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Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter did not have an internal rivalry on the New York Yankees, according to their former teammate, CC Sabathia. The former Yankees ace was asked about his superstar teammates' relationship during his appearance on WFAN Radio's Evan & Tiki Show during the Fanatics Fan Fest on Friday.
Rodriguez and Jeter were two of the biggest stars in MLB during the late 1990s. They became teammates when A-Rod was traded to the Yankees from the Texas Rangers in 2004. Both Rodriguez and Jeter played as shortstops, but Rodriguez switched to third base, allowing both stars to play in the infield.
There had been reports of a rivalry between the two, which CC Sabathia had heard. But Sabathia, who joined the Yankees in the 2009 season, shut that talk down as he shared his experience playing with them.
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"Not that I knew. I mean, you hear about it externally, but when I get there— There's no feel of that at all. Not when I'm in there. And I found out with both of them separately, together, all of it. We were just on the stage together five minutes ago," Sabathia said.
[15:46 onwards]
The trio played on the Yankees for five seasons until Jeter's retirement in the 2014 season. Alex Rodriguez last played during the 2016 season, while Sabathia retired after the 2019 season. They led the Yankees to their last World Series to date in 2009.
Jeter and Rodriguez are colleagues at FOX's MLB broadcast alongside Red Sox legend David Ortiz.
CC Sabathia's honest take about Aaron Judge
The twilight of CC Sabathia's career coincided with Aaron Judge's rise to prominence as a youngster on the Yankees. Also during the Fanatics Fan Fest, the Yankees Hall of Famer was quizzed about his feelings about the current Yankees captain. He had a particularly interesting take.
"I think if you look at his regular seasons, he's probably one of the best regular season players of all time," Sabathia said of Judge.
Judge, the reigning AL MVP, is having another outstanding regular season for the Yankees. He leads all MLB with a .367 batting average, is second in home runs (28), and is fifth in RBIs (62).
But the stress on the words 'regular season' suggests that Sabathia feels that Judge is yet to bring out the best in the postseason. In 58 postseason games, Judge has a .205 average with 34 RBIs and just 16 home runs.
