JETER, Derek Sanderson

(b. 26 June 1974 in Pequannock, New Jersey), baseball player for the New York Yankees who in 2000 was the Most Valuable Player in the All-Star game and the World Series.

Jeter was the older of two children born to Charles Jeter, a drug and alcohol counselor, and Dorothy (Connors) Jeter, who worked in an accountancy firm. The family moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1979. Both Jeter and his sister were keen baseball fans as children, and their parents attended many school baseball and softball games. In the eighth grade Jeter predicted that he would be in a New York Yankees uniform within ten years. He played basketball and baseball at school, performing well at both, but his exceptional ability at baseball was evident from the time he joined the Westwood Little League team in Kalamazoo.

During high school Jeter played ball for the Kalamazoo Central High School team. In his junior year his batting average was an impressive .557, followed by a senior-year average of .508. In 1992 he was named the American Baseball Coaches Association High School Player of the Year. That summer, serious recruitment efforts on the part of Major League Baseball teams began in earnest. It seemed likely that Jeter would be signed by the Cincinnati Reds, when the call from the Yankees finally arrived. Despite the interest from other teams, Jeter was the first pick of the New York Yankees in the 1992 draft.

For the next four years the young shortstop played in the Yankees minor league system, beginning with the Tampa Yankees in 1992. His initial contract was for $700,000. By 2000 this had grown to a staggering $10 million for his fifth full major league season. However, Jeter struggled at first in the minor leagues. He was homesick in Tampa and hit just .200 as well as making twenty-eight errors in only fifty-eight games. In spring 1993 the Yankees moved him to the Greensboro Hornets, a Class A team in North Carolina, hoping to work on his skills with a lower-class team. Although his defense remained poor, Jeter's batting earned him the title of Most Outstanding Major League Prospect.

The 1994 season saw a dramatic shift in Jeter's fortunes as his playing merited a rapid rise to the Class AA Albany team in upstate New York, and then to the Class AAA Columbus Clippers, the Yankees farm team in Ohio. During this period both the Yankees manager Joe Torre and the owner George Steinbrenner had opportunities to watch Jeter play, and helped him to move up quickly through the ranks. His record for the season was a .344 batting average with 5 home runs, 68 runs batted in (RBI), and 50 stolen bases. In 1994 Jeter was named the Minor League Player of the Year by USA Today, Baseball America, Sporting News, and Baseball Weekly. In the wake of Bernie Williams's absence, Jeter was called up to the Yankees briefly in September 1995. His appearance included an important hit that made possible a strong-looking finish to the team's season. Jeter returned to the minor leagues, only to find himself designated soon after as the starting shortstop for his beloved Yankees for the 1996 season.

When he was drafted at age eighteen, Jeter weighed just 160 pounds. He gradually raised his weight over the years, and during winter training in Tampa in 1995 he managed to add ten pounds in muscle to his slight six-foot, three-inch frame, reaching a more powerful 195 pounds. The extra bulk paid off. When he joined the Yankees in 1996, he was the first rookie in thirty-four years to start as a shortstop, and won the Rookie of the Year honor with an impressive 183 hits, 78 RBI, and 10 home runs in a season that saw the Yankees win their first World Series since 1981.

Jeter's performance in the late 1990s continued to be impressive, and he joined the ranks of several outstanding contemporary shortstops, including Alex Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners and Nomar Garciaparra of the Boston Red Sox. These three players spearheaded a renewed interest in the shortstop's role in the game. Jeter became increasingly important to his team's success, and by 2001 he occupied a central place in the Yankees's lineup, earning four World Championship rings in his first six major league seasons. Jeter's performance earned him the awards of Most Valuable Player for both the All-Star game and the World Series in the 2000 season.

Called "E. P." or "Elvis Presley" because of the wild behavior he has inspired in female fans, Jeter has managed to keep his head despite the pressures of fame and vast wealth. He lives in both Manhattan's Upper East Side and Tampa, while maintaining close ties to his family. Jeter started his own foundation, Turn 2, to help youngsters in Kalamazoo and New York City deal with alcohol and drug-abuse problems. The foundation is managed on a day-to-day basis by his father.

As a baseball player, Jeter is known for his cool, hardworking professionalism. He begins his preseason training regimen almost immediately after the season ends and practices and works out regularly throughout the winter months in preparation for spring training. Few ball players have been this dedicated to the game. As a key member of the outstanding Yankees teams of the late 1990s, Jeter's hitting, fielding, and running appear set to continue to improve as he matures.

Jeter has been profiled in magazines from Sports Illustrated to Vogue. Articles of note include a profile in the New York Times Magazine (19 July 1998) and Jet (8 Mar. 1999). Further information about Jeter is available in a book he wrote with Jack Curry, The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams (2000).

James J. Sullivan III