It looks like the Yankees, Doug Mintkiewicz says road More fun than he imagined.
And Derek Jeter was a huge reason for that.
At the Foll Territory bid, Mintkiewicz — who played for the Yankees in 2007 — said he was “skeptical” about joining the team beforehand.
“I was a little skeptical about going to the Yankees when I signed with them in ’07. I felt so at home,” he recalls. “They weren’t what I thought they were from afar. You all see such a business machine that just keeps running. I couldn’t believe how much fun it was [it was] and Derek [Jeter] It has a lot to do with that.
Regarding Jeter specifically, Mintkiewicz continued, “He was always very modest in the sense that he was self-mocking. Most baseball players are self-critical. We have to deal with a lot of failure.
“Probably the biggest surprise of my career was really seeing Derek behind closed doors and how much fun he was.”
As for Mientkiewicz, he told an incredible story about the time Jeter cheated on him.
“The rumors we all had [Derek Jeter Driven] Cologne was turned on, and all the bugs appeared. Game 3 is about,” he said, adding that Jeter was the skilled leader who always worried about and looked after everyone on the roster, checked in on his teammates regularly, and things like that.
“he [Jeter] Mintkiewicz added. “[Jorge] Posada approaches me, shaking his head. It’s like, “You, man.” And I’m like, I don’t remember what I did.
“The game goes by, he doesn’t talk to me about the whole game, he doesn’t look at me, which he’s not like… The next day, it’s the fourth game. I went into my locker and on the chair was a Manila Messi folder. I open it and it’s a professional letterhead that says…something to the effect of, “Because of your comments…we had to pull 2.7 million bottles of Derek Jeter Driven from the shelves,” and my heart sinks. “
He later adds that Jeter told him, “This letter was all bulls.”
This season was Minkiewicz’s only season as a Yankee, and the team lost in the American League Division Series in four games — so, Game 4 he was referring to was the team’s last.
Mientkiewicz, who ended his career in 2009, didn’t have all the good feelings for his Yankees teammates.
The former first baseman said some harsh words to Alex Rodriguez and said he was “going to die a lonely man.”
