Belmont and Belcourt Biographies - Derek Jeter: An Unauthorized Biography

D EREK J ETER

An Unauthorized Biography

Copyright 2012 by Belmont & Belcourt Biographies

All rights reserved. Neither this book nor any parts within it may be sold or reproduced in any form without permission.

eISBN: 9781619841758

Table of Contents

Early Life

Derek Jeter was born in Pequannock, New Jersey on June 26, 1974. Jeter comes from a mixed-ethnicity family. His father is Sanderson Charles Jeter, Ph. D, and is a substance abuse counselor. Jeter's dad is African American. His mother, Dorothy, is an accountant and is of Irish/German descent. The couple met while they were serving in the United States Army in Germany.

As a child, Jeter's parents made him sign a contract every year. The contract set very specific terms for what were acceptable and what were unacceptable forms of behavior. His mother did her best to instill a positive attitude in her son. She insisted that he never use the word "can't. She wanted him to always believe that he could do anything he set out to do and the word can't would not ever help him in doing so. Derek's sister, Sharlee, is five years younger. She was a softball star in high school and was an impressive athlete in her own right. His father played baseball at Fisk University in Tennessee and was a shortstop.

The Jeter family lived in North Arlington, New Jersey until Derek was four years old. Then, they moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan. Derek and Sharlee lived in Kalamazoo with their parents during the school year and spent their summers with their grandparents back in New Jersey. Derek attended New York Yankees games with his grandparents as a child and became a passionate fan of the team. In watching the games, he was amazed by the athletes and the scope of the game. A family story says that when Derek saw Dave Winfield play the outfield for the Yankees, he was sold on baseball forever.

On the field, Jeter is a five-time World Series Champion. He has been a central figure of the Yankees during their success of the 1990s and 2000s. He is known as a great teammate because of his clubhouse presence, his willingness to put the team's goals above his individual accomplishments, his on-field leadership, his hitting ability, and his base-running. Jeter is the Yankees' all-time career leader in hits (3,137), games played (2,455), stolen bases (329), and at-bats (9,993). His awards and achievements are numerous and include twelve All-Star selections, five Gold Glove Awards, four Silver Slugger Awards, two Hank Aaron Awards, and the Roberto Clemente Award. Jeter is the all-time MLB leader in hits by a shortstop, and the 28th player to reach 3,000 hits. He is expected to pass four more players on the all-time hits list during the 2012 season, which would put him at number eleven.

High School Career

Derek Jeter attended Kalamazoo High School. There, he played baseball and basketball. In his sophomore year at Kalamazoo Central, Jeter batted .557, followed by a .508 average in his junior year. In his senior year, he batted .508 and compiled 23 runs batted in (RBIs), 21 walks, four home runs, a .637 on-base percentage (OBP), a .831 slugging percentage (SLG), 12 stolen bases (in 12 attempts), and just one strikeout.

After his senior season, Jeter received several honors for his play on the baseball diamond. These included an All-State honorable mention, making him one of the best high school baseball players in Michigan, the Kalamazoo Area B'nai B'nih Award for Scholar Athlete, 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. Kalamazoo Central High School later inducted Jeter into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003 and renamed its baseball field in his honor in 2011. Jeter's on-field achievements won him the attention of the University of Michigan. Their program offered him a baseball scholarship to attend and play college baseball for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team.

College? Or on to the Pros?

There is a famous story of how Derek Jeter was drafted and ended up in the Yankees organization. It starts with former Houston Astros Scout Hal Newhouser.

Hal Newhouser was a scout for the Houston Astros. He had tracked and studied Jeter for a couple of years leading up to the 1992 MLB Draft. That year, the Astros had the first overall pick in the draft. Newhouser believed with strong conviction that the team should select Jeter with the first pick. Based on everything he had seen in studying Jeter, he was convinced that Jeter would be the kind of player that you could build an organization around. Houston's upper management did not doubt this much, but they had a bigger concern. The concern was financially based, as they believed that Jeter would command a salary much higher than they wanted to pay their top pick. This was due, in large part, to the fact that Jeter already had a high-powered agent representing him. Other teams in the top of the draft shared this fear as well. As a result, Jeter fell to the sixth pick. There, the Yankees picked him. Yankees scout Dick Groch, assigned to scout in the Midwest, watched Jeter participate in an all-star camp held at Western Michigan University. At the time, Yankees officials were concerned that Jeter would attend college instead of going straight to the pros, but Groch convinced them to select him. To the Yankees concern, Groch said "the only place Derek Jeter's going is to Cooperstown, referring to the home city of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The second through fifth picks were Paul Shuey, B.J Wallace, Jeffrey Hammonds, and Chad Mottola. While Shuey and Hammonds eventually made the majors and had decent careers, the others never amounted to much. Even with the success of Shuey and Hammonds, their careers paled in comparison to what Jeter would go on to achieve. So the Yankees selected Jeter, who chose to forego college and turn professional, jumping at the chance to join the storied Yankees organization. He signed with the Yankees for $800,000, much less than the Astros feared they might have to pay him.

And with that, Jeter had become a professional baseball player, although the minor leagues would be his next stop.

Minor Leagues (19921995)

Jeter played four seasons in minor league baseball, at the time known as the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL). Jeter began the 1992 season with the Gulf Coast Yankees of the Rookie-level Gulf-Coast League before advancing to the Greensboro Hornets of the Class A South Atlantic League (SAL).

At the time, Jeter weighed just 156 pounds and did not have the appearance of a future Yankees star. He would have a lot of work to do in strengthening his body before he could become an elite player. Jeter struggled in 1992, batting .202. His manager, Gary Denbro, kept Jeter on the bench in the season's final game to ensure his average would not drop below .200, (known in baseball as the Mendoza Line). Some viewed this as a scared move and an indication that Jeter might not have a future in Major League Baseball. On top of his poor play that season, Jeter was homesick. He racked up $400-per-month phone bills from daily calls to his parents. Many minor league players go through this same experience, but most minor league players are not drafted as high as Jeter was and thus burdened with such lofty expectations.

Jeter spent his first minor-league off-season focusing on improving his fielding and committing to the team concept of winning. His first full year of professional baseball was 1993, and he was voted the Most Outstanding Major League Prospect by SAL managers after hitting .295 with five home runs, 71 RBIs, and 18 stolen bases with Greensboro. He was also invited to the All-Star team after finishing second in the league in triples (11), third in hits (152), and eleventh in batting average. Despite incredible improvement at the plate, his defense continued to sour. Jeter committed 56 errors that season, a SAL record; however, he was voted the SAL's Best Defensive Shortstop, Most Exciting Player, and Best Infield Arm by