Former MLB star Alex Rodriguez was "shocked and surprised" after former high school and New York Yankees teammate Doug Mientkiewicz made some negative comments about him in a recent podcast.
Last week, Mientkiewicz was a guest on the "Foul Territory" podcast and was asked by former Minnesota Twins teammate A.J. Pierzynski if Rodriguez acknowledges him when they see each other in public settings.
Mientkiewicz said that Rodriguez does acknowledge him but only "in a certain setting" and that for the most part Rodriguez has just distanced himself from his high school teammates. Mientkiewicz also said Rodriquez is "going to die a lonely man."
"It's like, 'You're just trying to get into heaven now.'" Mientkiewicz said of Rodriguez. "I'm still friends with my high school team. We still text often, not as often as we should, but we still text, group thread, constantly badgering each other. He's just distant from it. I don't care how good or how great you become and how far your career goes, you never forget your high school dudes."
Those comments did not seem to bother Rodriguez, although the 14-time All-Star did tell USA Today that he was "shocked and surprised" and thought the comments were "strange, because I always considered Doug a friend."
In an interview with Fox 5 NY's Rosanna Scotto this week, Rodriguez elaborated more regarding how he felt about what Mientkiewicz said.
"There's always going to be people out there that have things to say, everyone has an opinion, but I certainly would never talk publicly negatively about any of my teammates, especially someone from high school," Rodriguez said. "I mean, look, we're almost 50 now. This is supposed to be the good old days when we look back, and we cringe about some of the weird things that we did, and we're proud of the relationships we built over the years. So, you take that with a grain of salt and you wish everyone well and you move on."
