the situation worse and left him feeling "frustrated."

Rodriguez was not yet a member of the New York Yankees during that Esquire interview. At the time, he said there was no rivalry between him and Jeter, but his other comments caused tension between him and his pal.

"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," Rodriguez told the outlet at the time. "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's comments came after Jeter and the Yankees won four World Series titles between 1996 and 2000. Rodriguez didn't win the World Series until 2009, as a member of the Yankees alongside Jeter. But he did have a $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers and impressive on-field stats.

Rodriguez apologized to Jeter for his comments at the time, but shortly after, he gave a similar statement to another outlet.

Jeter said he believed that Rodriguez was "diminishing" him to justify his own blockbuster contract.

"When you talk about statistics, mine never compared to Alex's. I'm not blind. I understand that. But, we won! You can say whatever you want about me as a player. That's fine," Jeter said in the docuseries. "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."

Rodriguez, for his part, said that he felt "really bad" about the comments at the time, but he wouldn't take them back. He also acknowledged that his statement injured his friendship with Jeter.

"From that moment on, it was never quite the same ever again," Rodriguez said in the docuseries. "I think it’s really [my] not understanding the way things work. In many ways, my father leaving when I was 10, not getting that schooling at home — the hard knocks, the tough love — it resulted in insecurity and some self-esteem issues. As I got older, I realized, all you had to do is be yourself."

The seven-part docuseries "The Captain" will premiere on ESPN Monday.