Fight Night at Yankee Stadium

New York Yankee stars Derek Jeterand Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez have stopped beating themselves up for their team’s worst season in over a decade—and started beating on each other. On June 20, after a throwing error from Jeter to Rodriguez handed the Yankees a 5-4 loss to the last-place Tampa Bay Devil Rays, a TV producer says the sluggers came to blows in the clubhouse.

“I was doing an interview in the locker room and saw them go at it,” says the source. “A-Rod walked past Jeter’s locker and mumbled something about his throw, then Jeter told him to go fuck himself and all hell broke lose. Their teammates were pulling them away from each other.”

Tensions between the two have been brewing since Rodriguez dissed Jeter in a 2001 Esquire interview. As a result, we hear, Jeter, the Gold Glove-winning team captain, never wanted his ex-pal on the team in the first place—but Yankees boss George Steinbrenner didn't listen.

“Now you have guys like Bernie Williams who remember winning the World Series taking Jeter’s side, and then you have the trades, like Tony Womack, taking A-Rod’s side,” says a ballclub insider. “What you have is a team that’s split, and you can’t win baseball games like that.” Yankees spokesman Rick Cerrone called the fight an “absolute fantasy,” and denied any rift between the players, claiming “there are no lines drawn in the clubhouse.” Not since Darryl Strawberry anyway.

Photo: NYDN