Does The Third Baseman’s allegedly creepy obsession with The Captain extend all the way to blowing off the Fourth Estate? That’s the proposition being made by the New York Daily News’ Roger Rubin, stalking reporting on the Yankees’ preparations for Spring Training.
Wednesday, while making his way across a University of Miami parking lot, A-Rod sounded a lot like the Yankee captain had just the day before.
“I’ll talk to you guys at spring training when everybody’s there,” Rodriguez said, ending a brief but cordial conversation with a reporter.
When Jeter was approached at the Bombers’ spring training complex on Tuesday and asked about A-Rod, he responded: “I’m not addressing Alex’s situation until everybody’s here,” referring to when the full media horde arrives at spring training.
In Torre’s book, ‘The Yankee Years’, co-authored by Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, Rodriguez is described as having grown obsessed with Jeter to the point that players joked about him trying to be like the Yankee captain.
“The inside joke in the clubhouse was that Rodriguez’s occupation with Jeter recalled the 1992 film ‘Single White Female’ in which a woman becomes obsessed with her roommate to the point of dressing like her,” Verducci and Torre write.
Rodriguez, approached Wednesday for the first time since admitting to using banned substances in an ESPN interview, was leaving the Hecht Athletic Center, where he had just worked out for more than two hours. He was on his way to his black Maybach, which had been ticketed by campus police for being illegally parked.
Rodriguez said, “I have nothing to say right now,” before adding, “Thank you for coming all the way down here.”