Alex Rodriguez and Doug Mientkewicz spent just one year as teammates in the major leagues, so it may make sense that they wouldn’t have the best relationship ever.
That wasn’t their only time as teammates, though: The two played baseball and soccer together at Westminster Christian School outside of Miami.
Yet despite knowing each other since childhood, Mientkewicz unloaded on his former teammate, a three-time MVP and World Series champion with Hall of Fame numbers.
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Doug Mientkiewicz, #11, and Alex Rodriguez, #13 of the New York Yankees walk on the field before the game against the Texas Rangers on May 8, 2007 at Yankee Stadium in the borough of the Bronx. NY. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
«I’ve always said this, he’s going to die a lonely man,» Mientkiewicz said in «filthy territory.» «This whole ‘father of the year’ thing, God bless him with his daughters, because he has to go far. But it’s like, ‘Now you’re just trying to get into heaven.’ I’m still friends with my high school team. We still text often, not as often as we should, but we still text, group threads, constantly bugging each other. She has just distanced herself from him. I don’t care how cool or good you get and how far your career goes, you never forget your friends from high school.»
New York Yankees Alex Rodriguez, #13, and Doug Mientkiewicz, #11, upset in their dugout during Game 1 against the Cleveland Indians in Cleveland on October 4, 2007. (Heinz Kluetmeier/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
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Mientkewicz said Rodriguez recently attended a celebration by his old high school coach to celebrate «his 3 millionth win,» but Rodriguez was «on his [Minnesota] Timberwolves T-shirt sleeping in a chair.»
The pair teamed in the majors with the New York Yankees in 2007, but Mientkewicz recalled a time when catcher Jorge Posada told him the Yankees should have acquired him much sooner because it would put Rodriguez in check.
«It’s like, ‘Alex is completely different around you.’ And I was like, ‘It’s up to you guys. You guys let him get away with this s—…'» he said. «He’d have a kid wear his glove and his belt…and I’d be like, ‘what the hell? You can’t wear your own belt? What’s wrong with you? Put it on. Everybody here is making $30 million, too .'»
Rodríguez, however, did not return the favor.
«That was really weird, because I always considered Doug a friend,» Rodriguez told USA Today. «He was shocked and surprised. My daughters sent me the articles, my mom, my brother, everyone who really likes Doug. He was very close to his mom and dad.
New York Yankees Alex Rodriguez running back to third base in a regular season game against the Boston Red Sox played at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York. Red Sox defeated the Yankees 11 – 4 on April 27, 2007. (Bryan Yablonsky/Getty Images)
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«One thing I will never do is talk bad about any of my teammates, especially one of my high school teammates, so I wish him the best.»
Rodríguez won the AL MVP Award the only year they were teammates when he led the majors with 54 home runs, 156 RBIs and a 1.067 OPS while batting .314. However, those Yankees were beaten in the American League Division Series by Cleveland in four games.
Mientkewicz was part of the 2004 Red Sox who overcame a 3-0 deficit against the Yankees in the ALCS and ultimately went into the Curse of the Bambino halftime by winning Boston’s first World Series in ’86 years.