Alex Rodríguez reveals Derek Jeter's reaction during the famous Sports Illustrated photo shoot

Alex Rodríguez and Derek Jeter were already emerging as two of baseball’s brightest young stars when they appeared together in one of the sport’s most unusual magazine photographs.

The 1997 Sports Illustrated photo shoot in Miami Beach featured five promising shortstops: Rodríguez, Jeter, Edgar Rentería, Alex González and Rey Ordóñez.

The now-famous image showed the players shirtless, wearing baseball pants and gold chains. What was intended to showcase a talented new generation of infielders eventually became one of the strangest snapshots of their early careers.

Years later, Rodríguez looked back at the photograph with considerably less seriousness. While discussing the shoot, he joked that Jeter had been responsible for the look, saying, “I think that was Derek’s idea. We looked like Menudo. It was a dark moment.”

The comment gave the decades-old photograph another moment in the spotlight, particularly because Rodríguez and Jeter’s relationship would become one of the more complicated friendships in baseball.

In 1997, however, neither player could have known how intertwined their careers would eventually become. Rodríguez was playing for the Seattle Mariners, while Jeter was establishing himself as the Yankees’ shortstop. Both would go on to become franchise icons and among the most recognizable players of their generation.

Their friendship took a significant hit several years later after Rodríguez discussed Jeter during a 2001 Esquire interview. At the time, Rodríguez was with the Texas Rangers and suggested that Jeter had benefited from playing on talented Yankees teams and didn’t have to take on the same leadership burden as other stars.

Jeter later made it clear that the comments bothered him. He said loyalty was extremely important to him and felt that a true friend wouldn’t have made those remarks publicly.

“Those comments bothered me because, like I said, I’m very, very loyal,” Jeter said. “As a friend, I’m loyal. I just looked at it as, ‘I wouldn’t have done it.’

“And then it was the media. The constant hammer to the nail. They just kept hammering it in. It just became noise, which frustrated me. Just constant noise.”

Rodríguez eventually apologized, although he maintained that the substance of what he said was fair.

From young shortstops to Yankees teammates

Despite their complicated history, Rodríguez and Jeter eventually became teammates when Rodríguez joined the Yankees in 2004. Their relationship received plenty of attention in New York, but the pair managed to share the field for several successful seasons.

The partnership reached its high point in 2009, when the Yankees won the World Series. By then, both players had already established themselves as major figures in the sport, making their journey from the 1997 photo shoot to the Bronx particularly remarkable.

Their relationship has also evolved since retirement. Both have appeared together in baseball media, including MLB on Fox, showing that the tension that once surrounded their friendship has softened with time.

That makes Rodríguez’s recent comments about the Sports Illustrated photograph even more entertaining. Jeter may not have escaped the fashion blame, but the image has become a memorable piece of baseball history.

The original shoot was meant to introduce fans to a group of talented young shortstops, but it’s the shirtless photograph that became the lasting image.

Nearly three decades later, Rodríguez can look back and laugh at the awkward styling and youthful confidence.