The origin stories are always interesting, aren’t they?
We all know about Derek Jeter’s boyhood dream of playing shortstop for the Yankees. It played out in a way that went far beyond any dream, and will come to its peak when Jeter is officially inducted into the Hall of Fame on Wednesday.
But from being drafted by the Yankees to taking his place among the team’s all-time greats was a long journey. We know Jeter’s major league career inside and out, but what about the climb up the ladder?
Here are some stories I gathered during Jeter’s final season in 2014 from the people who saw the origins, from high school sophomore in 1990 to Rookie of the Year in 1996.
Ace Adams, former assistant coach and recruiter at The University of Michigan: “First time I saw him he was playing for Kalamazoo Central. He was about 15 years old and as skinny as the bat he was using. And I looked at him and said, “Oh my God, this kid is something else.”
He was 15 and playing on the varsity, hitting third, always the first one to practice and the last one to leave. He just stuck out like a sore thumb. It’s like watching a great high school football running back or quarterback. There was him and there was everybody else. It isn’t even comparable.”
Dick Groch, former Yankees scout: “The first time that I had an opportunity to see him was in 1991 in Mount Morris, Michigan, and it was an evaluation camp. When I walked into the park they were hitting ground balls and the first thing that he did was he went into the hole, fielded the ball, and did his classic jump pass/throw to first base – something that you just don’t normally see a 16-year-old do. And from that point in time, during the whole camp, he had my undivided attention.
One of the concerns is that a high school player is very difficult to sign (to a contract once he’s drafted), because of the college scholarship, and (the Yankees) were concerned he might go to college. Plus he had a girlfriend who was going to be attending (Michigan) and that was always a factor. And finally (the front office) said, “Dick, is he going to go to the University of Michigan or not?” And I said, “No, the only place he’s going is to Cooperstown.” And I guess that had enough definitiveness in it to have them believe that I believed."
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Buck Showalter: “First time I saw him was in the dugout at old Yankee Stadium (in 1992 after he was drafted and signed). His mom and dad and I think his sister were there. I remember how alert his eyes were and how he was taking everything in. A skinny little kid from Kalamazoo.
The thing that stuck out to me was his mom and dad and his sister and watching him interact with them, and I felt like a lot of things that challenge players off the field, especially in New York, were not going to be as much of a challenge for Derek. His upbringing was the thing that stuck out to me, how he interacted with people. He had good people skills.”
Jorge Posada: “It was 1992, and I heard that our first-rounder was coming to the (Low-A) Greensboro Hornets. It was the beginning of August and they brought him up just to see how he was going to do. And when I saw him walk in, it wasn’t pretty.
We were on the field, I think he got there a little late. He comes out and he’s got ankle braces on, big old high-top Nikes, his hat is kind of tilted up. Skinny, skinny – I mean, he’s skinny now, imagine him 20 pounds less. Super skinny, and I’m like “This is our first-rounder, seriously?”
He goes out there (in the game) makes a play in the hole, shows a big arm, (on another play) makes a spin move behind second base, and then hit a home run to left-center. So he really shut me up (laughs).”
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Andy Pettitte: “It was his first game, or first couple games, in Greensboro (1992), and I was having a real good year. He gets called up, playing shortstop, and he made a couple of errors in that game. And I’m thinking, “What is this?” I think he did hit a home run in that game, but I kind of joke around saying my first impressions were, “Who is this kid they put behind me, ruining my games for me?” (Laughs) I kind of give him a hard time about that.”
Gene Michael: “I saw him at Greensboro (in 1993) and he was erratic at that time. He didn’t really know how to play yet, and he was careless. He had good athleticism, but he was making every play a little bit differently – he’d play the same (type of) ground ball two or three different ways, and he made 56 errors that first full year. But when I looked at him I thought, “I could relate to that,” because I made 56 errors my first year!
I don’t know that I really noticed the mentality part yet, because he was careless at the time and I couldn’t see deep concentration yet. I saw it the next year as he progressed and he had settled down. From 1994 to ’95 he moved from A to AA to AAA and to the big leagues, and we made a plan that winter (1995 into ’96) that he was going to be our shortstop.”
Don Mattingly: “First time I saw him? Gangly. Long. Looked out of place, honestly. He came to spring training first year out of high school and he looked like he was first year out of high school. And so that was my first impression. Probably my next one was like a year later, how much better he had gotten in that one year, see him again and see the improvement. I saw him over three springs in all (1993-95). The second spring, huge improvement over the first spring. Then the third spring it was, “Wow, this guy is getting close.” And that’s what you see with the guy that made the adjustments so fast.”
Joe Torre: “Well he was a good looking guy, a lot taller than I am. But the one thing that struck me was that (heading into the season) I was told Derek Jeter would be my shortstop and I told the press that. I happened to be watching TV and I heard Derek respond to pretty much the same question, and he said, “I’m going to get an opportunity to be the shortstop.” And that struck me. Here’s a 21-year old kid with so much presence at that time. And then in spring training, he never was flashy, he didn’t do very much. But he never seemed to change, he just seemed to be the same guy.”
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Paul O’Neill: “I remember spring training (in 1996), he got off to kind of a rough start, basically because he was probably nervous, a young kid. And we knew we had a good team, he comes into spring training and (we thought), “this is going to be our shortstop, really?” It didn’t take long (though). I remember Opening Day he played like he had been there 10 years.
He hit a home run, made a great play and he was basically off to the races.
Always played with confidence and that’s a big thing in a young kid.”
David Cone: “He handled himself well, he seemed to get good at-bats in spring training, didn’t seem to be overmatched. I think we ere all ready to roll with him as a rookie shortstop. I know there were some questions in the front office, which leads back to the Felix Fermin trade that obviously didn’t happen.* But we were all confident in spring training, thinking, ‘This kid moves well, very athletic, handles himself well, so let’s give him a chance.’"
*[In the spring of 1996, the Yankees, somewhat uneasy with the unproven Jeter manning shortstop on a team that considered itself serious postseason contenders, discussed trading for veteran shortstop Felix Fermin of the Mariners. The deal would have sent Mariano Rivera to Seattle. A trade to send one future Hall of Famer packing and another back to the minors??? Imagine that seismic shift and where we would all be if it happened.
Fermin was released by the Mariners two weeks into the 1996 season. He was signed by the Yankees in May and spent a week at Triple-A Columbus, where he hit .211 and was released after seven games. Fermin signed with the Cubs and went 2-for-16 in 11 games. He was released in August 1996 and never played in the majors again.]
Willie Randolph: “A quiet, confident kid – they weren’t using the word swagger that much back then but he had that swag back then, kind of reminded me of Don Mattingly when he first came up. There are certain guys that you look at, and you can tell they belong. They know they belong. When you looked at Jeter, you felt this kid was going to be here. Now, no one knew he was going to turn out to be the player he turned out to be: one of the best shortstops ever, a Hall of Famer.”
Jack Curry, co-author of Jeter’s 2000 autobiography The Life You Imagine: “One of the first impressions I have of Jeter is from Opening Day in 1996. There was a lot of talk in spring training, wondering was he the right guy to be the starting shortstop? He comes out on that Opening Day against the Cleveland Indians, hits a home run against Dennis Martinez, and makes a great over the shoulder catch running out into shallow left field. David Cone called it his coming out party, and I just remember how calm and modest Jeter was after the game talking about what he had done. And that was a blueprint for the way this guy was going to be throughout his career. It was always going to be about the team, it was never going to be about him, and no matter what he had done on that day the focus was always going to shift back to the team.
We’ve always heard about how close Jeter is with his family and that is as sincere as anything that goes on in Jeter’s world. That Opening Day game in Cleveland was originally snowed out and his father drove back home to Michigan because his sister had a softball game. So one parent stayed to watch the major league shortstop play and one went home to watch the high school shortstop play, and I thought that told you a lot about the Jeter family.”
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