Tribute DEREK JETER - Captain New York Yankees
The Derek Jeter story will be adding on the final chapter in 2020. 161th Street outside of Yankee Stadium will reportedly be named after him, according to a NY Daily News article written by Sarah Valenzuela. In addition, the 2020 Hall of Fame class is set to be announced on Tuesday, January 21st, and I suspect Yankee fans will have one more reason to celebrate their beloved Captain. Derek, thank you for everything you have done for Yankee fans and the game of baseball. We tip our caps to you.
Derek Jeter had mixed scouting reports coming out of High School. Legend has it that some scouts, while acknowledging his talents, believed the young shortstop from Kalamazoo, MI, to be too scrawny for Major League Baseball. The New York Yankees decided to take a chance and drafted Derek Jeter as the 6th overall pick of the 1992 draft.
In 1994 Derek was awarded Minor League Player of the Year, following a fantastic season where he compiled a .344 AVG., with 50 SB according to a biography.com story . He would rise quickly through the minors until getting his big chance when he got called up to the show. His first appearance with the Yankees was May 29th, in a regular-season game against the Seattle Mariners. He played just 15 games the rest of that season but the Yanks had seen enough, Derek was their shortstop of the future.
The Captain
In 2003, George Steinbrenner named Derek Jeter the New York Yankees team Captain. Steinbrenner stated to the New York Times “He represents all that is good about a leader, I’m a great believer in history, and I look at all the other leaders down through Yankee history, and Jeter is right there with them.” per a YES article written By A.J. Herrmann. Derek was the first Captain since Don Mattingly. The title of Yankee Captain comes with tremendous honor and prestige, neither of which he took lightly. Derek lived up to the title of Captain every day, both on the field with his lead by example approach and off of it with his philanthropic work. He would remain Captain for the remainder of his career.
