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When Hall of Famer shortstop Derek Jeter took over as CEO of the Miami Marlins in 2017, then-president David Samson was immediately fired.
So to say there is no love lost between the two men is a large understatement.
However, that doesn’t make what David Samson said about Derek Jeter on The Dan Le Batard Show on Thursday any less juicy.
His comments came after Le Batard discussed Jeter’s Fox debut during the 2023 MLB London Series.
“I have some regret about not getting to some video over the weekend that made me smile all weekend, in the plastic, forced-on way that A-Rod smile was just stuck to his face, as he faked his way through trying to be incredibly pleased that he and Derek Jeter were sharing a set,” Le Batard said. “Those two in their history is complicated, funny and amazing. A-Rod goes to the Yankees and is so not Jeter that even though he is the better shortstop, he can’t play shortstop because he’s got to get over to the side for Jeter.
“Their relationship was a mess, which is surprising that it got out in public because none of Jeter’s stuff ends up getting out in public. And then, as Fox was in London to celebrate baseball being global, they trot out Jeter and A-Rod on the same set. And the video from that, I couldn’t stop laughing at how pasted on A-Rod’s teeth were.”
Le Batard clarified that he was merely “making fun of how uncomfortable he was sitting next to Jeter.”
“It’s not fake,” Samson then jumped in, speaking about the awkwardness between A-Rod and Jeter. “A lot of this is manufactured like wrestling. The thing with Jeter and A-Rod and A-Rod’s taken a hit recently with JLo gone and now Jeter coming to Fox, which he did not want to have happen, at all.”
Later in the discussion, Samson said, “Jeter’s always been a fraud. Ask people in the know about Derek Jeter. And I’ll start. Happy to start.
“I’m thankful to him for being so dumb as to do what he did with the Marlins. So I’m thankful to him. So I’m not criticizing him at all.”
What Samson is referring to there is the fact that he tried to play Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter against one another to drive up the sale price of the Marlins.
During Derek Jeter’s tenure as Marlins CEO he fired two Hall of Famers, Andre Dawson and Tony Perez, and traded away Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and J.T. Realmuto.
In his first season as CEO, the Marlins had the third worst season in franchise history going 63-98 (.391 win pct.) and finished last in attendance. In Jeter’s second season as owner, the team did even worse, going 57-105 (.352) and finished last in attendance.
After sneaking into the playoffs during the shortened 2020 season, going 31-29, the Marlins then went 67-95 and finished last in attendance.
Following his resignation in 2022, Samson said about Jeter, “After four years, I think he realized that being a shortstop and being an executive are two totally different things. … I think he realized quickly that being a pitchman for Subway was probably going to be more up his alley than running the team every day and being accountable for that.”
By the way, the 2023 Marlins? They are 47-34 – a .580 winning percentage – the highest in the history of the franchise.