Derek Sanderson Jeter

Derek Jeter....

Early life

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.

High school

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.

Draft

Although Jeter received a baseball scholarship to attend the University of Michigan, he was drafted by the New York Yankees with the 6th overall pick of the 1992 amateur draft and chose to go pro. Jeter has said, however, that he will eventually go back to college and earn a degree.

Minor league career

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.

Major league career

Regular season

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.

On May 29, 1995, Jeter made his debut in the Major Leagues gainst the Seattle Mariners in the Kingdome. He got his first major league hit the following day off of 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.

Postseason

As of 2006, Jeter has a career .314 postseason batting average with 17 home runs and 48 RBIs as well as reaching base in 105 of 119 postseason games. The Yankees have been to the playoffs every year since Jeter joined the team. He has a Major League Baseball record 150 career postseason hits, and also holds records for most postseason singles (108), at-bats (478), runs scored (85) and strikeouts (92).

The Flip

Jeter has made a series of spectacular plays both in the field and at the bat, especially in the 2001 postseason. Perhaps the most memorable took place in Game 3 of the 2001 American League Division Series vs. the Oakland Athletics. With Jeremy Giambi on first base, Oakland right fielder Terrence Long hit a double off of Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina into the right-field corner. As Giambi rounded third and headed for home, Yankees right fielder Shane Spencer retrieved the ball and made a wild throw intended for Yankees catcher Jorge Posada. Instead, the errant throw missed cutoff man Tino Martinez and dribbled up the first base line. Jeter came out of nowhere to grab the ball and flip it to Posada. Jeremy Giambi was called out. Facing elimination, the Yankees went on to win the game 1-0, as well as the series.

Here is FOX announcer Thom Brennaman's famous call:

"That is fair, down the right field line. Giambi on his way to third, and they're gonna wave him around! The throw misses the cutoff man--shovel to the plate! Out at the plate! Derek Jeter with one of the most unbelievable plays you will ever see by a shortstop!

The play was later voted # 7 in Baseball Weekly's 10 Most Amazing Plays of all time.

"Mr. November"

After the September 11th terrorist attacks, the baseball season was put on hold. Because of this, the playoffs started later, and Game 4 of the 2001 World Series was played on October 31st. The game went into the tenth inning tied at 3-3. At midnight, the scoreboard in center field read "Attention Fans, Welcome to NOVEMBER BASEBALL". This was the first time that any non-exhibition baseball game had been played in the month of November.

Moments after this message was displayed on the board, Jeter sent a 3-2 pitch from Byung-Hyun Kim over the right field stands. A fan in the stands held up a sign with the words "Mr. November", which he likely planned to hold up if anyone did something major after midnight. Michael Kay, who called the walkoff home run, called Jeter by this name, referencing the sign. Despite the nickname, Jeter was 3 for 12 (.250) in November baseball that season, as the Yankees lost the World Series in seven games to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Dive

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.

The Jeffrey Maier Incident

During the 1996 American League Championship Series, Jeter was involved in what has become an infamous moment in postseason history. During game one, with the Yankees trailing the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 in the 8th inning, Jeter hit a fly ball to right field. As right fielder Tony Tarasco moved to make a play on the ball near the fence, appearing to have a chance to catch the ball, 12 year old Jeffrey Maier reached over the wall and caught the ball, pulling it back into play. Despite Tarasco's protest, the umpires convened and ruled the ball a home run. Replays conclusively showed that had Maier not interfered, the ball would have fallen in the field of play, potentially into Tarasco's glove for an out. The Yankees would go on to win the game in 11 innings, and eventually the series, 4 games to 1. Despite the incorrect ruling, the home run was the first of Jeter's postseason career.

Yankee captain

The New York Yankees named Jeter the 11th recognized captain in Yankees history on June 3, 2003, after 8 years without one. (Dispute over the true count was noted in a lengthy article in the New York Times on March 25, 2007, by Vincent M. Mallozzi.) Jeter became the first official captain of the team since Don Mattingly retired in 1995. He is in the 7th year of a 10-year contract and made $20.6 million for the 2007 season. This contract is the 2nd largest contract in baseball history.

Criticisms

Jeter's defense has been criticized throughout his career. A baseball journalist has pointed out that he makes fewer plays than most shortstops.

The book The Fielding Bible by John Dewan contains an essay by Bill James that explains why Astros shortstop Adam Everett is superior to Jeter defensively. James analyzes the available evidence (four separate methods relying on a different set of facts and based on exhaustive research), and suggests that Derek Jeter could be the worst defensive shortstop ever who has played a long career at shortstop. He concludes, "Giving [Jeter] every possible break on the unknowns, he is still going to emerge as a below average defensive shortstop." The conclusion of the analysis done by Baseball Info Solutions' method (based on systematic observation) was that Derek Jeter "was probably the most ineffective defensive player in the major leagues, at any position."

Many argue that the "clutch" label attached to Jeter is misplaced. For example, though Jeter is known as a great postseason performer, his postseason averages in categories like batting average and OPS are almost identical to his career regular season averages in those categories (his batting average, for example, is eight points lower in the postseason, and his OPS exactly the same), suggesting that Jeter performs no better in "clutch" postseason situations than in less important regular season games.

The former reservations have led to him being cited as one of the most overrated players in Major League Baseball, by critics and by other players, after he was voted the league's best shortstop by fellow players just one year earlier. Finally, critics like to point out Jeter's tremendous salary as further evidence that his performance does not match his perception

Personal life

Derek Jeter is from a family of four. He currently resides in New York, although he travels often. 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 rom 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, Jessica Alba, and Joy Enriquez. 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.

Turn 2 Foundation

Jeter began the Turn 2 Foundation, a charity organization, in 1996. The Foundation was established to help children and teenagers avoid drug and alcohol addiction, and to reward those who show high academic achievement. The organization's name was chosen, besides the baseball reference to a double play (and Jeter's uniform number), to demonstrate the goal of giving youths a place to "turn to", besides drugs and alcohol.

World Baseball Classic

Derek was the starting shortstop for the USA team in the first ever World Baseball Classic. Jeter hit .450 (9/20) for Team USA and scored 5 runs in 6 games. Only Ken Griffey, Jr. (.524) and Cuba's Yoandy Garlobo (.480) had a higher batting average with a minimum of 20 at bats. Jeter's exploits earned him recognition as the shortstop selection on the All-Tournament Team.

Awards

• 4-time NY Yankees Player of the Year (1998-2000, 2006)
• 3-time AL Gold Glove Award (SS) (2004-06)
• 2-timeBaseball America 1st-Team Major League All-Star (SS) (1999, 2004)
• 2-time AL Silver Slugger (SS) (2006-07)
• South Atlantic League All-Star (SS) (1993)
• Florida State League All-Star (SS) (1994)
• Baseball America 1st Team Minor League All-Star (SS) (1994)
• Minor League Player of the Year (1994)
• NY Yankees Minor League Player of the Year (1994)
• Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year (1994)
• Florida State League Most Valuable Player (1994)
• International League All-Star (SS) (1995)
• AL Rookie of the Year (1996)
• All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (2000)
• World Series Most Valuable Player (2000)
• TSN Award (SS) (2006)
• Hank Aaron Award (2006)
• This Year In Baseball Awards Top Hitter (2006)