Herman - Who Is Derek Jeter?

On April 2, 1996, Major League Baseballs Opening Day, the New York Yankees faced the Cleveland Indians. Once, the Yankees had been the top ball club in the country. They were a dynasty, with World Series titles. But the Yankees hadnt won a championship in eighteen years. They hadnt won the American League pennant since 1981. Maybe this would be the start of a championship season at last.

Today they were playing at Clevelands Jacobs Field, and the score was tied, 00, in the top of the second. The Yankees had two men on base. New York fans grew excited.

But now there were two outs. Could the Yankees still score? Twenty-one-year-old Derek Jeter stepped to the plate. And he... struck out.

Derek was the first Yankees rookie to start at shortstop on Opening Day in more than thirty years. Why Derek? some fans wondered. Whynow? Hed had a poor spring training. They doubted his strength at bat and on the field. It seemed they might be right.

Derek told himself it was okay. This was just a game like any other. He tried not to be nervous. But it was hard. He was young and inexperienced. An April Fools snowstorm had pushed the game back a day. The wait made it even harder. But Derek was determined to make a difference.

In the fifth inning, he got a second chance at bat.

Derek took two pitches, both balls. Then he saw a high fastball. He swung. Crack! The ball sailed high into the left-field stands. A home run!

Two innings later, Derek made an over-the-shoulder, one-handed catch. He stranded a man on base to leave the Indians scoreless. The Yankees wound up winning 71.

Any doubts about Derek Jeter vanished. For the Yankees, it was the start of a championship season. And for Derek Jeter, it was the start of an amazing major league career. By the time Derek retired, he had won five World Series titles, five Gold Gloves, five Silver Sluggers, Rookie of the Year, and a slew of other awards. Hed been a Yankee for almost half his life. And before he was a Yankee, he was a Yankees fan. Surely the biggest Yankees fan from Kalamazoo, Michigan.

YANKEES HISTORY

LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM, EVERYONE KNOWS THE YANKEES. THEY ARE ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL TEAMS IN ALL OF PRO SPORTS. AS OF 2014, THE TEAM HAD WON FORTY AMERICAN LEAGUE PENNANTS AND TWENTY-SEVEN WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIPS, MORE THAN TWICE THE NUMBER OF ANY OTHER MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM. IN 1923, THE TEAM MOVED TO ITS OWN STADIUM IN THE BRONX. THAT SAME YEAR, BABE RUTH LED THE YANKEES TO THEIR FIRST WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP. MANY MORE TITLES FOLLOWED, THANKS TO LEGENDARY PLAYERS LIKE LOU GEHRIG, JOE DIMAGGIO, MICKEY MANTLEAND DEREK JETER!

Derek Sanderson Jeter grew up in Michigan. But he was born, on June 26, 1974, in Pequannock, New Jersey. He and his parents lived in nearby West Milford, close to his moms family. Their town was just a car ride away from New York City and Yankee Stadium.

Dereks grandmother Dot was a huge Yankees fan. She grew up listening to games on the radio, cheering baseball greats Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio. She even waited on line for hours to pay her respects to Ruth when he died and his body was on view at Yankee Stadium.

YANKEES LEGENDS

BABE RUTH (FEBRUARY 6, 1895AUGUST 16, 1948)

GEORGE HERMAN RUTH JR. BEGAN HIS BASEBALL CAREER AS A PITCHER FOR THE RED SOX. IN 1920, HE WAS TRADED TO THE YANKEES. HE PLAYED OUTFIELD AND BECAME A SLUGGING SENSATION, BREAKING HIS OWN SINGLE-SEASON HOME-RUN RECORD THREE TIMES. HIS 1927 RECORD OF SIXTY HOME RUNS STOOD FOR THIRTY-FOUR YEARS. RUTH WAS A YANKEE FOR FIFTEEN YEARS AND MADE NEWSPAPER HEADLINES FOR HIS OUTSIZE PERSONALITY, AS WELL AS HIS SKILL. HE WAS AN ORIGINAL MEMBER OF THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME, ELECTED IN 1936.

LOU GEHRIG (JUNE 19, 1903JUNE 2, 1941)

GEHRIG, A BORN-AND-BRED NEW YORKER AND A YANKEE FROM 1923 TO 1939, PLAYED WITH RUTH FOR TWELVE YEARS. WHILE RUTH GOT MOST OF THE HEADLINES, GEHRIG IS ALSO CONSIDERED ONE OF THE BEST PLAYERS EVER, AND ONE OF THE MOST RESPECTED. HE RETIRED IN 1939, WHEN HE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH A FATAL ILLNESS, ALS, NOW KNOWN AS LOU GEHRIGS DISEASE. HIS FAREWELL SPEECH INCLUDED THESE FAMOUS WORDS: TODAY, I CONSIDER MYSELF THE LUCKIEST MAN ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH. HE DIED ABOUT TWO YEARS LATER, KEEPING HIS YANKEES CAPTAIN TITLE UNTIL THE END.

JOE DIMAGGIO (NOVEMBER 25, 1914MARCH 8, 1999)

DIMAGGIO PLAYED WITH GEHRIG FOR OVER THREE YEARS AS A YANKEES CENTER FIELDER. HE WAS KNOWN FOR HIS STYLE AND GRACE ON AND OFF THE FIELD. THE YANKEES MANAGER CALLED HIM THE MOST COMPLETE BALLPLAYER IVE EVER SEEN. HIS RECORD FIFTY-SIX-GAME HITTING STREAK IN 1941 STILL STANDS.

When Derek was four, his family moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan. His dad, Charles, a social worker, was going back to college to get another degree. His mom, named Dot like his grandmother, planned to work as an accountant.