With a career that spanned over two decades, Derek Jeter won everything in baseball while playing for the New York Yankees. And since baseball is a team game, it requires every single player to play their best game if they want to win a championship. However, it was the infamous “core 4” who helped the Yankees dominate an era in MLB. However, Jeter surprised everyone when he did not take Alex Rodriguez’s name while talking about the “core 4.”

Recently, when the former shortstop got invited to the NFL legend Eli Manning’s show, he got asked about the Core 4 players. Not only did Derek Jeter talk about who those Core 4 players were, but he also talked about what the other three members of the group meant to him and the team. And surprisingly, A-Rod’s name was not there. So what could be the reason for the same?

What did Derek Jeter say about the Core 4?

All the players of the Core 4 are the most important to the New York Yankees as they together won four World Series in five years. Three of those four players are the only players to play only for one franchise for sixteen straight years. Together, they all won the World Series in ’96,’98,’99, and 2000.

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About the Core 4, he told Manning, “Myself, Jorge and Mariano, Andy left and went to Houston then ended up coming back. They’re like my brothers man. These are guys that I always could count on and to this day, they’re brothers to me.”

Jeter added that with these three players, he never had to worry if they were prepared or not. He also did not care whether they’ll get nervous or overwhelmed on the field. It was because he knew that no matter what happens, they’ll be giving their best on the field. And Alex Rodriguez joined the New York Yankees in the 2004 season. Therefore, he was not a part of Core 4.

Who out of the four of them got elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Mariano Rivera, probably the best closer in MLB to date, got elected into the Hall of Fame in the Class of 2019. He did so unanimously. Followed by him, Jeter got elected into the Cooperstown in Class of 2020 with one vote short of being unanimous. 

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Jorge Posada, in his first year on the ballot, fell short of receiving the required number of votes. And thus failed to get into Cooperstown. Andy Pettitte, the 4th member of core 4, the major reason for using performance-enhancing drugs, did not get selected into the Hall of Fame. Out of the Core 4, only two of them made it to Cooperstown.

Do you think Pettitte and Posada should also be in Cooperstown? Let us know your comments below.