There is no love lost between Derek Jeter and David Samson, especially from the side of the former New York Yankees great.
While the two have different backgrounds, their paths briefly crossed when Samson was fired as president of the Miami Marlins following the 2017 season, when a group led by Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter purchased the franchise. Samson was critical of Jeter in his role as CEO until 2022, when he stepped down and sold his 4% ownership stake in the team.
The two have been in something of a cold war since then, but things apparently heated up during the Hall of Fame weekend in July.
Samson was in Cooperstown as part of Ichiro Suzuki’s induction into the Hall of Fame when he says Jeter, now a Fox MLB studio analyst, approached him and things got ugly.
“Derek Jeter has a problem. I mean, that’s the bottom line. He has a problem of aptitude. He has a problem in everything other than being a shortstop.”@DavidPSamson enjoyed a dreamy weekend at the Baseball Hall of Fame that included his son witnessing ‘Derek Jeter basically… pic.twitter.com/iJspI4nsu4
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) October 3, 2025
“I hadn’t seen him since the transaction,” Samson, now a podcaster, told Pablo Torre on Pablo Finds Out. “I saw him in Cooperstown, and I approached him with my son and I just said, ‘Good to see you’ and extended my hand and he just looked at me … and he said, ‘Oh, you brought your camera crew, I’m sure.’ And I said, ‘Actually that’s my son.’ He said, ‘Sure it is.’ And my son was just standing there, like jaw open. And then Derek started talking about how angry he was about everything.
“And I said, ‘Derek, I’m happy I live rent-free in your head and thank you for watching the show every day.’ He had people listen to our show every day, every day while he was still employed with the Marlins. And I then just said, ‘OK.’ And he started walking away. I started walking away, and he yelled across the Hall of Fame store some terrible thing toward me, and my son was standing right there and … this is Derek Jeter, like, yelling at Caleb’s dad. It was ridiculous — and this was recent.”
The New York Post reached out to Jeter’s camp for comment, but had not received a response.
“Derek Jeter has a problem,” Samson told Torre. “I mean, that’s the bottom line. He has a problem of aptitude. He has a problem in everything other than being a shortstop.”
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.