Derek Jeter
April 8th, 2008
Jeter has spent his entire career with the New York Yankees, starting in 1995 when he was 20 years old. He has won the American League Rookie of the Year Award, a Silver Slugger Award, and three Gold Glove Awards. In 2000, he became the only player to win both the All-Star Game MVP Award and the World Series MVP Award in the same year. His .317 career batting average through the 2006 season ranks him with the 5th-highest lifetime batting average of all active baseball players. He has been in the top seven in the American League in both hits and runs scored for nine of the past ten years. During the 2000s he ranks second in the major leagues in hits (1,504), fourth in runs (857), and tied for seventh in batting average (.317) (stats accurate as of July 28, 2007).
Derek Jeter was born in Pequannock Township, New Jersey, to an African-American father, Dr. Sanderson Charles Jeter; his mother Dorothy is of Irish/German descent. The family lived in North Arlington, New Jersey, before moving to Kalamazoo, Michigan, when he was 4.
Jeter was inspired to play baseball by Hall of Famer Dave Winfield. In high school, Jeter was a star baseball player at Kalamazoo Central High School, where he also played basketball, earning an All-State honorable mention. After batting .557 as a sophomore, Jeter hit .508 (30-59) with 7 HR, 23 RBIs 21 BB, and 1 strikeout his junior year. He got on base 63.7 percent of the time.
Jeter collected many awards at season's end, including the Kalamazoo Area B'nai B'rith Award for Scholar Athlete, the 1992 High School Player of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association, the 1992 Gatorade High School Player of the year award, and USA Today's High School Player of the Year.
In December 2007, Jeter was inducted into the Kalamazoo Central High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Jeter spent 4 years in the minor leagues, beginning in the Rookie League before advancing to Class A. He spent 2 years there, collecting various awards, including Most Outstanding Major League Prospect of the South Atlantic League in 1993 and Best Defensive BUGG Shortstop.
In 1994 he was honored with the Minor League Player of the Year Award by Baseball America, The Sporting News, USA Today, and Topps/NAPBL after hitting .344 with five home runs, 68 RBIs and 50 stolen bases combined at Triple-A Columbus, Double-A Albany, and Class-A Tampa. He was also named the MVP of the Florida State League.
Jeter has played a role for the Yankees since 1996. Jeter is one of three current veterans (the others are Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera) who came up through the Yankees organization, and has played his entire professional career with the Yankees. As the Yankees Shortstop, he is currently the longest-serving position player on the team. As of his current contract, Derek earns $22 million a year in salary, and is the second highest paid endorser in baseball having earned $7 million in endorsements in 2006. Also, he was ranked as the most marketable player in baseball according to an 2005 Sports Business Survey.
On May 29, 1995, Jeter made his debut in the Major Leagues against the Seattle Mariners in the Kingdome. He got his first major league hit the following day off veteran pitcher Tim Belcher, and started 13 games before being sent back down to the minors.
He returned on Opening Day of the 1996 season as the starting shortstop (the first Yankee rookie since Tom Tresh in 1962 to do so) and hit his first major-league home run on that day. Coincidentally, his home run was called by another former Yankee shortstop, the late Hall of Famer Phil Rizzutto, with whom Jeter would get guidance from whenever the two met. Jeter played his way to a successful rookie season, hitting for a .314 batting average, 10 home runs, and 78 runs batted in and subsequently earning Rookie of the Year honors.
In 1999 Jeter led the AL in hits (219), and was 2nd in the league in batting average (.349) and runs (134). Jeter (who batted 3rd in the lineup part of the year) also drove in 102 runs, becoming only the 2nd Yankee shortstop ever to do so. (Lyn Lary had driven in 107 runs in 1931).
In 2000, Jeter became the first player ever to win the All-Star Game MVP award and the World Series MVP Award in the same year. Jeter became the first Yankee since Yogi Berra, in 1959, to hit a home run in the All Star Game (Alfonso Soriano then hit one in 2001).
At the 2001 World Series, Jeter hit the MLB's first November home run.
In 2003, Jeter started the season by dislocating his left shoulder on opening day after being named captain of the Yankees, March 31, at the SkyDome in Toronto. He ended up missing the next 36 games. However, he still led the major leagues in batting average on balls in play that year (.380).
The beginning of the 2004 season saw Jeter mired in a slump; on May 25, he was hitting only .189. This included a personal career record 0-for-32 skid in April. In June, however, Jeter broke out of his slump. He hit nearly .400 for the month and set a personal best with 9 home runs. He finished the season with a .292 average and 23 home runs, the 2nd most of his career, as well as 44 doubles, which set a single-season record by a Yankee shortstop, besting Tony Kubek's 38 in 1961.
In 2005 he was 2nd in the AL in runs (122) and batting average on balls in play (.394), and 3rd in the league in at bats (654) and hits (202).
In 2006 Jeter led the major leagues in highest groundball/flyball ratio (3.23; 313/97) and batting average on balls in play (.394), and tied for the American League lead in steals of third base (12). He was 2nd in the league in batting average (.343) and runs scored (118), 3rd in hits (214), SB success % (87.2), and batting average with runners in scoring position (.381), and 5th in infield hits (26). He finished 2nd in American League MVP voting to Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins (320 points to 306 points). Jeter has finished in the top 10 in the MVP balloting 6 times in his 11 full seasons through 2006 (including also a 3rd place finish in 1998).
As of August 25, 2007, Derek was named the Face of the Yankees by staff and fan voters on ESPN.com. One day before the Yankees completed what was thought of as an improbable comeback by winning a playoff spot on September 26, Jeter reached 200 hits for the 6th season, and the third consecutive, tying former Yankee great Lou Gehrig.
In 2007, Jeter was 3rd in the AL in hits (203), 4th in at bats (639) and plate appearances (714), 6th in times on base (276), 7th in hit by pitch (14), and 9th in batting average (.322; along with Pedro Guerrero, the only ballplayers who were in the top 10 in the league in batting each year from 2005-07). He also was involved in a career-high 104 double plays, and his 4.02 range factor was the lowest of all AL shortstops, and his .765 zone rating was the lowest among all major league shortstops.
Another play made by Jeter during a July 1, 2004, game against the rival Boston Red Sox. In the top of the 12th inning, with the score tied at 3, the Red Sox had runners on second and third with 2 outs and right fielder Trot Nixon up at bat. Nixon hit a pop fly down the left field line. Jeter ran from his position at shortshop and made an over-the-shoulder catch. In dramatic fashion he launched himself over the third base side railing, landing three rows into the left field seats, and lacerating his chin and bruising his face in the process. Jeter was later taken out of the game. This catch ended the inning and later the Yankees went on to win the game in the bottom of the 13th inning. The "Dive" was awarded Play Of The Year in the This Year In Baseball awards competition, as voted on by fans at MLB.com. The play is also currently seen during the introduction of Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN.
The question surrounding this play is whether the ball would have landed in fair territory. If the ball was fair and not caught, Nixon would have driven in two runs to put the Red Sox up 5-3. If the ball had landed foul, it simply would have been a strike. Either way, the play ended the inning, and helped the Yankees win. The third base umpire, Fieldin Culbreth, called it a fair ball.
Derek Jeter is from a family of four. He currently resides in Tampa, Florida, but also maintains an apartment in Manhattan's Trump Tower. Jeter's personal life has been a favorite topic in gossip columns and celebrity magazines since his rookie year in 1995. Jeter had a well publicized relationship with pop diva Mariah Carey from 1997 to 1998. Jeter also dated former Miss Universe Lara Dutta and actress Jordana Brewster. He is rumored to have dated actresses Scarlett Johansson, Gabrielle Union, and Jessica Alba. Rumors also circulated that he was dating supermodel Tyra Banks after the two were spotted sitting next to each other at a New York Knicks game, but it turned out to be a coincidence; Jeter's actual "date" to that game was his father. He has also dated Brazilian Supermodel Adriana Lima; with whom he did a commercial. Jeter also had an on-and-off relationship with television personality Vanessa Minillo from late 2003 until early 2006. Most recently, Jeter had been linked to actress Jessica Biel.
