Yankees fans have been thanking Derek Jeter for his on-the-field accomplishments for decades. On Wednesday, the Hall of Famer took time to thank those who put him in position to become one of the most revered Yankees in franchise history.
Closing out the 2021 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Jeter took time to acknowledge the family, coaches, scouts and teammates who played a part in one of the most accomplished careers in baseball history, which many know began in Kalamazoo, where he watched his father Charles Jeter play shortstop for his corporate softball team.
Jeter would go on to play shortstop himself, only on a slightly larger stage.
“I was first introduced to competition and the game of baseball by my dad,” Jeter said. “I was amazed at how good he was, and how he stood out above everyone else. He was my first idol.”
Jeter’s idols grew to his grandmother, who introduced him to the Yankees during their summers together in New Jersey, which sparked The Captain’s dream to one day put on the pinstripes. On Wednesday, legends like Reggie Jackson were wearing Jeter’s pinstriped number two.
“I fell in love with the Yankees,” Jeter said. “I was watching games in the summer with my grandmother, Dorothy Connors. I played wiffle ball in her uniform in full Yankee pinstripes pretending to be Dave Winfield.”
The Jeters were fixtures on the grounds of Kalamazoo Central High School, where they hopped the fence from home to practice baseball on the field that Yankees scout Dick Groch would come to watch Jeter play, and famously predicted that Jeter would one day wind up on the stage where he stood on Wednesday afternoon, declaring that Jeter would not be attending the University of Michigan. He was headed to Cooperstown.
“I honestly don’t know what you saw in a skinny kid from Kalamazoo, but you foreshadowed this moment,” Jeter said when thanking Groch.
Groch’s assessment of Jeter turned out to somehow be an understatement, as Jeter became a Rookie of the Year winner in 1996 and was an MVP candidate and World Series champion in 1999. Both of those seasons gave Jeter first-handed glimpses of what it was like to be up close to the aura of the Hall of Fame, starting at an awards dinner after the 1996 season, when he sat next to Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie Robinson.
“We sat there for toughly three hours,” Jeter said. “I can’t recall any details of the conversation, but it was a time I’ll always cherish.
“The fact that she knew who I was and wanted to listen to what I had to say made me feel like the most special person in the world.”
In 1999, at the All-Star Game at Fenway Park, the late Hank Aaron tapped Jeter on the shoulder, saying he had been wanting to meet the superstar shortstop.
“These two moments in particular made me realize it was more than just a game in a sense,” Jeter said. “During my career, I wanted to make Mrs. Robinson proud. I wanted to make Hank Aaron proud. Not through statistics, but how I played the game.”
Jeter did it through both, piling on statistical records in postseason play while filling his hand with World Series rings. But as he did during the last Yankee dynasty, Jeter again credited his teammates for his individual success, which was always secondary in his eyes and those who made up the machine of the late 90s Yanks.
“I never had to worry about what your number one priority was,” Jeter said. “And that was winning…I had one goal during my career. That was to win more than everyone else. We did.”
Jeter made sure to thank the late George Steinbrenner, who made Jeter one of the highest earning ballplayers of all time, though was never afraid to throw some criticism Jeter’s way when he felt it was deserved.
“He pushed you,” Jeter said. “He challenged you. At times, he’d publicly embarrass you. But he did it to bring out the best in you.”
As always, Jeter saved the Yankee fans for last, thanking the thousands in attendance and others watching throughout New York City and the globe for embracing him for two decades, though Jeter made it easy to by consistently contributing to a winning product on the field. Jeter made it known that he never became jaded during his Yankee tenure, never losing sight of the weight the pinstripes carried, the same weight they did when he put them on to play wiffle ball in a New Jersey backyard, or for the first time at the start of what would become a Hall of Fame career.
“Just because you have it on doesn’t guarantee anything,” Jeter said of the Yankee uniform. “You had to earn it. I wanted to prove to you I belonged, and you kept pushing me to prove it over and over again.
“Thank you once again. It’s been a hell of a ride.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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