Original subtitles

"The Captain" is presented by Capitol One.

What’s in your wallet?

And sponsored by T-Mobile 5G --

the best 5G coverage in the game

And American Family Insurance --

Insure carefully, dream fearlessly.

Sharlee: I’d say Derek, his personality,

he’s very, very competitive.

My dad always would beat us at everything he played us in.

He never let us win. My mom used to always say,

"Can you just let them win something?"

And he would just completely annihilate us

in any game that we played,

and he did that with Derek at a very young age.

He did that because he knew that, one day,

Derek was probably going to beat him,

and he was going to feel a huge sense of accomplishment.

♪

"The Captain" is presented by Capitol One.

Announcer #1: We’re joined by Andy Pettitte here in the booth.

Announcer #2: You know, the memories that you two have shared,

along with the rest of the Core Four,

that’s a bond you’ll have forever.

What I’m going to really miss

is him being back there behind me when I’m on the mound.

So, you look back there and I just know

he’s pulling for me, you know what I’m saying?

Jeter: You know, I’m a very, very loyal person by nature.

I’ll do anything for you.

There’s very few people that I’m loyal to.

My friends are like family.

I have a small, close-knit group of friends

who I treat as family.

They’re family members to me.

One-two delivery’s hit against the shift.

Jeter running. Throw!

And that’s going to be an error.

He’s more nervous tonight, Joe,

than I’ve seen him in postseason play.

Never really got along too well with people who were

extremely cocky or arrogant.

You know, I’m confident in my ability,

but I’m not arrogant.

Another chance for him.

Again, charging.

This time, on the money.

[ Cheering, whistling, and applause ]

But it always takes me a very, very long time

before I can fully trust someone.

And, if they do something that, you know, I don’t agree with

or slights me in some fashion,

I have a unique ability to just cut them off.

And, once again, I’m not saying I’m proud of it,

but that’s just how my mind works.

♪

[ Bat cracks ]

♪

[ Cheering ]

♪

[ Camera shutters clicking continuously ]

♪

Crowd: [ Chanting ] Jeter!

We’ve made a decision.

We acquired Roger Clemens.

In return, we sent David Wells,

Graeme Lloyd, and Homer Bush to Toronto

in a three-for-one deal

that was finalized late last night.

Reporter: He arrived this morning like a rock star without a limousine.

"The Rocket," Roger Clemens,

showed up at the Yankees training complex

for his first official press conference.

[ Flashbulbs exploding ]

[ Camera shutters clicking continuously ]

When the Yankees acquired Roger Clemens

from the Toronto Blue Jays, for David Wells,

it was a stunning move because

the Yankees had just won a World Series.

They’d just won 125 games

in the regular season and the postseason.

You would almost say to yourself,

"What do you have to change?"

I’m going to try as best I can

to slide in the side door.

This is a, you know, a great machine

and they got some great players here.

That was the beginning of your idea that

Cashman was never going to be satisfied

with what his team did.

He was looking for a way

to make it better.

He is probably one of the

greatest pitchers that ever --

Well, five Cy Youngs.

Five Cy Youngs.

Cone: I was stunned by it.

I mean, coming off the ’98 Yankees,

you know, I thought, wow, you know, we had great balance,

but it’s Roger Clemens, so how do you say no?

Jeter: I didn’t like Roger Clemens.

Didn’t know him.

Didn’t like him

because he used to hit me all the time.

Announcer #1: Look out.

Announcer #2: Man. And that hurts.

He’d try to intimidate you.

Well, you hope Jeter’s okay.

There’s some history there, too. I mean, he drilled a few

of those players in that clubhouse, definitely.

Strawberry was looking for Clemens one night,

in one of those bench-clearing brawls.

He got Brosius once.

Brosius takes one in the back.

That was Rocket’s style. Push players off.

Give them a bow-tie, hardball style.

You know, when you have to "clean up" a game

in the professional ranks, which sometimes happens,

you know, you protect your teammates.

Facing DJ, you know, I had to be precise

when I came in on him.

He was real handsy.

Hits the ball with his hands a lot.

Even when I threw a couple balls inside,

to try and get a reaction out of him,

I really didn’t, you know.

He would tap the plate and get back in the box

and go about his work.

Jeter: First day we’re facing live pitching,

I remember me and Knoblauch dressed up

in full catcher’s gear

and he threw a ball behind us both

and that sort of got it out of the way.

You know, I figured I’d, you know, make it even

and just make them feel comfortable

by whistling one behind them.

[ Laughs ]

It was his way of welcoming me to the team

and making me feel comfortable.

Jeter: You know, he’s a great teammate.

He was a gamer, man, so,

so, you talk about changing your opinion of a person,

once you get a chance to play with them,

that was Clemens, for me.

Announcer #1: One thing that we have to watch out for --

the Mariners will retaliate for Martinez getting hit

and, if it’s not this inning,

it’ll be over the next two games.

Announcer #2: And he got hit right away.

Knoblauch got hit right away,

no sooner were the words out of your mouth,

and the Yankees are livid!

And now Rodriguez is yelling at the Yankee bench.

He’s telling them, "Come on, come out."

Frankie Rodriguez now is yelling

over toward the New York Yankee dugout.

And now Rodriguez is coming.

Uh-oh, look out now.

Frankie Rodriguez is going after it.

And both benches empty.

And the fight is on the field.

And everybody’s going to jump on everybody.

Let’s just knock it off here!

That was an old-fashioned haymaker.

Chili Davis had his hands on Lou Piniella’s throat.

Somebody knocked Popeye over.

[ Laughs ] Don’s got the bad knees.

And now, cooler tempers are prevailing.

Curry: There was a lot of volatility between the Yankees

and the Seattle Mariners.

When that brawl happened,

you did see Jeter and A-Rod

were kind of off to the side, having a conversation.

Alex Rodriguez and Jeter were out there,

kind of laughing and talking to each other

after both teams separated.

I wasn’t next to Alex during the brawl.

When we were walking off the field,

that’s when we crossed paths.

And I’m pretty sure what Alex says,

"If we fight again, I’m coming after you."

Joking around.

Looks like Derek Jeter and Chad Curtis

are having some words

because Chad Curtis, obviously,

taking exception to that and saying, "Hey, man,

we just got into a fight and you’re out here,

talking with your buddy."

First of all...

...Chad Curtis has issues with everybody, okay?

It ain’t the first issue I’ve had with Chad Curtis, right?

It’s the first one that people found out about.

You know, Derek would play music in the clubhouse.

He would play hip hop, you know, all the time

and Chad didn’t like that.

And I just think he rubbed him the wrong way.

This will be huge news in New York tomorrow.

You know, after the game,

you have a time frame, roughly 20, 30 minutes,

before any members of the media come in.

Now, if Chad Curtis had something to say to me,

you could say it to me as soon as the game’s over with.

Olney: We never, as reporters, saw any of the internal conflicts.

Derek is standing in front of his locker

and Chad walks up to him

and he says to him, in so many words,

"I don’t like what you did right there."

And Chad Curtis says to me, actually, he said,

"I know you want to hit me. Go ahead and hit me."

This is when the media is right here.

So, I’m like, "Man, let me get out of here."

And I remember Derek

looking at Chad and then looking at the group of us

and then looking at Chad like, "Are you kidding me?"

Now,

I’m not bashing Chad Curtis.

That’s what happened, okay?

He would later apologize for how he handled the situation.

I had no issue with Chad coming

and wanting to talk about something.

We can talk about anything you want to talk about.

But we do it in private, you know?

You don’t wait for the media to come in,

so you can make it a big scene.

Martinez: That situation was an unnecessary distraction,

especially in New York.

Now, the media’s going to everybody in a locker room,

"Hey, what do you think about this? What did you hear?

What do you think about that?" And we don’t need that.

Not everybody’s going to fight, you know?

You’re going to have people that are going to

be messing around, and that’s what happened.

Sharlee: Derek is somebody who you can push.

He’ll let you get away with a couple of things.

Then you’ll do it one more time and he cuts you

and you’re done.

That’s it.

And there’s really no coming back.

Olney: Derek had tremendous standing in that clubhouse.

There was a suspicion, after that year,

that part of the reason why

the Yankees got rid of Chad Curtis

and didn’t bring him back was because of that confrontation.

Like you don’t cross Derek.

I had something to do with it?

Interviewer: Yeah. Is that true?

Man, I would’ve gave myself

an extension a long time before that,

if I had that much power with -- [ Laughs ]

There’s been teammates that I’ve played with before --

You know, I don’t have to be your best friend, you know?

I don’t have to go out to dinner with you

and hang with you, you know what I mean?

But when we’re on the field, if you care about winning,

I have zero problems with you.

Announcer: Derek Jeter. He does everything

you’d like a ballplayer to do.

There’s Derek’s parents, Charles and Dorothy.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

Sharlee: Derek, even when he was younger,

had a core group of really good friends.

He has people that he really, really trusts,

that are around for the right reasons.

Evans: It’s a great circle. It’s intimate.

It’s as people that’s built with the same values,

cut from the same cloth, you know.

It’s hand-picked.

Charles would always tell both our kids,

In life,

you have acquaintances.

Very few friends.

Your friends of people that look out for your best interest.

Not going to hurt you.

Always have eyes in your back."

If you want to develop trust with anyone,

you have to be honest and, um...

...I have trust problems.

I have trust issues.

I have issues trusting people,

you know, from the get-go.

Obviously, I’m not Black.

Obviously, I’m not biracial.

But back then, Derek had to always watch his back.

Even growing up, I remember I had

a good friend of mine that was in high school

and, after I graduated from high school,

I found out that he had mentioned

that he doesn’t like to see interracial marriages.

And I’m like, this is somebody I hung out with.

I trusted this person, you know?

So that’s just an example of, it’s been there for a while,

but I think it’s been magnified a little bit,

as as my career developed over time.

[ Cheering, whistling, and applause ]

Announcer: One of the classic rivalries in all of sports,

the Red Sox and the Yankees,

meet for the first time in postseason history.

The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry

was not really a rivalry for a long time.

The Yankees pretty much owned the Red Sox,

certainly, in terms of championships.

Announcer: Boston hates New York, and vice versa,

And Yankees-Sox is the ultimate expression

of that wonderful hate.

I don’t think

[ Laughing ] any Yankee fan took the Red Sox seriously.

I really don’t.

So, when Nomar came on,

there was a Red Sox star on the same page as Derek Jeter.

There was going to be this rivalry --

who was better?

Except, one of them always won.

You know, in ’99, there were problems.

I mean, you got Pedro. You got Nomar.

And, every time you go into Boston, it’s,

"[ Boston accent ] Nomah’s better."

Garciaparra: I thought ’99 was the World Series.

Thought it was one of the best teams I had been a part of,

especially the way we competed

against the Yankees over that year,

and I think they knew it, too.

Announcer: As the first pitch brought in to Valentin.

Ground ball, left side.

Jeter!

Throws it into right field.

Offerman will head to third base.

Garciaparra: I thought, "If we get

through the Yankees, this is it.

If we get to the World Series, we got this."

That was my mentality.

Announcer: To the right side, base hit.

They bring Brosius around third.

Throw by Nixon to the plate is...

...dropped.

Safe. Tie game

and down to second is Jeter.

There’s a difference between saying,

"Is someone better than us?", compared to, "Hey,

are we playing good enough to win?"

Announcer: The parents of Derek Jeter watching.

I think that’s what started the change there.

The 0-1.

Kay: Swung on it. Drilled deep to center field.

Going back, Lewis. Still back.

Looking up.

See ya!

A home run!

Bernie Williams!

What a dramatic finish here

in the bottom of the 10th inning!

And the Yankees win 4-3

over their archrival Red Sox.

I was kind of used to being around the fact that Boston

would eventually...

choke.

Behind the bag!

It’s part of history.

Hard hit down the right field line,

curling into the corner.

It’s gone.

Darryl Strawberry

silences the crowd.

We always felt like they would throw it away.

Here’s the pitch.

Swing and a high ground ball.

Offerman stabs it. Fires to Nomar.

Low throw! Does he hold it? No!

Everybody’s safe.

Here comes Knoblauch to score!

Jeter goes in hard

and actually kicks the ball toward left field.

A grand slam for Ricky Ledee!

And, boy, did that quiet the Boston crowd.

You know, Beck didn’t give up that home run, though.

It was the Curse of the Bambino.

Everything is the Curse of the Bambino.

I didn’t truly believe they were just better than us that year.

It wasn’t the belief they were better.

Sometimes you’re like, "Man, we lost.

Yeah, they were better."

We didn’t lose to the better team,

but we just weren’t good enough to win the series.

That’s what losers say.

Every loser says, "We had a better team,

but we didn’t play as well."

So, sorry, Nomar.

We had a better team there.

Jeter pounds one into center field.

Well hit.

Back is Lewis.

At the wall.

Off the top of the camera stand

and gone for two-run home run.

Jeter -- he absolutely crushed that ball.

Sterling: The one-two.

Spencer toward the line. Is there.

He makes the catch!

Ballgame over.

American League Championship Series over.

Yankees win.

The-e-e-e-e Yankees win!

Reporter: You have any idea how fortunate you are?

Yeah, you understand you can’t take anything for granted.

I mean, it’s been part of five years

I’ve been in the major leagues.

We’ve been in the postseason all five years,

but we’ve lost twice as well, so,

you understand you don’t take these things for granted

and, right now, you know, we’re playing

with a great group of guys

and we’ve been hot for a few years.

[ Blues plays ]

♪

Sinatra: ♪ That’s life ♪

♪ That’s life ♪

♪ That’s what all the people say ♪

♪

♪ You’re riding high in April ♪

♪ Shot down in May ♪

Cone: We had something brewing here.

♪ Change that tune ♪

We’ve had a historical run together

and we can add to it. -♪ When I’m back on top ♪

-Everybody was accountable. -♪ Back on top in June ♪

-There was a trust factor there. -♪ I said that’s life ♪

♪ That’s life ♪

Williams: It was their pitching.

Announcer: And he starts the game with a strikeout

as Williams chased ball 4.

You could say, "Well, you guys had pretty good pitching, too."

Of course we did.

But they had the timely hitting along with the pitching.

Announcer: 36 pennant winners. 24 world champions.

Guys like Jeter, who know how to hit in situations.

Going to the opposite field.

Kay: The Braves? That was a team

that was full of Hall of Famers.

To me, it seemed like the brazen belong on the same field.

They were overmatched.

The Yankees were getting used to this.

"This is what we do.

We win rings."

Announcer: And the 1-1 pitch.

Hit hard and by Klesko.

Off his glove.

In the outfield.

Two runs will score.

And Williams speeds to third.

Rivera: They got no shot. We knew that.

Stick a fork in him. Done.

I mean, it wasn’t like, "Oh,

they have opportunities to come or not."

It wasn’t none of our stuff.

We matched every starter.

Announcer: These Yankees are good finishers

and they just know how to play the game.

Then our bullpen was also solid.

They can see the goal line now

and they’re going to run for it.

Jeter: We had them eyes, and we were

proving to people that we could do it again.

You’ve got to have something you have to reach for

and for us, it was to win back-to-back.

♪ Do do do do ♪

Announcer: The New York Yankees.

World champions.

Team of the decade.

Most successful franchise of the century.

Williams: They beat us, obviously, and that’s kind of hard

for me to say that they beat us,

when I’ve been affiliated

with that organization as well

and all of my friends are there.

It becomes a bittersweet moment in this regard, too,

where, if you don’t win the World Series,

at least your friends win.

[ Cheering ]

One New Year’s Eve, it was myself, Joe Williams, and Derek.

And Derek was always playing tricks,

trying to make you fall, you know, just foolishness, man.

He’s the biggest clown.

He loves to joke.

We get out of the cab.

He just says it to us,

"Hey, yo, guys, be careful, man.

There’s ice out here. I almost slipped earlier."

So what happens?

He slips and he hits the ground.

All we heard was, "Oh, God!"

Because he was on his way down.

Down goes Frazier.

It was hysterical, man.

He had ice and slush all on hisself

and, you know, he’s yelling at me,

"Oh, this is your fault."

It was funny in nature,

but he actually sustained an injury.

And I don’t want to talk about his body parts, but,

it was deformed.

His bellybutton was deformed because he -- [ Laughs ]

he had ruptured something

and it was like Mike couldn’t stop laughing.

And I love to laugh, so, that didn’t help.

And then get back to the hotel.

I had an umbilical hernia.

My bellybutton popped out.

True story.

Pretty sure that story doesn’t make this.

[ Laughter ]

Derek, on behalf of Major League Baseball,

congratulations.

Three for three and a great night.

And I’m told the first New York Yankee

to ever win this award, so,

you’ve had a great career

and this is just another great moment.

Reporter: You’ve won three World Series Rings,

the Rookie of the Year, and now, this.

Do you ever think you’re just charmed?

Well, I think I’m very fortunate.

I’ve been in the right place at the right time.

But I never really look at the past and see what I’ve done.

I focus on the present and worry about the future.

And, you know, down the road, I think that’s when

you sit down and reflect on your career.

So, I don’t ever sit around and say,

"Well, we’ve accomplished this."

You know, my parents always talked

about enjoying the ride, right?

Enjoy the moment. I had a real tough time

enjoying the moment,

because I just thought about what’s next.

And it’s been that way for as long as I can remember --

what’s next?

Cone: He was just never satisfied.

There’s a relentlessness about him.

"I got to go here. There’s a game tomorrow.

It doesn’t matter what happened."

To me, that’s leadership,

more than anything rah-rah.

When you see that, it’s like, "Whoa, I better be ready, too."

Reporter: Derek, now, you guys haven’t played

your best baseball. You now go

into the second half of the season.

Can you guys put it together and reclaim what you guys

have established over the past couple years?

Most definitely. I think you got

to keep things in perspective.

Winning is not easy

and we may have made it look easy

three of the last four years,

but it’s very difficult to do.

Every team’s gunning for us.

We knew we were good and we knew we had to get to the postseason.

But it gets hard, man.

It gets hard.

A threepeat, no, no question.

All the way in the new millennium.

-A threepeat? -Yes, threepeat.

-Pretty sure about that? -Yeah, pretty sure about --

I’m pretty confident about that.

There’s inherent pressure if you are the Yankees

and, every year, the expectation is

you have to win the World Series,

or else, you’re a bust

and I think that wore on the players over time.

Hal: There’s no other place in the country like New York.

The amount of scrutiny,

the expectations that the fans have,

[ Horn honking ] is different from anywhere else,

and much tougher.

I love the Yankees.

Born and raised with the Yankees.

I grew up in New York and I understood that we were spoiled.

I mean, we expect to win, you know?

Is that fair, to put that kind of,

you know, expectation on them?

I mean, that’s just the way it is.

I mean, you know, we pay good bucks

to come down to see the game

and see the team win.

As much as they want to see you do well,

when you’re not doing well,

they’re on your back, harder than ever,

and they gonna make sure they,

wherever you at,

somebody there’s going to be like,

"When are you going to get out of the slump?

Or, you know, I mean, what’s going on?"

Jeter: The thing with New Yorkers is they pay attention.

Every game. They watch every game.

They’re knowledgeable.

So you hear about it.

-Get outta here! -Man, get outta here with this...

-Get outta here. Okay? -I want rings, rings, rings!

We’re greedy. We’re entitled.

If there’s a good player, we want him.

Announcer #1: Knoblauch’s going to get him three times.

He throws the ball away. My goodness gracious.

Announcer #2: Coming on, Canseco.

Shading his eyes from the sun.

Battling it! And the ball drops!

Martinez: Just seemed like,

when September came around,

we just struggled. We couldn’t find

the ways to win games.

It was just a team effort of like

just things weren’t going our way.

Here comes the relay throw.

He is going to be...

...safe at home!

No, he’s out!

The throw to third gets away.

Huff throws. And he is...

out! They’re both out at home!

Unbelievable sequence.

Olney: They limp across the finish line

and they barely make the playoffs.

And, in fact, the day that they qualified for the playoffs,

they were in Baltimore and they lost a one-sided game.

Announcer: Makes the catch on the track.

So, in an odd juxtaposition of fortunes,

Baltimore beats the devil out of the Yankees

and the Yankees clinch the Eastern Division.

And I remember vividly, you go in the locker room, you know,

they bring out, you know, some champagne and stuff and things

and they’re just sitting there

and nobody went and got a champagne bottle

or nothing. [ Laughs ] We didn’t know what to do.

You know, a lot of teams would love to be in our position,

you know? Our goal is to win the World Series,

so, you know, we’re on our way.

Speaker: They should be embarrassed to be in the playoffs!

They should be embarrassed to pop corks last week!

Announcer: The Yankees ended the season in disaster

and Oakland had a great month of September.

Oakland has this great collection of young players

and they were a legitimate threat

to this aging Yankee team.

And then we go to Game 5.

Reporter: If you guys should win tonight,

it could be the end of the Yankees dynasty.

Do you have any thoughts on you guys

putting them away like that?

I don’t mind at all. I mean,

they’ve won enough times, so.

It’s time for some other people

to have some glory here.

And this is on the big screen in the ballpark in Oakland

as the Yankees are taking batting practice.

He really woke up the monster again.

You can’t talk when you’re still playing.

Talk after you beat him.

We loved that kind of stuff.

And, when we heard things like that, it like fed us.

Jeter: He’s got to believe it.

It’s over for us, right?

They’re up-and-coming young team and it’s their time.

But I’ll be honest, it didn’t rub us the right way, you know?

It’s like, "Hey, man, you still got to beat us."

Announcer: Chuck Knoblauch.

And he begins with a line drive base hit.

Now, Derek Jeter.

Another is going.

And it’s taken ball 4 inside.

High chopper off the plate.

Tejada has no throw.

Martinez: It was just kind of funny.

We just went out there and played

and tried to win that game and keep the dynasty going.

Announcer #1: And in the air. Way back.

It is off the wall.

Announcer #2: Three-run double by Tino Martinez.

The A’s just need to take a big, deep breath.

It is 6-0 New York.

Chávez’s comments is just that little extra piece

that reminded the Yankees that,

"Hey, we’re still the king on this block,

until somebody has the ability to knock us off."

Now, Eric Chávez.

Sterling: Which is popped up to first.

Tino in foul territory. Tino...

makes the catch!

Ballgame over.

Yankees win.

The-e-e-e-e Yankees win!

Absolutely wonderful. Whoo!

Jeter: This is really gratifying. I mean, it was tough.

It was tough. I mean, people

had written us off early on, you know.

At the end of the season, we struggled a little bit,

but bottom line is we have to be beat on the field

and we came out and we played well.

Were guys talking about what Eric Chávez said?

-Yeah. -Did you see him?

-Yeah. -What was your reaction?

Well, I mean, obviously, he’s had a good series.

But the bottom line is you’ve got to do it on the field.

Announcer: Welcome to Game 1 of the League Championship Series.

Reporter: Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, a big story here.

What about the dynamic of playing against a guy

who is, perhaps, your best friend, is that difficult?

Not at all. I mean, you know, I don’t look at it

as I’m playing against Alex because

it’s the New York Yankees against the Seattle Mariners.

Every time that the Mariners and the Yankees would play,

beat writers, like myself,

we’d be writing stories about it, you know.

These two guys hanging out together.

They had so much in common.

You basically have everything the same,

so it’s been described, except for he has three rings.

How much does that bother you

and how badly do you want one?

Well, I wouldn’t say it bothered me.

Something that drives me to keep working hard

and keep trying to escalate my game every year.

They had a common bond between them as young, athletic,

very talented baseball players

being almost faces of their franchise at such early ages.

We’re going out there. We’re trying to beat them.

And, you know, we’re friends off the field,

but on the field, we’re big rivals.

Derek’s been in a great position to be playing

with a great franchise and great timing

and he’s been a catalyst of that team.

So, hopefully, one year, I can do the same for mine,

but it’s not like I’m better or anything.

[ Laughter ]

Announcer: He is a star. I mean,

there’s no doubt about it.

It was well known in baseball

that Alex was a better player.

Announcer: This ball is drilled to deep left

for a Rodriguez home run.

But Derek Jeter wanted to be a Yankee.

Alex Rodriguez wanted to be a star.

And Seattle will take Game 1.

There was this thing about Alex being marooned up in Seattle,

whereas, Derek became the star

that Alex had always wanted to be.

Skies one to deep right.

Looking up.

Gone!

Verducci: For Derek,

it was pretty much established

this guy is a generational player.

He was so important to the Yankee brand,

to the game of baseball.

Rocket Roger Clemens on the mound.

[ Crowd ohhs ]

Clemens: No, that wasn’t even close.

About chest-high, like I said. These days,

it might’ve been a strike, even.

My stuff was electric that night

and I was turning it loose.

Sterling: There’s the one-two.

He struck him out swinging.

It’s puzzling how a guy can have great control

and constantly messed up and in somebody’s face.

He did a great job and, uh,

that other stuff, I’m a little pissed off about,

but I’ll get over it.

Kay: Uh-oh. Swung on it.

Skied to center field.

Backing up is Cameron.

Still back.

And that ball is gone!

See ya!

A three-run home run

for Derek Jeter.

Torre: In baseball,

it’s important to play together.

Sterling: The-e-e-e-e Yankees win!

You know, Derek always understood that.

Alex wanted to be --

He wanted to stand out.

There is a certain mentality

that you have to have to be a champion.

You watch Derek play.

That will -- they’re different.

Champions are different.

Kay: Swung on it. Drilled deep to right field!

There it goes!

See ya!

David Justice

with a three-run home run!

And the Yankees have come all the way back!

Announcer #2: A slow roller.

Jeter up with it.

Start spreading the news.

The New York Yankees go to the World Series

for the fourth time in five years.

Now, the stage is set for the Subway Series

between the Yankees and Mets.

[ "New York, New York" plays ]

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

[ Chanting ] We want the Mets!

Reporter: Subway Series is finally here. Speaker: I know.

It’s about time and the Yankees will win.

The Yankees are the best.

Forget about it. They can light it up.

I don’t care. Burn ’em down.

Speaker: I’m gonna call it the Mets in seven.

Give them the ticker tape parade.

Announcer: Two New York titans

clashing in October.

It took 44 years, but the Subway Series is back.

[ Rap plays ]

Hey, Met fans.

You, on the phone, how do you spell Mets?

"My entire team sucks!"

♪ Hit the brakes on y’all [audio drop] like whoa ♪

Rivera: The city was electric.

I never saw a city, you know, I mean, so joyful,

but it’s divided.

Jeter: I lived in Manhattan like my entire career.

If we lost, I don’t think I would’ve stayed

in Manhattan, you know,

because that was all anyone talked about.

Get in a cab, people are yelling at you,

"You better not lose," or, Met fans,

"You’re going to lose." And, anywhere you went,

that’s all anyone wanted to talk about.

And I loved it, you know?

Everybody’s coming to watch.

Announcer: The reigning world champions

striving for a threepeat.

Olney: They had an opportunity for history,

but there’s also the inherent pressure

of being in New York in front of the massive media

and you have a Mets team that’s cocky.

We had to win that one.

And I think the Mets were coming in

with a lot of confidence.

I remember Benny Agbayani said

they were going to beat us in five games.

And then once again, you’re like, "Damn, [audio drop]

give us some respect." You know what I mean?

Announcer: No score, sixth inning.

Two out. And it’s Zeile.

♪ I’mma go toe-to-toe, blow for blow like whoa ♪

Zeile into left field. Well-hit.

Track. Wall.

Off the top of the wall.

Onto third is Pérez.

They bring him around.

Throw by Jeter.

In and over!

Derek Jeter with a relay throw to end the inning.

[ Cheering and applause ]

Part of being a good player is thinking

about every possible scenario before it could happen.

I saw a team that wasn’t running

and I tried to one-hop it to Jorge

because I didn’t want to get an in-between hop

and then,

you know, it was a perfect throw.

Pettitte: Two runs.

All of a sudden, it turns into no runs.

That was a huge play.

You know, great players do things differently

than other players and it’s these plays

during the course of the game, like that,

that are big-time momentum-shifters.

Announcer: 3-3 in the 12th.

Vizcaíno.

Left field.

Base hit.

Yankees win Game 1.

[ Cheering and applause ]

♪

Announcer #1: Well, one of the stories within this Subway Series is

Roger Clemens having to face, again, Mike Piazza,

who he beaned on July 8th.

Announcer #2: And Clemens 1-1.

And hit him.

[ Crowd ohhs ]

And Piazza goes down.

He’s on his back.

Cone: When you look at the history during the regular season,

Piazza was hitting home run after home run of off Clemens.

He was wearing Clemens out.

And, according to the school of pitching that he comes from,

Piazza was due for a bow-tie.

Piazza: I thought it was definitely intentional.

Roger Clemens is a great pitcher,

but I really can’t say I have respect for him right now.

Would you be surprised if he ran one

inside on him here in the first inning?

If I were Clemens, that’s exactly what I would do.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

There was so much buildup to that at-bat,

Roger facing him again.

The barrel of the bat comes back at Roger Clemens

and he fires the bat back toward Piazza,

who was going down the first base line.

That is all Roger Clemens there.

And everything happened so quickly.

And next thing you know, Piazza and the benches are coming.

I didn’t know what happened, right?

And then you see it afterwards

and you see Rocket say he thought it was the ball.

My gosh, that’s a blatant act.

Foolish! Foolish!

I reacted immediately

because I thought it was the ball.

Right then when I knew I had his bat,

I whistle it on the on-deck circle.

It was 15 feet from him.

If I wanted to throw the bat at him,

I’d have thrown the bat at him.

Throws a jagged, sharp piece of wood.

And I went out, you know, and said,

"What is your problem?" I kept asking him,

"What is your problem?" So, I don’t --

He didn’t say anything. If he would’ve said something,

maybe it would’ve been a little different? I don’t know.

I don’t think he would actually try to hit the guy with the bat.

You know, that’s assault with a deadly weapon, man.

I think it was an intimidation thing.

And he got very lucky that it didn’t hit Mike.

Game over.

Yankees win the first two games

of the 2000 World Series.

♪

Clemens: My buddy had a Halloween party at his bar.

He wanted me to be one of the judges for the costumes.

Pull up in a limousine, this dude in a Piazza uniform

and he had a ball stuck to his helmet

and he had a bat going through him.

And I walked straight line, beelined right at him

and I got right close to him and he was like

all nervous and everything. I leaned in. I said, "Hey,

you’re going to win tonight."

Announcer: Well, it is Game 3 here tonight at Shea Stadium.

I remember going to Shea Stadium

and the clubhouse furniture was so bad

that Mr. Steinbrenner brought

our furniture from Yankee Stadium

and put it in the clubhouse there

because he couldn’t deal with it.

He wanted his players to be comfortable.

Cone: Tremendous pressure from George.

He took a really active role,

probably more active than any other series we had.

Was very involved in everything.

You’ve got the championship of New York City on the line.

You can’t be second in New York City.

People who work for the Yankees will tell you,

back then in 2000, they felt how important this was.

[ Chanting ] Let’s go, Mets!

Let’s go, Mets!

Much more important for the Yankees than for the Mets.

Not to say it wasn’t important for the Mets,

but it was everything

for the New York Yankees and George Steinbrenner.

So there is a lot of pressure.

Announcer: The Yankees leading two games to none.

A 2-2 score.

Agbayani into left center field.

That ball is gone.

And the Mets take a 3-2 eighth-inning lead.

Agbayani delivers again.

Mets win Game 3.

Then the Yankees lose a game to the Mets

and now, there’s really pressure.

For us, there wasn’t a hatred of the Mets.

They were just -- How we looked at it was

just the Mets, right?

Baha Men: ♪ Who let the dogs out? ♪

♪ Who, who, who, who, who? ♪

♪ Who let the dogs out? ♪

♪ Who, who, who, who, who? ♪

♪ Well, the party was nice, the party was pumpin’ ♪

♪ Yippie yi yo ♪

Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?

This is you? This is the World Series.

This is the World Series. This is what you got?

This is what you guys are doing?

Actually had the Baha Men on the field,

dancing and singing the song.

♪ Who let the dogs out? ♪

You know, and they’re whooping it up.

And you know, to me, the answer was perfect.

It was Derek Jeter?

Verducci: The next game, Knoblauch is not in the lineup.

So Jeter is now the leadoff hitter.

Announcer #1: So, Derek Jeter moves into the leadoff spot

Announcer #2: As the series drama continues.

Here we go. First pitch time, 8:31.

And Jeter swings.

And a high drive to left.

Hit it high! It is far!

And it’s gone!

Derek Jeter starts in with a bang.

Derek Jeter hits the first pitch of the ballgame.

And on the first pitch of the game.

the Yankees take a 1-nothing lead.

[ Crowd cheers ]

♪

I looked for one pitch in my career --

fastball right down the middle.

That’s it. That’s what I look for.

And I adjust off of that, soon as I see that swing.

That’s what I was looking for.

Verducci: The first pitch of a World Series game

is essentially a photo op.

Flashbulbs are going off.

Jeter was having none of that.

It was just not a photo op.

This was a pitch to be hit.

[ Cheers and applause ]

Martinez: And as soon as he hit that ball,

we just jumped out of the dugout.

And we thought, at that point, "The series is over."

That was -- That took the wind out of their sail, we thought.

It took the wind out of Shea Stadium.

For Derek Jeter, Home run number one

in World Series play.

2-0 count.

And that one jammed a little bit.

Still hit it hard. Perez back.

They’re not gonna get it.

A hop off the top of the wall.

He’s bringing 3.

And the second Yankees triple of the game.

[ Cheers and applause ]

Throw, with Alex Rodriguez looking on.

Jeter is putting on quite a show.

The guy’s -- he’s a powerful mother...

[ Laughs ]

Yankees win game four.

[ Cheers and applause ]

I’m sure I’ll hear something about that.

It’s just the Mets.

[ Laughter ] It was, though.

It was just the Mets. You know?

It was just the Mets.

[ Laughter ]

Yeah.

Yankees, one win away

from their third consecutive world title.

That’s well hit into left field.

Agbayani back. It’s a 2-2 game.

Derek Jeter’s gone deep again.

[ Cheers and applause ]

Yankees on top in the ninth.

Rivera: We’re winning by two runs.

Derek came to me and said, "Mo,

make sure, you know, that no one on base

for Piazza as the third guy.

Sure enough, I walked in this guy, two out.

Then, it’s Piazza.

It comes down to Piazza.

And what a dramatic ending.

The best relief pitcher probably in the history of baseball

and the best-hitting catcher in the history of baseball.

I don’t want him to beat me to right field.

Okay, so I just wanted to stay in.

The ball wasn’t in enough.

Piazza gets into one at center.

If they would have called it, it would have been 20 rows up.

Back is Bernie Williams.

That was a blessing, that hitting.

Ballgame over!

World Series over! Yankees win!

The Yankees win!

[ Cheers and applause ]

Jeter: If we think we got attention prior to 2000,

we became, I think, a traveling circus.

People want to be around winners.

I think people respected how we went about doing it.

You know, we weren’t cocky.

Like, we didn’t have a group of cocky players.

We had a group of confident players.

You win ’96. He wins Rookie of the Year.

You know, you got ’98, probably the best team ever.

You know, ’99. We do it again.

You get to 2000, you know, winning in New York.

You have a dynasty now. You know?

The way Derek has performed

every year in the playoffs, in the World Series,

it just puts him at another level.

Verducci: 2000, I’m not sure

Derek was at a higher point in his career.

MVP of the World Series -- he’s the man right now.

He never looked at himself as a superstar,

but, in my opinion, that’s what started

the snowball effect of him being, like, "that A-lister,"

"this dude could walk on water" type of mentality.

There really was a battle

for who was going to be the face of this sport.

So there were all these players that looked like

they were going to be the guy.

You got Bonds and Griffey. Then you’ve got A-Rod.

But Yankees win a fourth World Series,

and history changes. And suddenly,

who’s at the center of that is Derek.

Director: Cameras rolling Guys, nice and steady.

And you’re playing, guys.

You’re playing. Ready? Done.

And action.

Gee, this might help you get laid.

[ Laughter ]

Derek was of the national sort of American baseball player,

in terms of that star power.

Hey, look, it’s Derek Jeter!

I get that all the time.

Verducci: He just had an appeal

across, you know, all kinds of demographics.

So it was more than just being a great player.

I don’t think you ever sit down and say, "I’m a star."

You know what I mean? It just...sounds weird.

You know, ’cause I don’t know any different.

[ Chuckling ] This is just who I am.

I don’t think I’ve changed at all.

♪

Announcer: This is "SportsCenter."

The Rangers and Alex Rodriguez

will officially announce his signing with Texas.

The terms -- are you sitting down? --

10 years, $252 million,

making him, by far, the highest-paid player

in the history of team sports.

Reporter: What are you gonna do with all the money?

[ Chuckles ]

Raab: We managed to convince "Esquire" magazine

that this would be a good story.

We had a chance not just to write about the player

but also about an agent, Scott Boras,

who at that time, kind of considered the devil.

Got to sit down with A-Rod after the deal was signed.

And that was in Miami.

And I remember, we took in a Heat game.

Announcer: Welcome back to Miami, where I am

with one of the Heat’s number-one fans,

Alex Rodriguez, who dominated the news

of the baseball off-season this year.

What are your thoughts about the move from Seattle to Texas?

Well, I’m excited about it.

Raab: The meat of the Alex part of the article

was based on that couple-hour sit-down.

"GQ" had a kid assigned to go to the winter meetings

and do a story on A-Rod.

And I ran into the guy and said, "I’m gonna destroy you.

You know, we’re competing on the same story.

Forget -- Don’t even bother."

I went in there, trying to figure out,

as I did with every movie star or every athlete,

"Who is this person?"

I wasn’t thinking, "Hey, maybe he’ll say something

that will piss Derek Jeter off."

I knew, especially when I transcribed the tapes,

that those quotes were gold.

♪

Jeter: Those comments bothered me

because, like I said, I’m very, very loyal.

You know, as a friend, I’m loyal.

And I just looked at it as, "I wouldn’t have done it."

And then it was the media, right?

The constant, the hammer to the nail.

You know what I mean? They just kept hammering it in.

It just became noise, which frustrated me.

You know, it’s just constant noise.

Rodriguez: So, when that came out,

I felt really bad about it.

I saw the way it was playing out.

The way that it was written,

I absolutely said exactly what I said.

Again, I think it was a comment that I stand behind today.

It was a complete tsunami.

It was one of the greatest teams ever.

And to say that you don’t have to forget about just one player,

I think is totally fair. By the way, the same could be

said about my team with the Seattle Mariners.

I had Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner.

If somebody said that about me, I would be like,

"No...Absolutely.

You better not just worry about me."

So, immediately, I called Derek and I said,

"Hey, I’d love to go up to see you and talk to you."

We sat on his couch, we spoke for about an hour or so.

I apologized and said, "Look, I feel you guys have a tsunami.

It’s a great team. That wasn’t, you know,

said to to hurt you or penalize you or slight you in any way."

I believed his apology. I really did.

I thought he was very sincere in his apology.

And I say, "Hey, look, man, if someone asks you a question,

you don’t have to justify a contract."

No, I think if it was a stand-alone incident,

hey, you move on, man. People make mistakes.

But it’s the second time it happened.

And I said, "You know, see if A-Rod wants to join us

for an interview," so he called in.

And I start talking to you right away.

"So, what do you think of Jeter’s contract?"

And he goes,

"There’s not one thing he does better than me."

Jeter: The Dan Patrick interview, you know,

he was talking about comparison between me and him

on the field.

In my mind, you know, he got his contract.

"So you’re trying to diminish what I’m doing,

maybe to justify, you know, why you got paid?"

Because I think, look,

when you talk about statistics and things,

my statistics never compared to Alex’s statistics.

You know, I’m not blind. I understand.

You know what I’m saying? But we won.

You can say whatever you want on me as a player, that’s fine.

But then it goes back to the trust and the loyalty.

Just how the guy feels, he’s not a true friend,

is how I felt, because I wouldn’t do it to a friend.

Raab: Alex was genuinely upset, and then I said,

you know, "You think it might help his spring training

if the magazine -- I’ll write a fax,

the magazine will send it?"

Started "Dear Derek,"

and it said, "You’re understandably upset.

I want to make it clear that in the course of our conversation,

Alex had a lot of positive things to say about you.

It’s not his fault that, you know, we used what we used."

Interviewer: So, the writer of the article, Scott Raab,

said he sent you a fax to the Yankees.

Did you ever see this fax?

Man, I never saw a fax. He sent it to, like,

my personal fax machine I have in my locker?

He sent it to the Yankees. [ Chuckles ]

You got to ask them that question, man.

I don’t recall -- I don’t remember

getting a fax. It -- maybe I --

I really can’t remem-- I mean, at that point,

I mean, what is --

what is a fax gonna -- gonna do?

[ Indistinct conversation ]

Set the alarm in the morning.

[ Laughing ] Oh, look, look.

Pickup by me.

Reynolds: There was a true brotherhood,

I really think,

that genuinely cared about each other

and that’s always gonna be there.

I don’t think they’re nearly as tight as they used to be.

Rodriguez: I think, early on,

I was in that circle of trust.

I mean, you have to be -- right? --

if I’m sleeping at his apartment and he’s sleeping at mine.

I think that change

in where I said some things that he didn’t like

and that, for him, broke the trust.

And I think, from that moment on,

it was never quite the same ever again.

I think he’s really not understanding

the way things were.

In many ways, I think my father leaving when I was 10,

not getting that schooling at home,

the hard knocks, the tough love,

it resulted in insecurity, some self-esteem issues.

And as I got older, I realized that -- you know what? --

all you got to do is be yourself.

Raab: It tickled me, honestly, because both those guys,

God bless them, have lived, prospered,

thrived, all that stuff.

Hell, they’re doing great. So am I.

So, you know, no real harm done, no hard feelings.

We’re not talking about war or pandemic.

It’s the toy department, sports.

Interviewer: Is it fair to say

that friendships between people also matter?

The cost of a friendship, I guess, is kind of like

where this just ended up happening.

Does that have any value, of course?

It does, it does. It’s a different scale.

The fact that it hurts so deep felt like such a betrayal.

And I imagine it wasn’t just the personal thing,

it was also a professional thing,

is, "The men I respect don’t talk like that

to the media about a colleague."

If it’s the kind of thing

that Derek Jeter never managed to get over,

that he just wrote Alex off as a friend,

I think it says a lot about the nature of the friendship.

Jeter: We were young, and I was 26 years old.

People make mistakes. I get it. They make mistakes.

Some mistakes bigger than others.

What I expect of you, you should expect the same of me.

I wouldn’t treat you that way.

And once again, that’s fine.

I’m still gonna be cordial, But --

But you’ve crossed the line, and I won’t let you in again.

To allow that opening, that gap,

that space to come between Derek and I,

that’s on me, that’s not on the writer.

Writer’s got a job to do.

And if you give him an opening and he can drive a wedge

between two young stars, then he’s gonna do that.

In terms of driving a wedge,

friendship between young athletes,

young entertainers, you know, two young performers,

in one of, you know, my favorite lively arts, baseball,

it meant nothing to me.

♪

♪

Noah. Hey.

What’s up, man? I’m Derek.

How are you?

Are you ready for this heat I’m bringing?

Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know.

Is it weird seeing your face tattooed on other people?

It depends on where it is.

If it’s a place that stretches, then my face sort of stretches.

Your face. You know what I mean? Yeah.

So it depends on where it is on the body?

Do you have any tattoos?

I don’t. I’m afraid to get a tattoo.

Who was the smelliest player in the locker room?

[ Chuckles ] Was it you?

Tell me the truth.

No comment, no comment, no comment.

Tell me the truth. Come on, come on.

Don’t let me talk about you,

what you smelled like when you walked past here.

I always smell good. [ Chuckles ]

♪