Just in time for another installment of the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry comes this bizarre new element - Bosox Hall of Famer Jim Rice, in a speech Friday to Little Leaguers, named Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez as he talked about how today's players are too focused on individual achievements and big-bucks contracts.
Rice urged the kids not to look at current major leaguers as role models. "You see a Manny Ramirez, you see an A-Rod, you see Jeter....Guys that I played against and with, these guys you're talking about cannot compare," Rice said, according to The Associated Press. Hasn't Rice ever heard of Jeter's oft-lauded intangibles?
Jeter was dumbfounded when asked for his reaction to Rice's comments, but then quipped, "I didn't know I was like that." Asked if what Rice said upset him, Jeter said, "Ask him, man. You need to ask him, not me. It's a first for me, so I don't know."
Jeter said he knew Rice, who played his whole career in Boston from 1974-89 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer, only well enough to say "hello" to him if their paths crossed.
A-Rod said he didn't know Rice well, either. "I say hello to everyone and I have respect for everyone," Rodriguez said. Asked if he had any reaction to Rice's comments, A-Rod said, "Zero."
Yankee manager Joe Girardi refused to be drawn into any potential controversy, either. "I've always been one that feels that you shouldn't judge others," Girardi said. "Our job is to take care of who you are as an individual and try to make yourself a better individual.
"My feeling is you shouldn't judge others and I'm not going to comment on his comments."
Asked if he thought Rice was jealous of the large sums today's players make, Girardi said: "I don't know what the equivalent of a player from the '70s or '80s contract is equivalent to a player of the same stats. The money he made compared to what everyone else was making, I can't tell you exactly what that is. Do players in our game today make a nice salary? Of course they do. Have players from the past made sacrifices for that? Yes. I still think players try to grow the game today like players did in the past."
Rice, 56, was arguably Boston's most-feared slugger during the savage rivalry days of the 1970s and '80s. He hit 382 career home runs, won three American League homer titles and led the American League in RBI twice before retiring in 1989. He was the 1978 AL MVP.
Speaking to players before the start of the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., Rice sang the familiar refrain of some ex-players - everything was better when I played. These kids today!
"We didn't have the baggy uniforms. We didn't have the dreadlocks," Rice said. "It was a clean game, and now they're setting a bad example for the young guys.
"What you see right now is more individuals, it's not a team. Now you have guys coming in, they pick the days they want to play, they make big money. The first thing they see are dollar bills."
According to the AP, Rice was later asked at a news conference to name some of today's players who would be worthy of the Hall of Fame and he listed Seattle outfielders Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki and Jim Thome of the White Sox.
Rice also told Little Leaguers that clean Hall of Famers don't want players who took performance-enhancing drugs to get into Cooperstown. Rice, according to The AP, flexed his right arm and said, "That's all the steroids you need....It's called God-given talent."
Rice urged the kids not to look at current major leaguers as role models. "You see a Manny Ramirez, you see an A-Rod, you see Jeter....Guys that I played against and with, these guys you're talking about cannot compare," Rice said, according to The Associated Press. Hasn't Rice ever heard of Jeter's oft-lauded intangibles?
Jeter was dumbfounded when asked for his reaction to Rice's comments, but then quipped, "I didn't know I was like that." Asked if what Rice said upset him, Jeter said, "Ask him, man. You need to ask him, not me. It's a first for me, so I don't know."
Jeter said he knew Rice, who played his whole career in Boston from 1974-89 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer, only well enough to say "hello" to him if their paths crossed.
A-Rod said he didn't know Rice well, either. "I say hello to everyone and I have respect for everyone," Rodriguez said. Asked if he had any reaction to Rice's comments, A-Rod said, "Zero."
Yankee manager Joe Girardi refused to be drawn into any potential controversy, either. "I've always been one that feels that you shouldn't judge others," Girardi said. "Our job is to take care of who you are as an individual and try to make yourself a better individual.
"My feeling is you shouldn't judge others and I'm not going to comment on his comments."
Asked if he thought Rice was jealous of the large sums today's players make, Girardi said: "I don't know what the equivalent of a player from the '70s or '80s contract is equivalent to a player of the same stats. The money he made compared to what everyone else was making, I can't tell you exactly what that is. Do players in our game today make a nice salary? Of course they do. Have players from the past made sacrifices for that? Yes. I still think players try to grow the game today like players did in the past."
Rice, 56, was arguably Boston's most-feared slugger during the savage rivalry days of the 1970s and '80s. He hit 382 career home runs, won three American League homer titles and led the American League in RBI twice before retiring in 1989. He was the 1978 AL MVP.
Speaking to players before the start of the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., Rice sang the familiar refrain of some ex-players - everything was better when I played. These kids today!
"We didn't have the baggy uniforms. We didn't have the dreadlocks," Rice said. "It was a clean game, and now they're setting a bad example for the young guys.
"What you see right now is more individuals, it's not a team. Now you have guys coming in, they pick the days they want to play, they make big money. The first thing they see are dollar bills."
According to the AP, Rice was later asked at a news conference to name some of today's players who would be worthy of the Hall of Fame and he listed Seattle outfielders Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki and Jim Thome of the White Sox.
Rice also told Little Leaguers that clean Hall of Famers don't want players who took performance-enhancing drugs to get into Cooperstown. Rice, according to The AP, flexed his right arm and said, "That's all the steroids you need....It's called God-given talent."
