Not only is Derek Sanderson Jeter a first-round-draft professional baseball player for the Yankees, he is one of the few scandal-free and classy baseball players in the sport’s steroid-driven era. Derek Jeter is a professional baseball player who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. He is a five-time world series champion, and he is regarded as a central figure for the Yankees success in the late 90s and early 2000s, where he helped lead his team to four World Series titles. He guided his team to success through his hitting, base running, fielding, and leadership.
Jeter is the Yankees’ all time career leader in hits, doubles, games played, stolen bases, times on base, and at bats. He has received 14 AllStar selections, five Gold Glove Awards, five Silver Slugger Awards, two Hank Aaron Awards, and a Roberto Clemente Award. Derek Jeter became the 28th player to reach 3,000 hits and he finished his career sixth all-time in career hits and the all-time MLB leader in hits by a shortstop. Jeter’s stats, class, strength of being free of performance-enhancing drugs, and grace drive him to be one of the best players of his generation.
Derek Sanderson Jeter was born in Pequannock Township, New Jersey, on June 26, 1974. Derek is the son of Charles, a substance abuse counselor, and Dorothy, an accountant. Derek Jeter is the sum of several separate influences. From his grandfather Sonny, a church handyman who worked under any circumstance, Derek inherited the work ethic that led him to deny the severity of every injury. “Sonny never once called in sick and never once forgot the family that gave him a chance,” (O’Connor 3). His Grandmother, Dot, directed him to be a Yankee fan.
From his parents, he received the guidance to make him into a respectable young man who could tolerate encounters with racism, being a biracial child. His father, Charles, gave him the guidance to steer clear of steroids. And the former Yankee captain Don Mattingly gave him the advice to avoid saying anything worth quoting. This collection of advice and influences led Derek Jeter to be the elegant baseball player he is. Jeter attended Kalamazoo Central High School, where his athleticism lets him run cross country in the fall, play basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring.
His work ethic led him to outwork the other athletes in basketball, even though he was all, even though he was not best at it. Other teammates had more talent than him, but he often was awarded of out-hustling everyone else on the basketball court, even though he was the worst on the team. He proved enough for his coaches, believing Jeter was just an average basketball player, not knowing of his exceptional talent on the baseball diamond. When spring came around, Jeter posted high batting averages for his team, batting . 557 his Sophomore year and . 08 as a junior. His senior year, Jeter batted .
1508 with twenty three RBI, four home runs, 12 stolen bases, and only one strikeout. After his senior season, Derek received many honors and awards. These honors included an All-State honorable mention, distinguishing him as one of the best high school baseball players in the state of Michigan. He also received the 1992 High School Player of the Year Award from 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.
These talents drew the attention of the University of Michigan, offering him a college scholarship he would end up declining, and the interests of many scouts for many different Major League teams. Nearing on the 1992 Major League Draft, many teams had their eye on Derek Jeter, and many scouts of first round-pick Houston Astros, including Hal Newhouser, evaluated Jeter extensively. Newhouser felt so strongly about Derek Jeter that after the Astros picked outfielder Phil Nevin instead of Jeter, he quit his job to protest after the Astros ignored his drafting dvice.
Derek Jeter somehow made it to the sixth pick, the New York Yankees, the team he dreamed of playing for since the was a child. Yankees scout Dick Groch, assigned to scout in the Midwest, convinced the Yankees to select him, saying, “the only place Derek Jeter is going is Cooperstown,” (O’Connor 34). The Yankees signed Jeter, who chose to go pro, for $800,000. After he was drafted, Derek Jeter played four seasons of minor league baseball. In his rookie year, Derek was homesick and upset from his lack of success.
He was an 18-year-old kid playing baseball at the professional level, and the was not ready to be a man. Gradually, Jeter’s stats increased every year, getting him promotions to better minor league teams. Jeter was performing better than his 18-year-old self, and the Yankees were noticing. Eventually, on May 29, 1995, Derek Jeter made his Major League debut as a Yankee. In the 1995 postseason, the Yankees allowed Derek Jeter to travel with the team to the American League Division series, where the Yankees lost to the Seattle Mariners.
After the postseason was over for the Yankees, manager Joe Torre was hired to guide the team to another World Series victory. Joe Torre requested that Derek Jeter would be the starting shortstop for the 1996 season. Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner was skeptical, but GM Brian Cashman convinced Steinbrenner to give Jeter an opportunity. In Jeter’s rookie year, the exceeded Torre’s expectations, batting . 314, with 10 home runs, 104 runs scored, and 78 RBI. Jeter was also the American League Rookie of the Year.
During the postseason, Jeter batted . 61, and helped lead the Yankees offensively along with Bernie Williams. The Yankees beat the Atlanta Braves in the 1996 World Series to win their first championship since the 1978 World Series. The next year, Jeter performed slightly worse, however the Yankees made it to the postseason, where they lost to the Cleveland Indians in the American League Division Series. In the 1998 season, Derek earned a $750,000 bonus, and was selected for his first All-Star Game. The 1998 Yankees won 114 games that year, widely considered to be one of the best teams of all time.
In the Postseason, they made it to the World Series, where they swept the San Diego Padres in four games. In 1999, Derek’s season totals in most stats were personal bests. Jeter was selected in his second All-Star Game, and in the Postseason had very high batting averages, . 455 in the ALDS, . 350 in the ALCS, and . 353 in the World Series to win another Championship, which was Jeter’s third. The next year, Jeter led the team with his batting average, and in the 2000 All-Star Game, Jeter led the team to victory, earning him the All-Star Game MVP Award, the first time a Yankee has ever won the award.
In the Postseason, the Yankees defeated the Mets in five games for their third consecutive title and fourth in leter’s first five seasons. leter won the World Series MVP, being the only player to win the All-Star Game MVP and the World Series MVP Awards in the same season. The next year, the Yankees made it to the World Series where they lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks. In the 2002 year, the Yankees lost to the Anaheim Angels, who would go on to win the World Series that year. The next year, Jeter was named the official captain of the New York Yankees, however, they lost the 2003 World Series to the Florida Marlins.
The Yankees lost to the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS, when the Yankees started a drought through which they would not win a World Series until 2009. The Yankees beat the Phillies, and Derek Jeter earned his fifth and final World Series ring. In 2014, his final season, Derek Jeter was selected in his final All-Star Game and retired with a batting average of . 310, 3,465 hits, 260 home runs, and 1,311 RBI. The became the first Yankee to surpass 3,000 hits, holds the record for the most hits from a Yankee, and finished his career sixth in all time hits.
Derek Jeter is one of the few baseball players of his era to be steroid-free, and produce stats that led his team to win multiple World Series Championships. His stats, class, grace, and ability to perform well without the use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs lead him to be one of the best players of his generation. Jeter played at the professional level for over 20 seasons, and in that time, he won five World Series Championships, four of which, were won in the span of five years. The was a first-round draft pick, yet he played in the minor leagues for five years before he played for the Yankees in 1996.
He helped guide the team to five World Series titles before he retired in 2014, setting franchise records for surpassing 3,000 hits, and retiring with a lifetime batting average of . 310, 3,465 hits, 260 home runs, and 1,311 RBI. His many influences as a child impacted his work ethic and grace on the baseball field as a professional. He is a central figure for the team’s success in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as well as Captain of the team throughout the rest of the decade, and into the middle of the 2010s.
He was a leader, and the performed well in hitting, baserunning, and fielding. Throughout his Major League career, he earned 14 All-Star Game selections, five Gold Glove Awards, five Silver Slugger Awards, two Hank Aaron Awards, and a Roberto Clemente Award. Because Derek Jeter performed satisfactorily while he played professionally for the Yankees, and proved to be a clean player without needing the help or ever using performance-enhancing drugs, Jeter is said to be one of the greatest baseball players of his era.
