"How do you do that?" - Alex Rodriguez reveals Derek Jeter’s strict “no baseball” house rule from their Yankee days

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez's friendship has seen many ups and downs. Over the decades, the two have gone from being best friends to bitter rivals. They reconciled after becoming teammates and are currently broadcast colleagues at FOX.

The relationship received a very close focus during the second part of the HBO docuseries Alex vs. ARod, which aired on November 13. The three-parter, which gave an insight into Alex Rodriguez's career, marred with several controversies, focused on his time with the New York Yankees in the second episode.

When Rodriguez underwent the trade from the Texas Rangers in 2004, there was immense speculation about how he would gel with Yankees captain Derek Jeter, whom he had called out, for not having to lead, in an interview three years back. However, the two reconciled when Rodriguez reached the Bronx.

On the show, the pair remembered incidents from their days when Jeter had disclosed a "no baseball" house rule every time Rodriguez would go over after a game.

"Baseball is a game of failure, so you have to have a short memory," Jeter said. "And when our games were over, I'd drive home. By the time I was home, I didn't want to talk about it anymore. [Alex] was shocked coming to my house when we were younger that I didn't have the MLB package and I wasn't at home watching baseball after our own game."

Rodriguez a student of the game, was shocked by Jeter's approach.

"He didn't have like the MLB Network, and he didn't have a baseball package," Rodriguez said. "And I'm like, "What are we going to do after the game if we can't watch four games, all the West Coast games?" He's like, "We're not watching the West Coast games. We're going to go get a bite to eat."

""What are we going to eat? Do they have TVs for the games?" And he's like, "There is no baseball. It's the no baseball rule. We don't watch baseball. We don't talk baseball." I go, "But how do you do that? I don't understand.""

Alex Rodriguez admits his words were taken out of context in "vanilla" interview

Alex Rodriguez also clarified in the episode that the interview that had strained his relationship with Jeter, whom he had considered to be a brother when they were both coming up in the big leagues, was misinterpreted.

According to Rodriguez, he intended to appreciate the Yankees team that had won four championships in the previous five seasons from 1996 to 2000, with Jeter transitioning from a rookie to part of the team's core during that span.

“That Esquire article, I thought it was pretty vanilla,” Rodriguez admitted. “I complimented the whole team and they took that and ran with it. That put a strain in our relationship for years.”

Like their differing philosophies, Jeter's career trajectory also ultimately ended up vastly different from Rodriguez's. Owing to a clean image throughout his career, Jeter was included in the Baseball Hall of Fame in a near-unanimous vote.

On the other hand, Rodriguez's issues with PEDs and doping tainted his abilities. He admitted that doing the docuseries has reduced his chances of being included in Cooperstown.