interview with Curtis, Curtis refused to talk with him. He indicated that this was in response to Gray's earlier, pointed interview on gambling with Pete Rose, a former baseball player who had been banned from involvement with MLB because of his gambling history. Curtis told Gray: "I can't do it. As a team, we kind of decided, because of what happened with Pete, we're not going to talk out here on the field". Then-Yankees manager Joe Torre later said there was no such unified effort to snub Gray from either Yankees players or front office staff, and that Curtis had acted alone. During Curtis' playing time in New York he was known "more for his aggressive proselytizing and capacity for moral reprobation than anything he did on the field". He publicly scolded his teammate Derek Jeter, in front of teammates and reporters both near the dugout and at Jeter's locker in the clubhouse, for fraternizing with then-Seattle Mariners shortstop Alex Rodriguez during an on-field fracas between the two teams, telling Jeter he did not know how to play the game. He also persistently solicited Jeter to attend chapel, after Jeter had already declined. Curtis said: "If I have something that I believe is the truth and it's necessary for other people to come to some type of a recognition or grip of that truth, then I want to share it." On December 13, 1999, the Yankees traded Curtis to the Texas Rangers for pitchers Brandon Knight and Sam Marsonek. A Yankee official said: "Chad just couldn't stay around any longer because that act gets tired. Once he became comfortable here, he became a preacher, and it ran its course." Texas Rangers (2000–2001) During the 2000 season, Curtis became the first right-handed batter to hit a home run into the upper deck in right field at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Curtis played in 108 games that year, hitting .272 with 8 home runs and 48 runs batted in. He was second in the AL among left fielders in errors, with five. That season, his salary was $2 million. In April 2000 Curtis had a heated confrontation in the clubhouse weight room with teammate Royce Clayton that nearly came to blows, after Curtis insisted on turning off rap music that Clayton was playing whose lyrics Curtis objected to. Curtis also turned off a television show in the clubhouse that he disapproved of