March 21, 2024 • 51 mins
George Steinbrenner’s decision back in 2004 to pair Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez—two generationally talented baseball players—turned out to be one of the biggest and arguably most successful deals in New York Yankees history. Or all of sports history for that matter.
The results that sprang from the Boss’s machinations became clear: a perennially contending team, a 2009 World Series championship and yes—a lot of headlines. For Jeter, all of that on-field success—and his ability to manage it so gracefully—made him one of the most sought-after athletes both during and after his baseball career. On the latest episode of The Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly, he tells the backstory of how Michael Jordan made him the first baseball player to be endorsed by a then-nascent Jordan Brand, and reveals some never-before-heard details of his tumultuous, three decade-long relationship with A-Rod.
Jeter distinguished himself during a 20-year career played entirely for the Yankees, winning five World Series rings during that time. The last of the titles (and the last time the Yankees won it all) was accomplished with Rodriguez just a few feet away at third base. The pair had known each other since they were teenagers and even shared a 1997 cover of Sports Illustrated.
Jeter was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, inducted into Cooperstown in 2020 with 99.7 percent of the vote. Shortly after retiring, he joined the ownership group of the Miami Marlins and served as the team’s chief executive (the first Black man to hold such a position in Major League Baseball), overseeing both the business and operations of the club. He resigned in 2022, citing strategic differences with his fellow Marlins owners.
Of late, Jeter has been splitting his time between his young family, investing, endorsements and broadcasting—reuniting with Rodriguez to provide on-air baseball commentary.
You can also watch The Deal on Bloomberg Originals, YouTube or Bloomberg TV.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. The hardest part was
having patience. You know, as a player, you get a hit,
you don't get a hit. You win a game, you
lose a game. It's instant gratification or failure. When you're
(00:25):
building something, especially in organization, a sports organization, where basically
you're turning something around right, you're going in another direction,
it takes time that can be very, very draining mentally
because you want it to happen right away.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Alex, this is one that I very much had circled
on the calendar. Derek Jeter, I mean the captain coming
in to talk to us. Who is Derek Jeter?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
To you, well, he's a five time world champion. He
was a teammate that I was lucky enough and fortunate
enough to win the title in O nine with him.
We played for almost fifteen years, about twenty feet away,
and he is someone that I have a tremendous amount
(01:19):
of respect. Look, we've known each other for over thirty years.
I believe there's a third time in over thirty years
that we've been interviewed together, Wow, in any capacity. So
I learned a lot listening to him, and I think
the listeners will really get a kick out of this.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
One, all right, So I have to fully confess I
told you this before we'd sat down for this interview,
like I didn't totally know what to expect, because as
well as I've gotten to know you, a lot of
headlines over the years and a lot of speculation about
what the relationship was between you guys we fully address.
I think you know there was a rocky period in
(01:58):
that relationship, and yet I will say, you guys tell
some stories about those early days, you know, when you
were still teenagers and what that was like sort of
coming up together. And you know, one of my takeaways
at least was no matter what happens, if you have
that sort of foundation in a relationship, there's hope.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I thought you were going to say, even though you
didn't like me, you liked him as a player. I
was waiting for that because that is told to me
all the time, you know, Jason. The interesting thing about
Derek and I have a lot of love and respect
for Derek. I think with time you grow a certain
amount of appreciation. And I told him recently because we
(02:40):
are now joined at the hip at Fox covering the
baseball playoffs and World Series that I appreciate him even
more today than I did when we played together. Yeah,
because what he showed the power of restriction, as I
call it, is so much hard, harder to restrict than
(03:02):
to act. Yeah, and he was really good at that.
He had tremendous discipline.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
The other thing that also occurred to me Alex as
we were getting ready for this and then even in
the conversation, was you guys have both made a commitment
to stay close to the game. He went into the
front office. He now is your broadcast partner on Fox.
This love of the game and this sort of even
(03:27):
shared experience after baseball is fascinating to me.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
We're so similar in some ways, in opposites in others,
and I've really admired the way he's transitioned in his
post baseball career. And he went through ownership and management.
I went to just ownership because I wouldn't know how
to manage a basketball team. I'm really excited for people
(03:52):
to get to hear this episode because one of my
favorite ones on this episode of the Deal the Captain
Derek Jeter.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Wait, so when did you guys first meet Heldria.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I was eighteen he claimed to be seventeen.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
As a fact.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Where was it.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
It was the Mark Lats Stadium, Michigan. Had come down
to the University of Miami and he had signed to
go to the University of Michigan. Was already a pro
with the Yankees, and I was an upcoming draft and
I had signed to go to University of Miami. So
it was like Kitch school versus my school. It was cool. Wow.
And I was talking to Casey Close at the time
(04:45):
and really got to like Casey Close a lot. And yeah,
I'm still no case who's been with Derek's hole.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Casey's my agent. Ye. We had actually spoke on the
phone prior.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
To really when people used to talk on the phone. Yeah,
exactly what was it like back then for young athletes
because it's not like you weren't following him on social media?
Speaker 1 (05:05):
No, it was it was more of I was older.
I think you know, Alex has always been inquisitive. He
asked a lot of questions, which I'm sure you know. Yeah,
when we spoke the first time, and I even remember
is just asking some questions about my experience. I was
trying to share some my experience just being a year
older so there, I think there were some similarities when
it came to that. Outside of that, well, I mean
(05:27):
from Kalamazoo's from Miami.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
So my memory, Jason is that obviously there was no
social media, but for high school players there was this
thing called Baseball America and this would come out of
me two weeks and I remember I would take my
mom and she would give me a couple bucks and
we'll go to seven eleven. I would buy it, and
a lot of times I would go early, three four
days to see I wanted to read every piece of that.
(05:49):
And I remember seeing Derek with this burgundy high school uniform.
I believe he had Nike high tops, and I'm like
reading about this guy and he's like, okay, he's my
color skin. He's from Calamuz, Michigan. That's strange. He's a
first pick for the Yankees, right six pick overall, but
he's six foot three and like, Okay, well if he
can be a first round or well maybe I can too. Yeah.
(06:11):
So I just remember being incredibly inspired and impressed that
someone can be in Kalamazoo, play a much shorter season
than we play in Miami and you'll still be the
number one pick by The New York Yankee. Thought that
was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, all right, so we'll officially officially staright now. So Derek,
if you would't mind, please introduce yourself. Tell us what
you're doing these days.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Derek Jeter, What am I doing these days? Outside of
being a parent. I have four young kids and doing
some stuff commentating with Fox Sports alongside Alex, David Ortiz,
Kevin Burkhart, a few business interests as well, a few
companies that I've founded, boards that I'm on. I'm pretty busy. Yeah,
you know, I'm pretty busy, but it's a good busy.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I think.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
You know, when you talk to athletes, a lot of
times when they retire, people think they just stay at
home and they start playing golf and drinking wine all
day long. As good as that sounds, I think, start
preparing yourself for the next chapter. So keep myself busy.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, all right, we're going to get into all that,
but I want to go back and start if I
can partner with sort of where you'd left off in
that story. It's like going to the Yankees. That's probably
you know, this show is called The Deal, biggest business
decision you probably make in your early life is or
they make about you. You're going to the New York Yankees.
(07:25):
Do you remember that moment.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
And pass in a scholarship to go to Michigan, which
is pretty impressive as it is.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Well, I think they made the decision. Yeah, you know,
because in sports it's a crapshoot. You don't know who's
going to draft. Do you have no IDEA Draft's a
little bit different nowadays than it was when when we
were drafted and we sit around a way for a
phone call. So yeah, as Alex mentioned, I had signed
to go to university in Michigan, drafted by the Yankees.
Yankee fan growing up, the only team I ever wanted
to play for, So in that sense, I was very fortunate.
(07:53):
Education was huge in my family. My dad got his
PhD in sociology at Western Michigan University and Calm Zoo, Michigan,
the reason why.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
I grew up there.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
It was really a decision. It was a big decision.
It wasn't as easy of a decision as some people
may think.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
You know.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
So I signed with the Yankees and they agreed to
if and when I wanted to go to school, they
pay for me to go to University of Michigan. So
I went University of Michigan my first off season and
still a freshman. So you've seen that movie Back to School,
Ronnie Dangerville.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
That's going to be me.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
It's coming out, It's coming, it's coming soon.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
But by the way, Jason, just to bring you back
to nineteen ninety two, because I was watching from the
sidelines in Miami. From Miami, you know, Derek was born
to be a New York Yankee, and he grew up
watching the Yankees, admiring the Yankees, wanted to be a
short stop like Zoota and all of that. But what
was interesting is leading into that draft, Houston had the
number one pick and there was a lot of talk
(08:48):
that Derek would be one one in Houston. They actually
ended up drafting the cow State Fullerton superstar in Phil Nevian.
And then Cincinnati had the fifth pick and they also
said they were going to pick Derek. They chose Chad Mattola,
and then it fell to number six with the Yankees.
So the Yankees got a huge break by having Derek
be available, which no one thought he would be available.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Thank God. Yeah for me, Yeah no, because I was
a Yankee fan. I didn't even know the Yankees drafted six.
You know, Alex just sits at home because he was
the first pick.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
From the phone to ring, I'm sitting out there sweating
it out, waiting to see who was going to draft me.
So yeah, it's like a crap shoot. I never thought
I would be drafted by the Yankees, but you know,
luck was on my side.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I guess obviously you were a fan, but it's one
thing to be a fan. It's an entirely different thing,
I would imagine because I'm only a fan, but you
put on those pin stripes for the first That's an
entirely different proposition because now not only are you a Yankee,
you're playing in the biggest stage. Did that feel weighty
to you?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
No, not necessarily. I think playing for the Yankees now
it's a little bit different than when I first arrived.
They hadn't had a lot of success. Yanks didn't won
a World Series since seventy eight. You know, they haven't
been to one, I think to nineteen eighty one they
lost to La So I think the expectation level was
(10:09):
a little bit different when I first got to New
York and now, I think the expectation levels have changed.
They've risen because of the success of the franchise. But
you know, when you get there, you don't I don't
think you put that much pressure on yourself. You're trying
to keep your job, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I don't know if you remember.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
We had a conversation. I think this was in nineteen
ninety five, towards the end of the year. We're playing Seattle,
and you had mentioned, Man, I wish they'd just give
us an orientation year. We can hit to sixty.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Our first year and get comfortable.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
You never had the orientation year, but that was our mindset.
We just want we're there, we want to stay there.
We do anything we can to stay in the major leagues.
So I don't think I ever put that much pressure
on myself with thought about it as being weight.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I don't know if you remember this one. I mean,
we're here in La probably after that year ninety five,
and we're both of going into our orientation year and
we're in a cab ride and I think we might
have both left our money back. That's when we actually
needed to have cash and that right now, and we
were just like, man, if we can just make a million.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Dollars in our careers.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
If they put a contract right in front of me
for a million dollars for my career, I think I
would sign it with you. He's like, hell yeah, I
man a lot of money. I'm glad we have a
contract for or pen.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Wow. I mean it's interesting you say that, Derek, because
baseball was at a different moment in the early nineties.
What was the scene like as a player?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I would say, in my opinion at that moment when
we first came up, baseball is the number one sport
in the country. I really do feel that way. I
think now, you know, basketball, NFL is taken off, but
at that moment, I just think baseball was the number
one sport. Yeah, and so many people played it. I
mean we all played it when we were younger. So
(11:55):
that's probably the biggest difference in my mind. And we just,
you know, supposed to sport. Anyone can play any size shape.
You don't have to be seven feet tall. You don't
have to you know, you don't have to be take
this the right way. You don't have to be in
the best of shape to play baseball, you know. But
I just I'm a little biased. I don't know what
you think about being a number one sport back in
(12:16):
the early nineties, mid nineties, but that's the way I
looked at it.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Everything just felt so big, and partly was we were
teenagers coming up and we had a tremendous passion for
the game. And I don't know if data supports us,
but I certainly feel like baseball was number one. And
I remember the nineties and when you guys started winning
those championships, that wasn't just a New York story. That
(12:40):
was like a global stories. I mean, the Yankees being
back on top was so good for the health of
the game of baseball. They're a little bit like the
Cowboys and Lakers. You either love them or hate them,
but you never walk by and say, how do you
feel about the Yankees. I don't have an opinion. Everyone
has an opinion, and Derek was right in the forefront
to lead those CHAMPIONSHI years, which is awesot.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Never ignore New York teams, right, you know, I think
baseball's you know, once again, people are in sad bias,
but I think baseball's in a better condition When the
Yankees are doing well, when the Red Sox are doing well,
when the Dodgers are doing well, when the Cubs they
just won recently, when you have those big market teams
that are having some success, I think is better for
the sport.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
And so picking up where Alex just was, you know,
the team starts experiencing a lot of success. So what
does that do for you in terms of seeing not
just the business of baseball, but the business of Derek Jeter,
Because then you get to negotiate some contracts and like,
how does that evolve through the nineties for you?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah, I think, like I said before, when you're young,
you don't think about the business of baseball. You're just
out there playing. Yeah, like Alex mentioned, we've re signed
a one million dollar contract for life if we had
the chance to do it. Because you're not thinking about
the business side. I think you've sort of alerted or
made aware of the business side once you start going
to arbitration. Yes, that's when you sit down and you
understand how other people may feel about your performance on
(14:03):
the field. I have a better understanding for it now
because I was on the other side of it, or
I should say another side. It shouldn't be one side
or the other, it's another side. Of the sport. But
I think that's when I realized that the business of baseball.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
So what did you learn about that? Because you did
go through it. You know, you went through arbitration. You
were negotiating some pretty key contracts for yourself through the
end of the nineties there.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, you know it was harsh. I think arbitration.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
You ever go to arbitration, but I heard it's nasty.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah, I mean going through arbitration for the first time,
it's hard. You're actually sitting in a room looking across
the executives from your organization and they're telling you basically
how you're no good. Yeah, and you never had that understanding.
You never thought they felt this particular way. So if
you don't have thick skin, you can't go through it. Yeah,
because there have been players that you know, you get
scarred by the organization, you never recover from it. I
(14:54):
got scarred, right, but I was just able to hide
it a little bit better. But yeah, so when you
go through that situation, suation, that is a harsh lesson
in business. And you know, my contract negotiations from that
point forward, the long term extension I had, it really
wasn't that. You know, Alex did me a favor. He
signed a long term deal before me, you know what
(15:14):
I mean, So I sort of piggybacked off of his deal,
but it didn't really get messy until the end of
my career.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, and what about Steinbrenner, I mean on the other
side of that table. I mean, we got to talk
about George because both of you guys had a relationship
with him. You had, you know, long term relationship. What
did you make of him as a young person, and
then as you went along, what did you make of them?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
One he was smart, he wasn't in the arbitration room.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
He kept the distance.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
But no, I think Alex knows as well. In my opinion,
he's one of the greatest owners in all the sports,
you know, because he cared about the organization. He cared
about winning. He would do anything it took to win.
He was willing to pay the players, but he had
high expectations. There's a lot of accountability there. He liked
to challenge his top player to see if you could
(16:01):
take it. He would challenge you publicly. He would do
you got theirs towards the end of the boss, you know,
but when he was younger, he would challenge you publicly,
and then he'd see how you respond. He'd walk into
a clubhouse after a game, after a series. If you're
playing well, he's shake your hand. If you weren't playing well,
he'd look you up and down, shake his head and
go to the next guy. That's just what he would do.
(16:22):
But he wanted.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
No question.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, yeah, there's a story. I mean, you know, stories
of him and Well's going after it, you know, I mean,
going after each other. So there's a lot of stories
when it comes to the boss. But you have to
have thick skin in order to survive in New York,
and he demanded excellence and he wanted you to win
every day. He was an old football coach, right, so
you know he didn't really understand that in course of
(16:46):
one hundred and sixty two game schedule you could actually
lose a game like that didn't It didn't translate. Something
didn't click in his mind in that sense. We had
the same mindset. You know, every game you play, you
have a chance, you have an opportunity to win a game,
and he expected that.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
And there when it came down to, like your first
championship in ninety six, I know how much that meant
to him. How happy was he. I know how much
he loved you and how much he loved him, and
how special your relationship was. And like you said, I
got there to a little bit of tours to end.
Can you share some of the things that he inspired
you with, that motivated you, that kind of bonded you.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, we used to always he lived in Tampa. I
lived in Tampa for twenty some years. We used to
always get together in the off season and we get
together for lunch. And you know, he's a big Ohio
State guy, a big Michigan guy, so we had that
rivalry to you know, compete with. But he listened to
the players, not saying he listened to every opinion I had,
(17:41):
but he would ask And I do think if you're
in professional sports, if you're in an ownership position, you
should listen to the players who are in the clubhouse.
You don't have to make every decision based on their input,
but you should at least hear their input because that's
how you know the balance of things that are going
on inside the clubhouse. Was good like that, and you know,
(18:02):
we had their relationship. He asked me about players, he'd
ask me about not saying he listened to me like
I said, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
So take any names out of it, Derek, I don't
need to mention names, but give me an example of
how an example, and.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
I'll and I'll give you a name. I remember in
off telling, yeah, telling mister Steinbrenner that Louis Soho helped
me more than any infielder at the time that I
played with, or any coach. And he re signed Soho
after that. Wow, you know, because Louis was a guy,
you know, the best. Louie is the best, and I
learned so much from him. And if you're in the
(18:37):
front office, so to speak, you may not know the
value that Louis Soho brings to young players in that clubhouse.
But the boss wanted to know.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
I'll give you a Louis Soho story. So I had
him in Seattle and Louis like, you just got to
love the guy. He's one of these guys. And Tim
Rains is like this, you look at him, you start laughing. Yeah,
he hasn't even opened his mouth, but he's so damn funny. Well,
Louis has that in Spanish, right, He's Venezuela and I
was nineteen years old. He was backing me up, whatever
that means.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And he was forty five at the time. Forty five
at the time.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
And there was a play that I got as a
short stop and I kind of a little lack of
days ago and got it forced and we couldn't get
the double play. You know, I'm nineteen. I think I'm
pretty cool. We're playing at the Kingdome. So I come
in like running around and he's looking at me like
giving me a bad look. And Louis never gives you
a bad look, and he's like, what were you doing.
I said, well, I got the forest, I got one out.
(19:27):
He was no, No, He's like, screw the you gotta
get too. Attack that ball and give him a good
toss and get too. We need to outs there. And
I'll never forget that, because the point is if there's
an opportunity to get to get to and sometimes a
player can tell you that and not a coach. Right.
And I'm glad that he was such a leader for
you as well, because he really changed my career.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
What did he do specifically for you?
Speaker 1 (19:48):
We'd work every day in ground balls. He made it fun.
You play every single day baseball for a reason. One
hundred and sixty two games. It didn't get monotonous. You know,
you have to have fun with it, but have fun
but same time work extremely hard at it. And Louis
was big on that. He made it fun though.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Through the nineties. Obviously, you guys are are keeping in touch.
You're sort of taking a look at what he's doing.
You guys are playing each other now and again. This
is called the deal. So let's fast forward a little
bit too. He shows up in New York. There's a
pretty important deal that has to be cut at that
point because he's also a short stop. Do you remember
(20:27):
how all that went down?
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yeah, well I wasn't a part of that deal. You know,
when mister Steimer and had called and said that we
were signing Alex, he said, we're signing Alex as a
third basement, which I never thought would happen. I mean, why,
if you're him, why would you switch positions. I guess
he really wanted out of Texas, so he's willing to
play anywhere. But it was never a deal, no one ever,
and I give it to him. He never asked to
(20:50):
play shortstup, never brought it up. I never heard any
whispers about it because he had committed to play in
third base, and that's what I was told at the time.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah, it's interesting. My side of that story is Tom Hicks,
who was the owner of Texas, was having some financial
situation where he needed to move some contracts around. And
I remember walking into his house on a Saturday morning
after the season, and I think the Wild Card was game.
We were watching Minnesota and his Oakland in his home
in Texas, in his home office, and he said, Alex,
(21:17):
I need to trade you. Can you give me three teams?
I said, okay, give me to a Monday. And I
called him back Monday and I said Red Sox, Angels,
and Mets. And I said the Mets was really interesting
because I grew up watching Magic versus Bird and the
first thing I would do in the morning is see
what Derek did in the old box score when we
had to read the papers. So I thought, me going
(21:40):
to New York would be great for baseball. I would
be with the Mets, he's with the Yankees. Were both shortstops.
We both like the Angels. We always have great weather,
great places to play. And then the Red Sox was like, okay,
that's a good rivalry too. I worked in the Red
Sox deal for two months. That deal literally at the
one yard line, fell apart, and Cashman at MVP dinner said, hey,
(22:02):
if you're willing to move to third base, maybe we'll
make something happen. Well, I'm not a big drinker. I
was three focus in.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
I'm not a big drinker. Now changed the record.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
It's a little blurry. And then by my third cocktail,
go yeah, maybe I'll play third base, And two weeks
later it happened that quickly. So it just happened within
ten days.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I mean that the core of that group that got together, obviously,
you know some things happened in between. Then do you
want a world championship? When we come back, we discussed
Alex and Derrek's two thousand and nine World Championship, preparing
for life after baseball and lessons learned owning and running
the Miami Marlins and yes, one of the most talked
(22:49):
about relationships in baseball history. The core of that group
that got together, obviously you know some things happening in between.
Then do you win a world championship like it? And
(23:12):
after another little spell of not what does that championship do?
In your mind? You know nine it.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Is hard, man, I mean, winning is hard. It's difficult
to do. There's been plenty of years before two thousand
and nine, we thought we were going to win a
World Series. We thought we had a team that was
going to win, no doubt me can go to two
thousand and four, we had three zero lead against Boston.
We thought we're gonna win a World Series. So it
is hard to do. I never took it for granted.
(23:40):
I know Alex didn't because he hadn't won it before then.
But it's a lot of work.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Man.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
It really is a lot of work. So I don't
want to say you exhale. You can exhale for a minute,
but then you have to get ready for the next year.
But every team is different, you know. With the group
of two thousand and nine, with some new players, he
had CC with AJ we had texts, but some of
the guys that were there before we had been through
some losing seasons. So man, it was a good feeling.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I'd tell you For me, Jason, I remember giving Derek
a big hug at Yankee Stadium, but it was so
much relief. I certainly excelled because I had played fifteen
years and ultimately I mean, I would have been absolutely
heartbroken to move position, to come here for the greater
(24:26):
good of the team and to come up short. Remember
I grew up watching Dan Marino and Charles Barkley, two
of my favorites, right, and it breaks my heart to
this day. They say they yeah, but and it was
just complete validation and I was just so thankful to
God to put this thing to come true, you know,
(24:47):
as a great baseball fan. It was the greatest threw
of my baseball career by far. And I would move
to third base one hundred out of one hundred times
to be part of the Yankees championship run that year.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
One thing, you know that Alice was talking about switching
positions and finally winning a championship. We didn't the guys
that were there before. I say we There was a
few of us that were there before. We also didn't
want at the end of our career say, oh, well,
we were lucky. We won four on that lucky but
we won four out of five our first five years
in the big leagues and that we couldn't win again,
you know. So it's the thing in New York is
(25:22):
it's a constant reminder every single day that you have
not won, you know what I mean, It's like, you
gotta win this year.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
You got to what.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
They don't care what you've done in the past, which
is a great the reason why I think a lot
of people can't play in New York. You can't deal
with the expectation level. So we were constantly reminded from
two thousand up into two thousand and nine. So you
get tired of hearing the fact that you haven't won
in nine years. You need to win again. And I
think you know, New York is a hot spot. You
talk about the business part of it, New York is
(25:54):
a hot spot. So when you win, I'm sorry, it
elevates everyone at that point, you know, because I've always
said playing Yankee stadiums like performing on a Broadway play.
You feel like it's the top ticket in town. You know,
you feel like the lights are brighter. Everyone comes out,
every celebrity, you know, every entertainer is there to watch
the Yankees play. And the reason they show up is
because you win.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
One thing I've always marveled at, Derek. I've gone through
so much in my life through therapy and all that
kind of stuff to really it was I'm forty eight,
and I was around forty five where I look back
at Derek's Korean and I said, holy, I really got
an opportunity. I never thought we would ever get close again,
because we've had, you know, you know, our setbacks, partly
(26:35):
because of my shortcomings. But I said, I really have
an opportunity to appreciate what an incredible career you had
and to be in the greatest city, the biggest market
in the world, but yet be a little bit unknown
of what's going on off the field. And I remember
how much I failed and tripped, and the more I tried,
(26:57):
it was like quick sand, the deeper I will get
myself into it, And was say, Alex you he would
say two things to me. All you gotta do is
make contact, dr dance so damn strong, and stop striving out.
And then he would say to me, you don't have
to tell them anything. And when he told me that,
it makes sense. How the hell did you do that
(27:18):
and do it so well?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Well?
Speaker 1 (27:21):
I always wanted to have a separation with what I
did publicly, my job, my career, and my private life.
I truly believe once you let the toothpaste out of
the tube, you cannot put it back in. Once you
give people a little taste of what you're doing in
your private life, they want more. They want more, they
want more, and they feel as though you owe it
(27:43):
to them. Now I understand it. I was just never
comfortable sharing my private life, you know. I always wanted
to keep it to myself because my job came first.
That was I wanted no distractions. And I also understood,
you know, when you're playing profession sports, I knew I
did not need the media to do my job. Eventually,
(28:06):
they're going to need me at some point, right, So
if I went out and performed on the field, I
didn't have to worry about what anyone said because when
I wasn't opening the door to my private life. So
only thing you could talk about or confirm was what
I did on the field. And I just had an
understanding of that from a young age. I don't know,
(28:27):
I don't think anyone told me it. I just knew
that I would try to do whatever I could in
my mind to limit distractions. I would address something once
that's it, I wouldn't talk about it again. The more
you talk about it, the more the story continues on.
You know, people would ask us about our stud I
would address it one time, don't ask.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Me again, and I would talk about it every week
and he's like, dude, you're killing me, Like you don't
have to answer. He was great again. I mean, by
the way, stuff I would never talk about publicly to anyone.
But there was some real stuff that I was going
through my life that he gave me the greatest advice
and I didn't listen and it hurt me tremendously. So
(29:06):
my point is, over the years, I get to understand
Derek Jeter's greatness as a human being so much more
than when I played, because I was just too close
to it, and quite honest, I didn't have the tools.
And that's not an excuse. I really tried. I just
didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was
pretty good on the field though, that's where I shined.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
You know, were you frustrated with him when he didn't
listen to you?
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Well, I would only say frustrated if it became a
big story. Yeah, Well if we're talking about things that
didn't matter on the field, not just with him. I
mean it could be anyone. You know. That was frustrating
because I wanted when I got to the park to
the stadium. I wanted the conversation to be about the game,
and that's it.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
And so in your business life, one of the really
interesting decisions you make, and I feel like this is
actually of a piece, is to go with Jordan Brand.
I mean, that's a big decision on your part. We're
sort of early in the game. I think it's fair
to say tell us about that decision, because that's seminal
not just for you, but it's candidly seminal for that
(30:09):
brand too.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Yeah. You know, I first met Michael in nineteen ninety
four while he's playing baseball in Arizona Fall League.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
And I'll pointed out he was not as bad as
everyone rights him out to be. I mean, you take
off what since little league, and then you're playing baseball
at thirty years old in Double A you hit two hundred.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
That's that's not.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
A contract today. That's pretty damn Yeah. It's not easy
to do. So it was not as bad as everyone says.
So I first met him in Arizona and we just
developed a relationship from there. He's like a big brother
than me, you know, like magic is to you. I know,
you speak highly about magic all the time. He's one
of the first athletes alongside Magic that really took their
(30:52):
abilities on the court and it translated into business. They
had the business mindset because you know, up until that point,
I'm not saying anything about previous athletes, but it was
all you just perform on the court. You perform on
the field. When your career is over, that's it. Go
get them figure something else out. I think those two
were business savvy and they thought about post professional athletic career.
(31:17):
And you know, Michael's been as successful as anyone, and
he's been a mentor to me since, like a big brother,
like I said, and just thankful. He asked me to
be a part of the Jordan brand, and you know
when it first started, like, what do you mean part
of the jitsu basketball brand? What is a baseball player
going to do?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Right?
Speaker 1 (31:35):
But he wanted me to be the baseball player and
help him build the business.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
So did it feel risky to do that, to be
like the first baseball player to.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Do that, Well, I think risky. I mean, if you're
going to take a risk, I think you take it
with someone like Michael, you know, So I don't necessarily
think it was risky on my part, you know. Plus
it was the cool factor, you know, I mean everyone
wanted to be associated with Michael back then and now
yeah now too. Yeah, you're right at the point, same thing.
So I didn't look at it as being risky.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
So let's shift to sort of post baseball, and you know,
we talk about about this a lot, and Alex has
shared some of this before. But that moment when you
decide to retire, I mean, there's the decision, and then
there's the execution and the moment when you are no
longer a professional athlete, You're no longer a New York
(32:26):
Yank at least as your job. You'll always be New
York Yank here, et cetera. But what is that moment,
Like when you wake up that morning you're like, huh, okay,
the decision or afterwards tell us about the decision and
then and then.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Well, the decision was not a difficult. They would have
got rid of me anyway. They're trying to run me,
run me out, So I don't think the decision.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Was joined the club. Yeah, the decision, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
The decision wasn't a difficult decision. You know, it's I'd
broken my ankle twice. I've basically missed the previous year,
and I wanted to have one more. I want to
play a season healthy. So I called hal Steinberner and
told him, and he said, look, you know you deserve
to announce it any way you want to announce it.
I announced it before the season started because I knew
(33:12):
if I did not that I'd be asked about it
all the time, you know, every single day my teammates
would be asked about it. So I announced it before
the season, and then when the season was over with man,
I was tired. You know, I really was tired. It's
twenty years in New York. I've jokingly says, like dog here,
it's one hundred and forty years playing in New York.
(33:33):
I got everything I could get out of my career,
and physically I was, you know.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
I was.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
I was done.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
What's your business mindset at that point, because obviously you've
been thinking about it for a time. Your partnered with
with Jordan Brandon, those sorts of things, and we've talked
about this. You're in New York, so I mean you
have access and you know, beyond name recognition, you have
sort of access to a lot of corporate minds, investment minds,
et cetera. What are the first few things that you
(34:00):
think about doing well?
Speaker 3 (34:01):
First?
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I didn't start preparing for post playing career the day
I woke up the next day. Right afterwards, I started
preparing for post career years in advance. My biggest fears
in life is being unprepared in anything. You know, a
lot of times you hear athletes say game slows down
or it speeds up. I think it speeds up when
you're unprepared. So I didn't want to wake up and say,
(34:22):
what am I going to do next? I started talking
about team ownership maybe ten years left in my career.
During my career, I made every decision when it came
to contract negotiations, marketing, philanthropy, atum on foundation. These are
all pillars of an organization. I lived in Tampa. I
learned about player development and scouting and analytics, so I
(34:43):
wanted to be as prepared as I could. I started
a company called The Player's Tribune. We actually launched right
after my career. But I didn't just wake up and
say let's start a company today. You know, you start
thinking about these things, and that's why I think that
it made my transition into the business world speak a
lot easier because I started preparing and I started learning
for it.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
And Derek, when you talk about the Marlins, THEO, that
team that went to the playoffs this year for the
Marlins with very very limited resources, has your handprints all
over it. The pitching, the development, the people you hired.
And I was in the community and I just heard
all the great things you were doing in that community.
What would you say was the hardest part and the
(35:25):
best part of being CEO and owner of the Marlins.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
The hardest part was having patience because you want things.
You know as a player, you get a hit, you
don't get a hit, you win a game, you lose
a game. It's instant gratification or failure. When you're building
something like especially in an organization, a sports organization, where
basically you're turning something around, you're going in another direction,
(35:51):
it takes time. That can be very very draining mentally
because you want it to happen right away. And that
was probably the heart this part is trying to have
some patience.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
I don't have a lot of any more time with
limited resources. Yeah, and not against your partners, but that
market it could be very, very challenging. Yeah, if you
were in New York or Boston or the resources are
just tremendous and you can actually expedite it a little bit.
But here you had to be very clever, ready had
to roll up or sleeves.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
I figured, you know, we played in New York. You
show up at Yankee Stadium. There's fifty thousand people there.
That's just how it works.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
You know.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
One of the first things I did when I was
CEO in Miami was I brought every single member of
the front office by department into the clubhouse and I
introduced them to the players because I wanted the players
to see how many people were working behind the scenes
to make their jobs easier. Everyone said, you know, how
long they've been with the organization, what exactly it is
(36:44):
that they do. There were employees that had been there
twenty plus years and never stepped foot in the major
league clubhouse.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Now.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
The employees thanked me, but the players also thank me because,
like I said, you don't understand that part of it.
So building an organization and taking the time and spending
the time I expected that. You know, when you care
about something, you put in the work. It took a
long time to try to develop trust. You know, I
can't walk in the room and say trust me. You
don't know me, right, So you got to get to
(37:12):
know a lot of people. Spend a lot of time
in the Miami community getting to know a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
I'm in Miami.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
I'm not moving now, I'm there, So I'm happy that
I had a chance to do that. But that's a
part of building an organization that people don't see the
stuff that goes on behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
And so you exit that situation. How do you look
back on it and how does it influence what you
do next?
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Oh? Man, how do I look back on it? I
take the good with the bad. I think you learn
a lot of lessons. I'm happy with some of the
hires that I had. You know, I wanted to have
a diverse front office. I was able to accomplish that.
I didn't do it because I wanted to focus on it.
I did because it was the right thing. You hire
the right people. You give people opportunities. I was given
opportunities throughout my life. You want to return that. So
(37:56):
I look back with you know, I try to focus
on the positive. I'm positive by nature, you know, so
there's a lot of things that we accomplish that I'm
happy with. And those are some lessons that I've learned.
There's mistakes that have been made. I won't make those
mistakes again.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
If there's ever another opportunity with what you learned, and
I'm sure, I mean, there's nothing you can do because
the reputation you've built and your track record speaks for itself.
If an opportunity came calling, and let's just say it's
not a smaller market, let's just say as a mid
market or even a large market, and they wanted you
to be the owner and operate, again, I.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Don't have enough money.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
My question, and to be honest, would you want another
crack at it? Would you be open to it? Ah?
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Man, you know that's a tough, tough question. You never
say never, but you have to be there, you have
to be present. And I have four young kids now, man,
and I understand how difficult it is. And you know,
you want to get into a situation where you can
make decisions, make all decisions, and unless you have a
controlling owner ownership stake, you can't make those decisions. So
(39:04):
that's a tough one to answer. But you ask me now, now.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
And Derek, how do you think about investing? Does investing
excite you? Are you someone that picks up the phone
and calls a Michael or calls Pasada or one of
your friends? Do you share ideas? How do you think
about investing when opportunities coming away? Because there's going to
be viewers that are going to say, I would love
to have my hero Derek Jeter invest in my company.
I'm a young founder. How do you think about that?
(39:27):
How do people approach you? How do they find you? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (39:30):
I think one of the benefits and perks of playing
in New York is you get a chance to meet
a lot of people. I've met a lot of people
throughout my careers. I still get a chance to meet
a lot of people. The way I look at it,
Alex is I invest in people. You know, you run
into people all the time. They have great ideas. Everyone
has a great idea. Everyone has a business is going
(39:50):
to be a billion dollar business. But you have to
invest in people, and you have to get to know them,
and you have to know if they're passionate about what
they're doing. Some people have businesses where they're in it
to make money. Look we all want to make money,
but if that's your number one priority, if you're not
passionate about it, then I think that's a red flag.
So I always like to invest in people. I think
that works for you know, works in clubhouses, and it
(40:12):
works in businesses, it works in investments. So I tend
to just lean towards the you know, the character and
the passion of the people.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
So one of the more recent decisions that you've made
is to join the commentating world, which I believe you
had initially said no interest there. Now part of it
was you were an owner and CEO of a team.
What drew you to the commentating booth.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
I'd been asked that question before and I was absolutely
not I'm not doing this. I went to World Series
last year and I was just on the set with
these guys Philly, Yeah, for a few minutes, you know,
and just saw how much fun they were having, you know.
And one thing that I never wanted to do was
(40:57):
to get into a situation where I had to be
overly critical of players because I know how hard it
is to play the game, and I saw how much
fun they were having, and I was asked to be
a part of it. And I said, hey, you know,
as long as we can have fun with it, I
don't want to be overly analytical, which I know he
agrees with, and just really get a chance to shine
(41:18):
a light on the sport.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
I love baseball.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Yeah, I really do love baseball. I think it's the
greatest game in the world, and if we have a
chance to shine a light on it, then I'm all
for it.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
And Alex, you and I have talked about this. I mean,
it does feel like this has been we may look
back on this as a really critical year in the
history of baseball rule changes. I think the storylines that
have been really good. Do you agree with that? I mean,
is there something that has happened and what is it
that is sort of causing a little bit of a
(41:48):
Dare I say rebound for baseball?
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Yeah, Baseball's lag behind other sports. You know, you go
through the history of other sports, NFL, NBA, There's always
rule changes. There's always is a three point shot, there's all.
You know. You change the rules for the betterment of
the game. And no matter no matter how you look
at it, it's entertainment. You get the fans watching. You
have to listen to the fans, and I think the
fans in baseball were saying, look, one, the game's too long.
(42:13):
You got to find a way to speed it up.
So I think Baseball deserves credit for making some rule
changes and I'm sure there'll probably be more adjustments along
the way.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
Well, and kind of stitching that back to something you
were talking about a minute ago, Derek, is you know
you show up on set last year, you see these guys.
What's it been like sort of working with with the crew.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
I'm new man, I mean, this is this is I'm new.
I mean seriously, the first game we're in London, they
threw me on at the desk like five minutes before.
I can't even figure out to get my ear piece
in it. I have no idea. They're talking in my
ear and I'm trying to answer them, and I'm like,
I'm not supposed to be answering them, you know. So
it's it's a learning experience. I think you get more
and more comfortable as you go through it. Alex is
a pro. He's been doing it for a long time.
(42:54):
He enjoys it. I remember when we were playing I
used to tell them, you know you're gonna get into
you know TVs, Oh no, for never. On every channel
you turn, he's here, he's doing a game there, So
he's yeah, he's doing everything.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
You can't shut me up. That's never changed.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
So it's you know, it's you learn, you know, you know,
you hope to get better. I know I've made mistakes,
but ultimately you just want to have fun. You want
the viewers watching to have fun.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
I've been asked about a lot of players, obviously none
none as big as Derek. So when they approached me about, hey,
what do you think about Derek? Would you be okay
with it? I'm like, of course I'll be okay with it.
You know, that's something that he has to figure out
if he wants to do. And they were asking me basically,
what's the scout report, you know, pitching. We say, hey,
we're facing Jason's like, what does he got right? And
(43:41):
I said, look, you're never going to find someone that
is more prepared. You're never going to find He'll never
be unprepared. So he's gonna come ready to play every day.
He understands entertainment, he understands being part of a team.
He has a really good relationship with Big Poppy, my
relationship is solid, and he's gonna love Kevin Burkhart, so
I think he'll fit great. And you know, obviously they
(44:02):
got to talking, and so far he's off to an
amazing start. I'm actually in awe of how quickly he's adjusted,
because it took me a while to get going. I mean,
he's probably at the two week mark where it was
at the two year mark. So I'm excited. We're going
to have a great run. And by the way you
said it best, we're talking and highlighting the greatest baseball
players in the world. We've had a phenomenal year and
(44:24):
our job is to be an extension of Rob Manford
and Tony Clark and all the great things they're doing,
and we get to do it in a national stage
when everybody pays attention.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
And you know, the other thing, when you're talking baseball,
this is this is what the way I try to
look at it is. Whatever we say is not wrong.
It may not sound right, it may not come out right,
you may not articulate it well, but it's not wrong.
It's your opinion. Yeah, And we played the game for
a long time and people don't have to necessarily agree
with our opinions, but it's not wrong.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Yeah. One of the lessons I learned, and again Derek
and our opposites, like I've made every mistake in the book.
He doesn't make it. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes.
But when we're out there, to Derek's point talking about players, managers,
front offices, the lesson I learned is you can be
critical as long as you're not personal right, and you
(45:16):
can say something like, look, I think Jason's one of
my favorite players, but he's had a rough week, and
if you ask him, he'll be the first one to
admit that. But here's what I think Jason's going to do.
I think he's gonna do X y Z right versus
taking a personal shot. And I think that's a that's
a really fine line. You want to stay in the
other in the right side of that, all right.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
So I got to say, you don't have to say,
but I'm going to say. So when I saw that
you were coming over and you guys were going to
work together, even you know, when I came in here today, like,
how's this going to go between these two? Because there
is history there. You guys seem good.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Why don't people need to put it to bed. I
think at some point, Jesus, this was one something you
have known him for thirty years, you know what I mean.
And I get asked more about our relationship than I
do my wife.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
That's scary.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
Yeah, I mean, it's just put it to bed. I mean,
we said we're fine working together again. You know, you
can't change history. History happened, right, It's over and done with.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
You move on. What's funny our partners and Hannah and Jack,
I think they're happy that we're in this place. I've
had so many New York Yankee fans come up and say,
I'm so glad that you guys. I don't care if
you're best friends. I'm just glad that you guys are
working together.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
And when they have their hero and someone that they
admire together, that one together. I think it's warming to
their heart to know that we are getting along. Yeah,
that's my thought.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
And so when you think about I mean, and this
is a question for Derek, and I don't know if
you and I have ever really talked about it. Alex,
you know this idea of playing for the Yankees, I mean,
it does it hits different? And so what do you
think about as your life, see especially as a Yankee
as you look back twenty year career there, like what
(47:05):
jumps to your mind? What do you think is the
most important thing. What's the thing that you want to
be most remembered for as a Yankee?
Speaker 1 (47:12):
Oh, I mean you want to be remembered as being
a good teammate, you know, you want to be remembered
as winning obviously who you are on the field, I
think off the field. But for me, I've always said
the only thing I care about is being remembered as
a Yankee because it's the only thing I wanted, the
only team I wanted to play for, only thing I
wanted to be remembered for. So I'm fine with that,
(47:35):
you know, I'm fine with that. That's that's if my
legacy is just being a member of the Yankees.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
I'm fine. Yeah, And I probably share this with so
many Yankee fans around the world. Like, just playing twenty
five feet from Derek, regardless of what's happening, with the
noise that I created, it was such an incredible feeling. Again,
with time and perspective, it makes you appreciate it even
(48:04):
more that the guy that was playing next to me
was always going to be prepared and ready to play,
and that meant so much to me. And I think
no matter what the relationship has happened, like that mutual
respect on the field has always been I think one
hundred one hundred. We had that commonality about we both
want to win at the highest level. Like I never
(48:25):
had to worry about Derek playing hard or running hard
or did he watch film? Never And that's something that
to me, I always underscore.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
One of the most fascinating things about athletes at this
point in their career as former athletes, and Alex and
I talk about this all the time, is you've got
all this time when you leave the game ahead of you.
I say this because we're roughly the same age. You're
a young man. What's your legacy for this part of
your career and your life?
Speaker 3 (48:54):
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
That's a good question, because you say, you know, when
you're an athlete, you turn thirty, everyone starts telling you old. Right,
you retire or retired at forty, and then you're young again,
right man. Now, the only thing that matters to me
the most is being a good parent.
Speaker 3 (49:09):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
I'm biased my parents. The best thing I can say
about my parents, is they were present. You know, I
want to be there for my kids. That's the number
one priority for me. It really is. I'm not just
saying it. It is the number one priority for me
is to be there with my family, with my kids,
help them find the thing that they're passionate about. I
don't care what it is. I just want them to
(49:31):
find something that they're passionate about. I want them to
work extremely hard at it, and I want to be
there to support them. So I think that is number
one for me.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
This has been amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you both.
I mean, we're doing this together, but I feel like
I learned a ton about the Yankees that both of
your business ambitions, and really appreciate you being as candid
and thoughtful as you as for having me.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (49:55):
Thanks a lot.
Speaker 3 (49:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (49:56):
Captain The Deals of production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals.
The Deals hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly. Our
producers are Victor Vees and Lizzie Phillip. Our story editor
is Sir Dartha Mahonta. Our assistant producer is Stacy Wong
(50:19):
Blake Maples is our sound engineer. Rubob Shakir is our
creative director. Our direction is from Jacquelin Kessler. Original music
by Blake Maples, casting by Dave Warren. Our editorial supervisor
is David E. Rabella. Our executive producers are Sage Bauman,
Jason Kelly, Adam Kamiski, Kelly la Ferrier, Ashley Hoenig, Trey Shallowhorn,
(50:42):
Kyle Kramer, and Andrew Barden. Additional support from Rachel Scarmazino,
Elena Los Angeles, Vanessa Perdomo, and Anna Masarakis. Nesser Slia
is our director of photography. Our camera operators are Danny
Celia and Jordan Keslo. Katia Vanoy is our video editor.
Our assistant camera is Stephen Neil and Eric Sanchez is
(51:03):
our gaffer. You can also watch The Deal on Bloomberger Originals,
YouTube and Bloomberg Television. Subscribe to the Deal wherever you
get your podcasts. Thanks for listening.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. The hardest part was
having patience. You know, as a player, you get a hit,
you don't get a hit. You win a game, you
lose a game. It's instant gratification or failure. When you're
(00:25):
building something, especially in organization, a sports organization, where basically
you're turning something around right, you're going in another direction,
it takes time that can be very, very draining mentally
because you want it to happen right away.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Alex, this is one that I very much had circled
on the calendar. Derek Jeter, I mean the captain coming
in to talk to us. Who is Derek Jeter?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
To you, well, he's a five time world champion. He
was a teammate that I was lucky enough and fortunate
enough to win the title in O nine with him.
We played for almost fifteen years, about twenty feet away,
and he is someone that I have a tremendous amount
(01:19):
of respect. Look, we've known each other for over thirty years.
I believe there's a third time in over thirty years
that we've been interviewed together, Wow, in any capacity. So
I learned a lot listening to him, and I think
the listeners will really get a kick out of this.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
One, all right, So I have to fully confess I
told you this before we'd sat down for this interview,
like I didn't totally know what to expect, because as
well as I've gotten to know you, a lot of
headlines over the years and a lot of speculation about
what the relationship was between you guys we fully address.
I think you know there was a rocky period in
(01:58):
that relationship, and yet I will say, you guys tell
some stories about those early days, you know, when you
were still teenagers and what that was like sort of
coming up together. And you know, one of my takeaways
at least was no matter what happens, if you have
that sort of foundation in a relationship, there's hope.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I thought you were going to say, even though you
didn't like me, you liked him as a player. I
was waiting for that because that is told to me
all the time, you know, Jason. The interesting thing about
Derek and I have a lot of love and respect
for Derek. I think with time you grow a certain
amount of appreciation. And I told him recently because we
(02:40):
are now joined at the hip at Fox covering the
baseball playoffs and World Series that I appreciate him even
more today than I did when we played together. Yeah,
because what he showed the power of restriction, as I
call it, is so much hard, harder to restrict than
(03:02):
to act. Yeah, and he was really good at that.
He had tremendous discipline.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
The other thing that also occurred to me Alex as
we were getting ready for this and then even in
the conversation, was you guys have both made a commitment
to stay close to the game. He went into the
front office. He now is your broadcast partner on Fox.
This love of the game and this sort of even
(03:27):
shared experience after baseball is fascinating to me.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
We're so similar in some ways, in opposites in others,
and I've really admired the way he's transitioned in his
post baseball career. And he went through ownership and management.
I went to just ownership because I wouldn't know how
to manage a basketball team. I'm really excited for people
(03:52):
to get to hear this episode because one of my
favorite ones on this episode of the Deal the Captain
Derek Jeter.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Wait, so when did you guys first meet Heldria.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I was eighteen he claimed to be seventeen.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
As a fact.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Where was it.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
It was the Mark Lats Stadium, Michigan. Had come down
to the University of Miami and he had signed to
go to the University of Michigan. Was already a pro
with the Yankees, and I was an upcoming draft and
I had signed to go to University of Miami. So
it was like Kitch school versus my school. It was cool. Wow.
And I was talking to Casey Close at the time
(04:45):
and really got to like Casey Close a lot. And yeah,
I'm still no case who's been with Derek's hole.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Casey's my agent. Ye. We had actually spoke on the
phone prior.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
To really when people used to talk on the phone. Yeah,
exactly what was it like back then for young athletes
because it's not like you weren't following him on social media?
Speaker 1 (05:05):
No, it was it was more of I was older.
I think you know, Alex has always been inquisitive. He
asked a lot of questions, which I'm sure you know. Yeah,
when we spoke the first time, and I even remember
is just asking some questions about my experience. I was
trying to share some my experience just being a year
older so there, I think there were some similarities when
it came to that. Outside of that, well, I mean
(05:27):
from Kalamazoo's from Miami.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
So my memory, Jason is that obviously there was no
social media, but for high school players there was this
thing called Baseball America and this would come out of
me two weeks and I remember I would take my
mom and she would give me a couple bucks and
we'll go to seven eleven. I would buy it, and
a lot of times I would go early, three four
days to see I wanted to read every piece of that.
(05:49):
And I remember seeing Derek with this burgundy high school uniform.
I believe he had Nike high tops, and I'm like
reading about this guy and he's like, okay, he's my
color skin. He's from Calamuz, Michigan. That's strange. He's a
first pick for the Yankees, right six pick overall, but
he's six foot three and like, Okay, well if he
can be a first round or well maybe I can too. Yeah.
(06:11):
So I just remember being incredibly inspired and impressed that
someone can be in Kalamazoo, play a much shorter season
than we play in Miami and you'll still be the
number one pick by The New York Yankee. Thought that
was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, all right, so we'll officially officially staright now. So Derek,
if you would't mind, please introduce yourself. Tell us what
you're doing these days.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Derek Jeter, What am I doing these days? Outside of
being a parent. I have four young kids and doing
some stuff commentating with Fox Sports alongside Alex, David Ortiz,
Kevin Burkhart, a few business interests as well, a few
companies that I've founded, boards that I'm on. I'm pretty busy. Yeah,
you know, I'm pretty busy, but it's a good busy.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I think.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
You know, when you talk to athletes, a lot of
times when they retire, people think they just stay at
home and they start playing golf and drinking wine all
day long. As good as that sounds, I think, start
preparing yourself for the next chapter. So keep myself busy.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, all right, we're going to get into all that,
but I want to go back and start if I
can partner with sort of where you'd left off in
that story. It's like going to the Yankees. That's probably
you know, this show is called The Deal, biggest business
decision you probably make in your early life is or
they make about you. You're going to the New York Yankees.
(07:25):
Do you remember that moment.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
And pass in a scholarship to go to Michigan, which
is pretty impressive as it is.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Well, I think they made the decision. Yeah, you know,
because in sports it's a crapshoot. You don't know who's
going to draft. Do you have no IDEA Draft's a
little bit different nowadays than it was when when we
were drafted and we sit around a way for a
phone call. So yeah, as Alex mentioned, I had signed
to go to university in Michigan, drafted by the Yankees.
Yankee fan growing up, the only team I ever wanted
to play for, So in that sense, I was very fortunate.
(07:53):
Education was huge in my family. My dad got his
PhD in sociology at Western Michigan University and Calm Zoo, Michigan,
the reason why.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
I grew up there.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
It was really a decision. It was a big decision.
It wasn't as easy of a decision as some people
may think.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
You know.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
So I signed with the Yankees and they agreed to
if and when I wanted to go to school, they
pay for me to go to University of Michigan. So
I went University of Michigan my first off season and
still a freshman. So you've seen that movie Back to School,
Ronnie Dangerville.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
That's going to be me.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
It's coming out, It's coming, it's coming soon.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
But by the way, Jason, just to bring you back
to nineteen ninety two, because I was watching from the
sidelines in Miami. From Miami, you know, Derek was born
to be a New York Yankee, and he grew up
watching the Yankees, admiring the Yankees, wanted to be a
short stop like Zoota and all of that. But what
was interesting is leading into that draft, Houston had the
number one pick and there was a lot of talk
(08:48):
that Derek would be one one in Houston. They actually
ended up drafting the cow State Fullerton superstar in Phil Nevian.
And then Cincinnati had the fifth pick and they also
said they were going to pick Derek. They chose Chad Mattola,
and then it fell to number six with the Yankees.
So the Yankees got a huge break by having Derek
be available, which no one thought he would be available.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Thank God. Yeah for me, Yeah no, because I was
a Yankee fan. I didn't even know the Yankees drafted six.
You know, Alex just sits at home because he was
the first pick.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
From the phone to ring, I'm sitting out there sweating
it out, waiting to see who was going to draft me.
So yeah, it's like a crap shoot. I never thought
I would be drafted by the Yankees, but you know,
luck was on my side.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I guess obviously you were a fan, but it's one
thing to be a fan. It's an entirely different thing,
I would imagine because I'm only a fan, but you
put on those pin stripes for the first That's an
entirely different proposition because now not only are you a Yankee,
you're playing in the biggest stage. Did that feel weighty
to you?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
No, not necessarily. I think playing for the Yankees now
it's a little bit different than when I first arrived.
They hadn't had a lot of success. Yanks didn't won
a World Series since seventy eight. You know, they haven't
been to one, I think to nineteen eighty one they
lost to La So I think the expectation level was
(10:09):
a little bit different when I first got to New
York and now, I think the expectation levels have changed.
They've risen because of the success of the franchise. But
you know, when you get there, you don't I don't
think you put that much pressure on yourself. You're trying
to keep your job, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I don't know if you remember.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
We had a conversation. I think this was in nineteen
ninety five, towards the end of the year. We're playing Seattle,
and you had mentioned, Man, I wish they'd just give
us an orientation year. We can hit to sixty.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Our first year and get comfortable.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
You never had the orientation year, but that was our mindset.
We just want we're there, we want to stay there.
We do anything we can to stay in the major leagues.
So I don't think I ever put that much pressure
on myself with thought about it as being weight.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I don't know if you remember this one. I mean,
we're here in La probably after that year ninety five,
and we're both of going into our orientation year and
we're in a cab ride and I think we might
have both left our money back. That's when we actually
needed to have cash and that right now, and we
were just like, man, if we can just make a million.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Dollars in our careers.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
If they put a contract right in front of me
for a million dollars for my career, I think I
would sign it with you. He's like, hell yeah, I
man a lot of money. I'm glad we have a
contract for or pen.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Wow. I mean it's interesting you say that, Derek, because
baseball was at a different moment in the early nineties.
What was the scene like as a player?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I would say, in my opinion at that moment when
we first came up, baseball is the number one sport
in the country. I really do feel that way. I
think now, you know, basketball, NFL is taken off, but
at that moment, I just think baseball was the number
one sport. Yeah, and so many people played it. I
mean we all played it when we were younger. So
(11:55):
that's probably the biggest difference in my mind. And we just,
you know, supposed to sport. Anyone can play any size shape.
You don't have to be seven feet tall. You don't
have to you know, you don't have to be take
this the right way. You don't have to be in
the best of shape to play baseball, you know. But
I just I'm a little biased. I don't know what
you think about being a number one sport back in
(12:16):
the early nineties, mid nineties, but that's the way I
looked at it.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Everything just felt so big, and partly was we were
teenagers coming up and we had a tremendous passion for
the game. And I don't know if data supports us,
but I certainly feel like baseball was number one. And
I remember the nineties and when you guys started winning
those championships, that wasn't just a New York story. That
(12:40):
was like a global stories. I mean, the Yankees being
back on top was so good for the health of
the game of baseball. They're a little bit like the
Cowboys and Lakers. You either love them or hate them,
but you never walk by and say, how do you
feel about the Yankees. I don't have an opinion. Everyone
has an opinion, and Derek was right in the forefront
to lead those CHAMPIONSHI years, which is awesot.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Never ignore New York teams, right, you know, I think
baseball's you know, once again, people are in sad bias,
but I think baseball's in a better condition When the
Yankees are doing well, when the Red Sox are doing well,
when the Dodgers are doing well, when the Cubs they
just won recently, when you have those big market teams
that are having some success, I think is better for
the sport.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
And so picking up where Alex just was, you know,
the team starts experiencing a lot of success. So what
does that do for you in terms of seeing not
just the business of baseball, but the business of Derek Jeter,
Because then you get to negotiate some contracts and like,
how does that evolve through the nineties for you?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah, I think, like I said before, when you're young,
you don't think about the business of baseball. You're just
out there playing. Yeah, like Alex mentioned, we've re signed
a one million dollar contract for life if we had
the chance to do it. Because you're not thinking about
the business side. I think you've sort of alerted or
made aware of the business side once you start going
to arbitration. Yes, that's when you sit down and you
understand how other people may feel about your performance on
(14:03):
the field. I have a better understanding for it now
because I was on the other side of it, or
I should say another side. It shouldn't be one side
or the other, it's another side. Of the sport. But
I think that's when I realized that the business of baseball.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
So what did you learn about that? Because you did
go through it. You know, you went through arbitration. You
were negotiating some pretty key contracts for yourself through the
end of the nineties there.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, you know it was harsh. I think arbitration.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
You ever go to arbitration, but I heard it's nasty.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah, I mean going through arbitration for the first time,
it's hard. You're actually sitting in a room looking across
the executives from your organization and they're telling you basically
how you're no good. Yeah, and you never had that understanding.
You never thought they felt this particular way. So if
you don't have thick skin, you can't go through it. Yeah,
because there have been players that you know, you get
scarred by the organization, you never recover from it. I
(14:54):
got scarred, right, but I was just able to hide
it a little bit better. But yeah, so when you
go through that situation, suation, that is a harsh lesson
in business. And you know, my contract negotiations from that
point forward, the long term extension I had, it really
wasn't that. You know, Alex did me a favor. He
signed a long term deal before me, you know what
(15:14):
I mean, So I sort of piggybacked off of his deal,
but it didn't really get messy until the end of
my career.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, and what about Steinbrenner, I mean on the other
side of that table. I mean, we got to talk
about George because both of you guys had a relationship
with him. You had, you know, long term relationship. What
did you make of him as a young person, and
then as you went along, what did you make of them?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
One he was smart, he wasn't in the arbitration room.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
He kept the distance.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
But no, I think Alex knows as well. In my opinion,
he's one of the greatest owners in all the sports,
you know, because he cared about the organization. He cared
about winning. He would do anything it took to win.
He was willing to pay the players, but he had
high expectations. There's a lot of accountability there. He liked
to challenge his top player to see if you could
(16:01):
take it. He would challenge you publicly. He would do
you got theirs towards the end of the boss, you know,
but when he was younger, he would challenge you publicly,
and then he'd see how you respond. He'd walk into
a clubhouse after a game, after a series. If you're
playing well, he's shake your hand. If you weren't playing well,
he'd look you up and down, shake his head and
go to the next guy. That's just what he would do.
(16:22):
But he wanted.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
No question.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, yeah, there's a story. I mean, you know, stories
of him and Well's going after it, you know, I mean,
going after each other. So there's a lot of stories
when it comes to the boss. But you have to
have thick skin in order to survive in New York,
and he demanded excellence and he wanted you to win
every day. He was an old football coach, right, so
you know he didn't really understand that in course of
(16:46):
one hundred and sixty two game schedule you could actually
lose a game like that didn't It didn't translate. Something
didn't click in his mind in that sense. We had
the same mindset. You know, every game you play, you
have a chance, you have an opportunity to win a game,
and he expected that.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
And there when it came down to, like your first
championship in ninety six, I know how much that meant
to him. How happy was he. I know how much
he loved you and how much he loved him, and
how special your relationship was. And like you said, I
got there to a little bit of tours to end.
Can you share some of the things that he inspired
you with, that motivated you, that kind of bonded you.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, we used to always he lived in Tampa. I
lived in Tampa for twenty some years. We used to
always get together in the off season and we get
together for lunch. And you know, he's a big Ohio
State guy, a big Michigan guy, so we had that
rivalry to you know, compete with. But he listened to
the players, not saying he listened to every opinion I had,
(17:41):
but he would ask And I do think if you're
in professional sports, if you're in an ownership position, you
should listen to the players who are in the clubhouse.
You don't have to make every decision based on their input,
but you should at least hear their input because that's
how you know the balance of things that are going
on inside the clubhouse. Was good like that, and you know,
(18:02):
we had their relationship. He asked me about players, he'd
ask me about not saying he listened to me like
I said, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
So take any names out of it, Derek, I don't
need to mention names, but give me an example of
how an example, and.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
I'll and I'll give you a name. I remember in
off telling, yeah, telling mister Steinbrenner that Louis Soho helped
me more than any infielder at the time that I
played with, or any coach. And he re signed Soho
after that. Wow, you know, because Louis was a guy,
you know, the best. Louie is the best, and I
learned so much from him. And if you're in the
(18:37):
front office, so to speak, you may not know the
value that Louis Soho brings to young players in that clubhouse.
But the boss wanted to know.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
I'll give you a Louis Soho story. So I had
him in Seattle and Louis like, you just got to
love the guy. He's one of these guys. And Tim
Rains is like this, you look at him, you start laughing. Yeah,
he hasn't even opened his mouth, but he's so damn funny. Well,
Louis has that in Spanish, right, He's Venezuela and I
was nineteen years old. He was backing me up, whatever
that means.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And he was forty five at the time. Forty five
at the time.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
And there was a play that I got as a
short stop and I kind of a little lack of
days ago and got it forced and we couldn't get
the double play. You know, I'm nineteen. I think I'm
pretty cool. We're playing at the Kingdome. So I come
in like running around and he's looking at me like
giving me a bad look. And Louis never gives you
a bad look, and he's like, what were you doing.
I said, well, I got the forest, I got one out.
(19:27):
He was no, No, He's like, screw the you gotta
get too. Attack that ball and give him a good
toss and get too. We need to outs there. And
I'll never forget that, because the point is if there's
an opportunity to get to get to and sometimes a
player can tell you that and not a coach. Right.
And I'm glad that he was such a leader for
you as well, because he really changed my career.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
What did he do specifically for you?
Speaker 1 (19:48):
We'd work every day in ground balls. He made it fun.
You play every single day baseball for a reason. One
hundred and sixty two games. It didn't get monotonous. You know,
you have to have fun with it, but have fun
but same time work extremely hard at it. And Louis
was big on that. He made it fun though.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Through the nineties. Obviously, you guys are are keeping in touch.
You're sort of taking a look at what he's doing.
You guys are playing each other now and again. This
is called the deal. So let's fast forward a little
bit too. He shows up in New York. There's a
pretty important deal that has to be cut at that
point because he's also a short stop. Do you remember
(20:27):
how all that went down?
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yeah, well I wasn't a part of that deal. You know,
when mister Steimer and had called and said that we
were signing Alex, he said, we're signing Alex as a
third basement, which I never thought would happen. I mean, why,
if you're him, why would you switch positions. I guess
he really wanted out of Texas, so he's willing to
play anywhere. But it was never a deal, no one ever,
and I give it to him. He never asked to
(20:50):
play shortstup, never brought it up. I never heard any
whispers about it because he had committed to play in
third base, and that's what I was told at the time.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah, it's interesting. My side of that story is Tom Hicks,
who was the owner of Texas, was having some financial
situation where he needed to move some contracts around. And
I remember walking into his house on a Saturday morning
after the season, and I think the Wild Card was game.
We were watching Minnesota and his Oakland in his home
in Texas, in his home office, and he said, Alex,
(21:17):
I need to trade you. Can you give me three teams?
I said, okay, give me to a Monday. And I
called him back Monday and I said Red Sox, Angels,
and Mets. And I said the Mets was really interesting
because I grew up watching Magic versus Bird and the
first thing I would do in the morning is see
what Derek did in the old box score when we
had to read the papers. So I thought, me going
(21:40):
to New York would be great for baseball. I would
be with the Mets, he's with the Yankees. Were both shortstops.
We both like the Angels. We always have great weather,
great places to play. And then the Red Sox was like, okay,
that's a good rivalry too. I worked in the Red
Sox deal for two months. That deal literally at the
one yard line, fell apart, and Cashman at MVP dinner said, hey,
(22:02):
if you're willing to move to third base, maybe we'll
make something happen. Well, I'm not a big drinker. I
was three focus in.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
I'm not a big drinker. Now changed the record.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
It's a little blurry. And then by my third cocktail,
go yeah, maybe I'll play third base, And two weeks
later it happened that quickly. So it just happened within
ten days.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I mean that the core of that group that got together, obviously,
you know some things happened in between. Then do you
want a world championship? When we come back, we discussed
Alex and Derrek's two thousand and nine World Championship, preparing
for life after baseball and lessons learned owning and running
the Miami Marlins and yes, one of the most talked
(22:49):
about relationships in baseball history. The core of that group
that got together, obviously you know some things happening in between.
Then do you win a world championship like it? And
(23:12):
after another little spell of not what does that championship do?
In your mind? You know nine it.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Is hard, man, I mean, winning is hard. It's difficult
to do. There's been plenty of years before two thousand
and nine, we thought we were going to win a
World Series. We thought we had a team that was
going to win, no doubt me can go to two
thousand and four, we had three zero lead against Boston.
We thought we're gonna win a World Series. So it
is hard to do. I never took it for granted.
(23:40):
I know Alex didn't because he hadn't won it before then.
But it's a lot of work.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Man.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
It really is a lot of work. So I don't
want to say you exhale. You can exhale for a minute,
but then you have to get ready for the next year.
But every team is different, you know. With the group
of two thousand and nine, with some new players, he
had CC with AJ we had texts, but some of
the guys that were there before we had been through
some losing seasons. So man, it was a good feeling.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I'd tell you For me, Jason, I remember giving Derek
a big hug at Yankee Stadium, but it was so
much relief. I certainly excelled because I had played fifteen
years and ultimately I mean, I would have been absolutely
heartbroken to move position, to come here for the greater
(24:26):
good of the team and to come up short. Remember
I grew up watching Dan Marino and Charles Barkley, two
of my favorites, right, and it breaks my heart to
this day. They say they yeah, but and it was
just complete validation and I was just so thankful to
God to put this thing to come true, you know,
(24:47):
as a great baseball fan. It was the greatest threw
of my baseball career by far. And I would move
to third base one hundred out of one hundred times
to be part of the Yankees championship run that year.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
One thing, you know that Alice was talking about switching
positions and finally winning a championship. We didn't the guys
that were there before. I say we There was a
few of us that were there before. We also didn't
want at the end of our career say, oh, well,
we were lucky. We won four on that lucky but
we won four out of five our first five years
in the big leagues and that we couldn't win again,
you know. So it's the thing in New York is
(25:22):
it's a constant reminder every single day that you have
not won, you know what I mean, It's like, you
gotta win this year.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
You got to what.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
They don't care what you've done in the past, which
is a great the reason why I think a lot
of people can't play in New York. You can't deal
with the expectation level. So we were constantly reminded from
two thousand up into two thousand and nine. So you
get tired of hearing the fact that you haven't won
in nine years. You need to win again. And I
think you know, New York is a hot spot. You
talk about the business part of it, New York is
(25:54):
a hot spot. So when you win, I'm sorry, it
elevates everyone at that point, you know, because I've always
said playing Yankee stadiums like performing on a Broadway play.
You feel like it's the top ticket in town. You know,
you feel like the lights are brighter. Everyone comes out,
every celebrity, you know, every entertainer is there to watch
the Yankees play. And the reason they show up is
because you win.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
One thing I've always marveled at, Derek. I've gone through
so much in my life through therapy and all that
kind of stuff to really it was I'm forty eight,
and I was around forty five where I look back
at Derek's Korean and I said, holy, I really got
an opportunity. I never thought we would ever get close again,
because we've had, you know, you know, our setbacks, partly
(26:35):
because of my shortcomings. But I said, I really have
an opportunity to appreciate what an incredible career you had
and to be in the greatest city, the biggest market
in the world, but yet be a little bit unknown
of what's going on off the field. And I remember
how much I failed and tripped, and the more I tried,
(26:57):
it was like quick sand, the deeper I will get
myself into it, And was say, Alex you he would
say two things to me. All you gotta do is
make contact, dr dance so damn strong, and stop striving out.
And then he would say to me, you don't have
to tell them anything. And when he told me that,
it makes sense. How the hell did you do that
(27:18):
and do it so well?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Well?
Speaker 1 (27:21):
I always wanted to have a separation with what I
did publicly, my job, my career, and my private life.
I truly believe once you let the toothpaste out of
the tube, you cannot put it back in. Once you
give people a little taste of what you're doing in
your private life, they want more. They want more, they
want more, and they feel as though you owe it
(27:43):
to them. Now I understand it. I was just never
comfortable sharing my private life, you know. I always wanted
to keep it to myself because my job came first.
That was I wanted no distractions. And I also understood,
you know, when you're playing profession sports, I knew I
did not need the media to do my job. Eventually,
(28:06):
they're going to need me at some point, right, So
if I went out and performed on the field, I
didn't have to worry about what anyone said because when
I wasn't opening the door to my private life. So
only thing you could talk about or confirm was what
I did on the field. And I just had an
understanding of that from a young age. I don't know,
(28:27):
I don't think anyone told me it. I just knew
that I would try to do whatever I could in
my mind to limit distractions. I would address something once
that's it, I wouldn't talk about it again. The more
you talk about it, the more the story continues on.
You know, people would ask us about our stud I
would address it one time, don't ask.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Me again, and I would talk about it every week
and he's like, dude, you're killing me, Like you don't
have to answer. He was great again. I mean, by
the way, stuff I would never talk about publicly to anyone.
But there was some real stuff that I was going
through my life that he gave me the greatest advice
and I didn't listen and it hurt me tremendously. So
(29:06):
my point is, over the years, I get to understand
Derek Jeter's greatness as a human being so much more
than when I played, because I was just too close
to it, and quite honest, I didn't have the tools.
And that's not an excuse. I really tried. I just
didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was
pretty good on the field though, that's where I shined.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
You know, were you frustrated with him when he didn't
listen to you?
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Well, I would only say frustrated if it became a
big story. Yeah, Well if we're talking about things that
didn't matter on the field, not just with him. I
mean it could be anyone. You know. That was frustrating
because I wanted when I got to the park to
the stadium. I wanted the conversation to be about the game,
and that's it.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
And so in your business life, one of the really
interesting decisions you make, and I feel like this is
actually of a piece, is to go with Jordan Brand.
I mean, that's a big decision on your part. We're
sort of early in the game. I think it's fair
to say tell us about that decision, because that's seminal
not just for you, but it's candidly seminal for that
(30:09):
brand too.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Yeah. You know, I first met Michael in nineteen ninety
four while he's playing baseball in Arizona Fall League.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
And I'll pointed out he was not as bad as
everyone rights him out to be. I mean, you take
off what since little league, and then you're playing baseball
at thirty years old in Double A you hit two hundred.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
That's that's not.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
A contract today. That's pretty damn Yeah. It's not easy
to do. So it was not as bad as everyone says.
So I first met him in Arizona and we just
developed a relationship from there. He's like a big brother
than me, you know, like magic is to you. I know,
you speak highly about magic all the time. He's one
of the first athletes alongside Magic that really took their
(30:52):
abilities on the court and it translated into business. They
had the business mindset because you know, up until that point,
I'm not saying anything about previous athletes, but it was
all you just perform on the court. You perform on
the field. When your career is over, that's it. Go
get them figure something else out. I think those two
were business savvy and they thought about post professional athletic career.
(31:17):
And you know, Michael's been as successful as anyone, and
he's been a mentor to me since, like a big brother,
like I said, and just thankful. He asked me to
be a part of the Jordan brand, and you know
when it first started, like, what do you mean part
of the jitsu basketball brand? What is a baseball player
going to do?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Right?
Speaker 1 (31:35):
But he wanted me to be the baseball player and
help him build the business.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
So did it feel risky to do that, to be
like the first baseball player to.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Do that, Well, I think risky. I mean, if you're
going to take a risk, I think you take it
with someone like Michael, you know, So I don't necessarily
think it was risky on my part, you know. Plus
it was the cool factor, you know, I mean everyone
wanted to be associated with Michael back then and now
yeah now too. Yeah, you're right at the point, same thing.
So I didn't look at it as being risky.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
So let's shift to sort of post baseball, and you know,
we talk about about this a lot, and Alex has
shared some of this before. But that moment when you
decide to retire, I mean, there's the decision, and then
there's the execution and the moment when you are no
longer a professional athlete, You're no longer a New York
(32:26):
Yank at least as your job. You'll always be New
York Yank here, et cetera. But what is that moment,
Like when you wake up that morning you're like, huh, okay,
the decision or afterwards tell us about the decision and
then and then.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Well, the decision was not a difficult. They would have
got rid of me anyway. They're trying to run me,
run me out, So I don't think the decision.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Was joined the club. Yeah, the decision, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
The decision wasn't a difficult decision. You know, it's I'd
broken my ankle twice. I've basically missed the previous year,
and I wanted to have one more. I want to
play a season healthy. So I called hal Steinberner and
told him, and he said, look, you know you deserve
to announce it any way you want to announce it.
I announced it before the season started because I knew
(33:12):
if I did not that I'd be asked about it
all the time, you know, every single day my teammates
would be asked about it. So I announced it before
the season, and then when the season was over with man,
I was tired. You know, I really was tired. It's
twenty years in New York. I've jokingly says, like dog here,
it's one hundred and forty years playing in New York.
(33:33):
I got everything I could get out of my career,
and physically I was, you know.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
I was.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
I was done.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
What's your business mindset at that point, because obviously you've
been thinking about it for a time. Your partnered with
with Jordan Brandon, those sorts of things, and we've talked
about this. You're in New York, so I mean you
have access and you know, beyond name recognition, you have
sort of access to a lot of corporate minds, investment minds,
et cetera. What are the first few things that you
(34:00):
think about doing well?
Speaker 3 (34:01):
First?
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I didn't start preparing for post playing career the day
I woke up the next day. Right afterwards, I started
preparing for post career years in advance. My biggest fears
in life is being unprepared in anything. You know, a
lot of times you hear athletes say game slows down
or it speeds up. I think it speeds up when
you're unprepared. So I didn't want to wake up and say,
(34:22):
what am I going to do next? I started talking
about team ownership maybe ten years left in my career.
During my career, I made every decision when it came
to contract negotiations, marketing, philanthropy, atum on foundation. These are
all pillars of an organization. I lived in Tampa. I
learned about player development and scouting and analytics, so I
(34:43):
wanted to be as prepared as I could. I started
a company called The Player's Tribune. We actually launched right
after my career. But I didn't just wake up and
say let's start a company today. You know, you start
thinking about these things, and that's why I think that
it made my transition into the business world speak a
lot easier because I started preparing and I started learning
for it.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
And Derek, when you talk about the Marlins, THEO, that
team that went to the playoffs this year for the
Marlins with very very limited resources, has your handprints all
over it. The pitching, the development, the people you hired.
And I was in the community and I just heard
all the great things you were doing in that community.
What would you say was the hardest part and the
(35:25):
best part of being CEO and owner of the Marlins.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
The hardest part was having patience because you want things.
You know as a player, you get a hit, you
don't get a hit, you win a game, you lose
a game. It's instant gratification or failure. When you're building
something like especially in an organization, a sports organization, where
basically you're turning something around, you're going in another direction,
(35:51):
it takes time. That can be very very draining mentally
because you want it to happen right away. And that
was probably the heart this part is trying to have
some patience.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
I don't have a lot of any more time with
limited resources. Yeah, and not against your partners, but that
market it could be very, very challenging. Yeah, if you
were in New York or Boston or the resources are
just tremendous and you can actually expedite it a little bit.
But here you had to be very clever, ready had
to roll up or sleeves.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
I figured, you know, we played in New York. You
show up at Yankee Stadium. There's fifty thousand people there.
That's just how it works.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
You know.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
One of the first things I did when I was
CEO in Miami was I brought every single member of
the front office by department into the clubhouse and I
introduced them to the players because I wanted the players
to see how many people were working behind the scenes
to make their jobs easier. Everyone said, you know, how
long they've been with the organization, what exactly it is
(36:44):
that they do. There were employees that had been there
twenty plus years and never stepped foot in the major
league clubhouse.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Now.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
The employees thanked me, but the players also thank me because,
like I said, you don't understand that part of it.
So building an organization and taking the time and spending
the time I expected that. You know, when you care
about something, you put in the work. It took a
long time to try to develop trust. You know, I
can't walk in the room and say trust me. You
don't know me, right, So you got to get to
(37:12):
know a lot of people. Spend a lot of time
in the Miami community getting to know a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
I'm in Miami.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
I'm not moving now, I'm there, So I'm happy that
I had a chance to do that. But that's a
part of building an organization that people don't see the
stuff that goes on behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
And so you exit that situation. How do you look
back on it and how does it influence what you
do next?
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Oh? Man, how do I look back on it? I
take the good with the bad. I think you learn
a lot of lessons. I'm happy with some of the
hires that I had. You know, I wanted to have
a diverse front office. I was able to accomplish that.
I didn't do it because I wanted to focus on it.
I did because it was the right thing. You hire
the right people. You give people opportunities. I was given
opportunities throughout my life. You want to return that. So
(37:56):
I look back with you know, I try to focus
on the positive. I'm positive by nature, you know, so
there's a lot of things that we accomplish that I'm
happy with. And those are some lessons that I've learned.
There's mistakes that have been made. I won't make those
mistakes again.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
If there's ever another opportunity with what you learned, and
I'm sure, I mean, there's nothing you can do because
the reputation you've built and your track record speaks for itself.
If an opportunity came calling, and let's just say it's
not a smaller market, let's just say as a mid
market or even a large market, and they wanted you
to be the owner and operate, again, I.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Don't have enough money.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
My question, and to be honest, would you want another
crack at it? Would you be open to it? Ah?
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Man, you know that's a tough, tough question. You never
say never, but you have to be there, you have
to be present. And I have four young kids now, man,
and I understand how difficult it is. And you know,
you want to get into a situation where you can
make decisions, make all decisions, and unless you have a
controlling owner ownership stake, you can't make those decisions. So
(39:04):
that's a tough one to answer. But you ask me now, now.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
And Derek, how do you think about investing? Does investing
excite you? Are you someone that picks up the phone
and calls a Michael or calls Pasada or one of
your friends? Do you share ideas? How do you think
about investing when opportunities coming away? Because there's going to
be viewers that are going to say, I would love
to have my hero Derek Jeter invest in my company.
I'm a young founder. How do you think about that?
(39:27):
How do people approach you? How do they find you? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (39:30):
I think one of the benefits and perks of playing
in New York is you get a chance to meet
a lot of people. I've met a lot of people
throughout my careers. I still get a chance to meet
a lot of people. The way I look at it,
Alex is I invest in people. You know, you run
into people all the time. They have great ideas. Everyone
has a great idea. Everyone has a business is going
(39:50):
to be a billion dollar business. But you have to
invest in people, and you have to get to know them,
and you have to know if they're passionate about what
they're doing. Some people have businesses where they're in it
to make money. Look we all want to make money,
but if that's your number one priority, if you're not
passionate about it, then I think that's a red flag.
So I always like to invest in people. I think
that works for you know, works in clubhouses, and it
(40:12):
works in businesses, it works in investments. So I tend
to just lean towards the you know, the character and
the passion of the people.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
So one of the more recent decisions that you've made
is to join the commentating world, which I believe you
had initially said no interest there. Now part of it
was you were an owner and CEO of a team.
What drew you to the commentating booth.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
I'd been asked that question before and I was absolutely
not I'm not doing this. I went to World Series
last year and I was just on the set with
these guys Philly, Yeah, for a few minutes, you know,
and just saw how much fun they were having, you know.
And one thing that I never wanted to do was
(40:57):
to get into a situation where I had to be
overly critical of players because I know how hard it
is to play the game, and I saw how much
fun they were having, and I was asked to be
a part of it. And I said, hey, you know,
as long as we can have fun with it, I
don't want to be overly analytical, which I know he
agrees with, and just really get a chance to shine
(41:18):
a light on the sport.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
I love baseball.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Yeah, I really do love baseball. I think it's the
greatest game in the world, and if we have a
chance to shine a light on it, then I'm all
for it.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
And Alex, you and I have talked about this. I mean,
it does feel like this has been we may look
back on this as a really critical year in the
history of baseball rule changes. I think the storylines that
have been really good. Do you agree with that? I mean,
is there something that has happened and what is it
that is sort of causing a little bit of a
(41:48):
Dare I say rebound for baseball?
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Yeah, Baseball's lag behind other sports. You know, you go
through the history of other sports, NFL, NBA, There's always
rule changes. There's always is a three point shot, there's all.
You know. You change the rules for the betterment of
the game. And no matter no matter how you look
at it, it's entertainment. You get the fans watching. You
have to listen to the fans, and I think the
fans in baseball were saying, look, one, the game's too long.
(42:13):
You got to find a way to speed it up.
So I think Baseball deserves credit for making some rule
changes and I'm sure there'll probably be more adjustments along
the way.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
Well, and kind of stitching that back to something you
were talking about a minute ago, Derek, is you know
you show up on set last year, you see these guys.
What's it been like sort of working with with the crew.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
I'm new man, I mean, this is this is I'm new.
I mean seriously, the first game we're in London, they
threw me on at the desk like five minutes before.
I can't even figure out to get my ear piece
in it. I have no idea. They're talking in my
ear and I'm trying to answer them, and I'm like,
I'm not supposed to be answering them, you know. So
it's it's a learning experience. I think you get more
and more comfortable as you go through it. Alex is
a pro. He's been doing it for a long time.
(42:54):
He enjoys it. I remember when we were playing I
used to tell them, you know you're gonna get into
you know TVs, Oh no, for never. On every channel
you turn, he's here, he's doing a game there, So
he's yeah, he's doing everything.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
You can't shut me up. That's never changed.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
So it's you know, it's you learn, you know, you know,
you hope to get better. I know I've made mistakes,
but ultimately you just want to have fun. You want
the viewers watching to have fun.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
I've been asked about a lot of players, obviously none
none as big as Derek. So when they approached me about, hey,
what do you think about Derek? Would you be okay
with it? I'm like, of course I'll be okay with it.
You know, that's something that he has to figure out
if he wants to do. And they were asking me basically,
what's the scout report, you know, pitching. We say, hey,
we're facing Jason's like, what does he got right? And
(43:41):
I said, look, you're never going to find someone that
is more prepared. You're never going to find He'll never
be unprepared. So he's gonna come ready to play every day.
He understands entertainment, he understands being part of a team.
He has a really good relationship with Big Poppy, my
relationship is solid, and he's gonna love Kevin Burkhart, so
I think he'll fit great. And you know, obviously they
(44:02):
got to talking, and so far he's off to an
amazing start. I'm actually in awe of how quickly he's adjusted,
because it took me a while to get going. I mean,
he's probably at the two week mark where it was
at the two year mark. So I'm excited. We're going
to have a great run. And by the way you
said it best, we're talking and highlighting the greatest baseball
players in the world. We've had a phenomenal year and
(44:24):
our job is to be an extension of Rob Manford
and Tony Clark and all the great things they're doing,
and we get to do it in a national stage
when everybody pays attention.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
And you know, the other thing, when you're talking baseball,
this is this is what the way I try to
look at it is. Whatever we say is not wrong.
It may not sound right, it may not come out right,
you may not articulate it well, but it's not wrong.
It's your opinion. Yeah, And we played the game for
a long time and people don't have to necessarily agree
with our opinions, but it's not wrong.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Yeah. One of the lessons I learned, and again Derek
and our opposites, like I've made every mistake in the book.
He doesn't make it. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes.
But when we're out there, to Derek's point talking about players, managers,
front offices, the lesson I learned is you can be
critical as long as you're not personal right, and you
(45:16):
can say something like, look, I think Jason's one of
my favorite players, but he's had a rough week, and
if you ask him, he'll be the first one to
admit that. But here's what I think Jason's going to do.
I think he's gonna do X y Z right versus
taking a personal shot. And I think that's a that's
a really fine line. You want to stay in the
other in the right side of that, all right.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
So I got to say, you don't have to say,
but I'm going to say. So when I saw that
you were coming over and you guys were going to
work together, even you know, when I came in here today, like,
how's this going to go between these two? Because there
is history there. You guys seem good.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Why don't people need to put it to bed. I
think at some point, Jesus, this was one something you
have known him for thirty years, you know what I mean.
And I get asked more about our relationship than I
do my wife.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
That's scary.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
Yeah, I mean, it's just put it to bed. I mean,
we said we're fine working together again. You know, you
can't change history. History happened, right, It's over and done with.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
You move on. What's funny our partners and Hannah and Jack,
I think they're happy that we're in this place. I've
had so many New York Yankee fans come up and say,
I'm so glad that you guys. I don't care if
you're best friends. I'm just glad that you guys are
working together.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
And when they have their hero and someone that they
admire together, that one together. I think it's warming to
their heart to know that we are getting along. Yeah,
that's my thought.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
And so when you think about I mean, and this
is a question for Derek, and I don't know if
you and I have ever really talked about it. Alex,
you know this idea of playing for the Yankees, I mean,
it does it hits different? And so what do you
think about as your life, see especially as a Yankee
as you look back twenty year career there, like what
(47:05):
jumps to your mind? What do you think is the
most important thing. What's the thing that you want to
be most remembered for as a Yankee?
Speaker 1 (47:12):
Oh, I mean you want to be remembered as being
a good teammate, you know, you want to be remembered
as winning obviously who you are on the field, I
think off the field. But for me, I've always said
the only thing I care about is being remembered as
a Yankee because it's the only thing I wanted, the
only team I wanted to play for, only thing I
wanted to be remembered for. So I'm fine with that,
(47:35):
you know, I'm fine with that. That's that's if my
legacy is just being a member of the Yankees.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
I'm fine. Yeah, And I probably share this with so
many Yankee fans around the world. Like, just playing twenty
five feet from Derek, regardless of what's happening, with the
noise that I created, it was such an incredible feeling. Again,
with time and perspective, it makes you appreciate it even
(48:04):
more that the guy that was playing next to me
was always going to be prepared and ready to play,
and that meant so much to me. And I think
no matter what the relationship has happened, like that mutual
respect on the field has always been I think one
hundred one hundred. We had that commonality about we both
want to win at the highest level. Like I never
(48:25):
had to worry about Derek playing hard or running hard
or did he watch film? Never And that's something that
to me, I always underscore.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
One of the most fascinating things about athletes at this
point in their career as former athletes, and Alex and
I talk about this all the time, is you've got
all this time when you leave the game ahead of you.
I say this because we're roughly the same age. You're
a young man. What's your legacy for this part of
your career and your life?
Speaker 3 (48:54):
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
That's a good question, because you say, you know, when
you're an athlete, you turn thirty, everyone starts telling you old. Right,
you retire or retired at forty, and then you're young again,
right man. Now, the only thing that matters to me
the most is being a good parent.
Speaker 3 (49:09):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
I'm biased my parents. The best thing I can say
about my parents, is they were present. You know, I
want to be there for my kids. That's the number
one priority for me. It really is. I'm not just
saying it. It is the number one priority for me
is to be there with my family, with my kids,
help them find the thing that they're passionate about. I
don't care what it is. I just want them to
(49:31):
find something that they're passionate about. I want them to
work extremely hard at it, and I want to be
there to support them. So I think that is number
one for me.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
This has been amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you both.
I mean, we're doing this together, but I feel like
I learned a ton about the Yankees that both of
your business ambitions, and really appreciate you being as candid
and thoughtful as you as for having me.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (49:55):
Thanks a lot.
Speaker 3 (49:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (49:56):
Captain The Deals of production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals.
The Deals hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly. Our
producers are Victor Vees and Lizzie Phillip. Our story editor
is Sir Dartha Mahonta. Our assistant producer is Stacy Wong
(50:19):
Blake Maples is our sound engineer. Rubob Shakir is our
creative director. Our direction is from Jacquelin Kessler. Original music
by Blake Maples, casting by Dave Warren. Our editorial supervisor
is David E. Rabella. Our executive producers are Sage Bauman,
Jason Kelly, Adam Kamiski, Kelly la Ferrier, Ashley Hoenig, Trey Shallowhorn,
(50:42):
Kyle Kramer, and Andrew Barden. Additional support from Rachel Scarmazino,
Elena Los Angeles, Vanessa Perdomo, and Anna Masarakis. Nesser Slia
is our director of photography. Our camera operators are Danny
Celia and Jordan Keslo. Katia Vanoy is our video editor.
Our assistant camera is Stephen Neil and Eric Sanchez is
(51:03):
our gaffer. You can also watch The Deal on Bloomberger Originals,
YouTube and Bloomberg Television. Subscribe to the Deal wherever you
get your podcasts. Thanks for listening.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.