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  • Derek Jeter Golfs With President Obama…Who Won?

    Former Yankee shortstop and future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter traded swings with President Obama last Saturday in Las Vegas. The dynamic duo played 18 holes at Shadow Creek, an exclusive golf course in the desert built by Steve Wynn and Tom Fazio.

    Obama and Jeter were joined by Las Vegas Sun newspaper owner Brian Greenspun and businessman/Democratic donor Stephen Cloobeck. Even though the foursome’s round took over five hours to play, they presumably had such a good time that they went another nine holes.

    The question everyone is asking, “who came out on top?” Was it the President or the Captain? Unfortunately, that information was not released. However, we can make some speculations.

    First and foremost, Jeter is not a big golfer. We know he played a round with Tiger Woods in 2013, but he has devoted much of his time and attention to the diamond, not to the links. In fact, a 2006 Golf Digest ranking of athletes who play golf revealed that Jeter’s handicap was a very mediocre 30. Even though that was over eight years ago, he’s only been retired since September. Is that enough time to significantly improve a golf game?

    Obama, on the other hand, has reportedly played over 200 rounds of golf since taking over the Oval Office in 2009. The President is also a great athlete, tales of his pickup games are legendary. He also reportedly led Occidental College’s basketball team in scoring in 1979.

    Of course, Jeter was a professional athlete up until a few months ago. He has always maintained a svelte frame and has clearly dedicated himself to keeping in the best possible playing shape.

    All thing considered, sounds like Obama probably had the upper hand on the links last weekend. The President is an avid golfer, while Jeter has dedicated himself to baseball. However, if Derek Jeter decides that he wants to be a great golfer, then Derek Jeter will be a great golfer.

    Let’s see this matchup again in a year.

    What do you think? Did Obama outscore Jeter on the links?

  • Danica Patrick Opens Up About Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Relationship On Derek Jeter’s New Players’ Tribune

    Super-star athletes are turning into editors, and NASCAR driver Danica Patrick just joined their ranks. Patrick wrote an editorial about her love life titled “Relationship Status: Normal-ish” for the Players’ Tribune. At the bottom, the piece read “Danica Patrick / Senior Editor”.

    “Look, if it’s crazy to want to go to sleep next to the person who ran your car off the road going 200 miles per hour earlier that day, then I’m certifiable. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is a balls-to-the wall, go-hard-or-go-home, lift-only-when-you-see-God-twice kind of NASCAR driver. He’s Ford. I’m Chevy. It’s the Montagues and the Capulets. He’s grits. I’m granola. We’re the opposite in almost every way,” she wrote.

    What’s the secret of the relationship then? “He’s also extremely cuddly,” she wrote. But then, the piece begins to get more serious as Patrick begins to discuss more than just her relationship, and goes into a statement about the sports world at large. “The sports media prefers simple narratives: Good vs. Evil. Teammates vs. Enemies. NASCAR can be a lot more complicated.”

    Who is responsible for giving athletes a voice beyond a soundbite at ESPN? Derek Jeter. Although he is no longer a Yankee, Jeter has partnered with Legendary Entertainment to launch the Players’ Tribune, according to the Hollywood reporter.

    “I am working with other athletes, with editors and with producers to create a platform that gives us a chance to say what’s on our minds. It’s called The Players’ Tribune. Over the next few months, we’ll be introducing a strong core of athlete editors and contributors who will shape the site into an online community filled with first-person stories and behind-the-scenes content,” he wrote, “My goal is for the site to ultimately transform how athletes and newsmakers share information, bringing fans closer than ever to the games they love.”

    What can we expect next from this website? “The Players’ Tribune is a platform for athletes to tell their unfiltered stories,” editorial director Gary Hoenig told the Hollywood Reporter, “They can discuss whatever they want. The common denominator is content will always be fresh and direct from the source.” According to the Wrap, the next editor-athlete for the Players’ Tribune is set to be announced on October 16th.

  • Derek Jeter: My Captain For Life

    Derek Jeter: My Captain For Life

    Today is the first day in twenty years that Derek Jeter is not a Yankee.

    A lot has been said and written over the past week about Derek Jeter. By now, everyone knows that Jeter is a winner who gave 100% of his effort every single time he stepped onto a baseball field.

    Jeter is sixth on the all-time hit list, a five-time World Series Champ, and a shoo-in first ballot Hall of Famer, who should be the first player in history to receive 100% of the vote. However, those are just stats and theories for historians and baseball analysts to ponder.

    Derek Jeter is bigger than that.

    Jeter had the uncanny ability to not only be grander than the moment, but by some incredible good fortune, to find the moment, like in the flip play. In order for that play to even occur, Shane Spencer had to miss both cut-off men, the slow-footed Jeremy Giambi had to be waved home, and Jeter had to be in a place on the diamond where as a short stop, he had no business being.

    Remember October 31, 2001? The World Series had been pushed back one week due to the tragic events of 9-11. The Yankees were playing the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 4 of the World Series. Tino Martinez tied the game up in the bottom of the ninth inning with a monstrous home run to send the game into extras.

    Then, the clock struck midnight. It was the first time that America’s Pastime was played in November.

    Jeter steps to the plate. There are already two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning. The Captain, who had struggled throughout the entire post season, steps up to battle Diamondback closer Byung-Hyun Kim. Jeter swings at the first pitch and crushes a home run to right field. The Yanks walk off.

    Mr. November is born.

    When the world waited and waited for him to make history and get hit number 3,000, he did it with a dramatic home run to left field. Michael Kay is gold on the call, “History with an exclamation point!”

    When all eyes were on him Thursday night, his last game at Yankee stadium, with the game tied in the bottom of the ninth inning, every baseball fan wanted Jeter to have the storybook ending to win the game. But to even get to that moment, Yankee closer David Robertson, who had been automatic for most of the year, first had to give up a three-run lead. After a two-run homer from Adam Jones and a solo home run from Steve Pearce, Jeter’s final home game was all tied up. All of a sudden, there would be a bottom of the ninth with the Captain hitting third.

    Jose Pirela leads the bottom of the ninth off with a single, Brett Gardner bunts pinch runner Antoan Richardson over to second, and another moment is created out of thin air for Jeter to be a hero once again. What do you think he did with that opportunity?

    Wasting no time, the Captain displayed his patented Jeterian swing on the first pitch to bring home Richardson, and walk off a winner for his final game in pinstripes. Another great Michael Kay call, “Where fantasy becomes reality.”

    David Robertson said after the game, “I created another Derek Jeter moment. As much as wish I hadn’t created it, I’m glad it happened.”

    As a Yankee fan who breathes with the success and failure of the team, today is a sad day. What I’ve known for the past twenty years is over. My captain is leaving the green grass of a childhood game and most likely already setting up the pieces for his next life. Or more likely, those pieces are magically already coming together, waiting to be conquered and won over.

    If they are lucky, each fan gets that special player, their favorite player “ever.” It is essentially a person whom can be trusted with the state of your heart in moments where you can barely stand to watch. I know I’m a big wuss, I’ve watched so many post season Yankee games on the edge of my couch with my hands over my eyes, nearly unable to bear what I cannot control.

    I’m about to turn 40, Jeter’s age. I’ve grown up with the guy, I’ve watched almost every single game that he’s played in. Sure, I’ve loved other Yankees: Tino, Jorge, Andy, Bernie, Paulie, Mo. But Jeter is the one. He’s my once-in-a-lifetime player. There will never be another, no one will even come close.

  • Joe Namath Called Jeter ‘an Angel’

    Joe Namath Called Jeter ‘an Angel’

    Joe Namath and Derek Jeter, two iconic figures in New York sports history, met on Monday at the Yankees’ Grapefruit League game at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.

    Namath, wearing a Yankees uniform with his old No. 12 on the jersey, sat in the dugout with the Yankees captain during batting practice of the team’s spring training game against the Washington Nationals.

    The 70-year-old Hall of Fame quarterback referred to the meeting as “another highlight in my sporting life!” on his Facebook page.

    Post by Joe Namath.

    Namath praised Jeter for his conduct on and off the field during his career in baseball.

    “Knowing the scrutiny that he’s had over the years, I can’t imagine how the guy could be an angel like this,” Namath said.

    “He’s to be respected in every phase of his life, it seems,” he said.

    “Many of us fell short with some of that, but you learn to bounce back. It’s human to err, and I know about that. We do our best to come back. Derek hasn’t made many errors that I’ve witnessed,” Namath added.

    Post by Joe Namath.

    The two had met once before, Jeter said, and spoke briefly while filming a commercial 1997 in for Nobody Beats the Wiz, a former electronics chain. The Yankees player was glad to spend more time conversing with Namath.

    “I didn’t watch him play football, because I’m too young, but I’ve admired his confidence, the confidence he played with,” Jeter said.

    Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he was excited to have Namath in uniform and at the game, and asked Namath to serve as a team co-manager for the day. Namath brought the lineup card to home plate.

    “It’s special. This was excitement from the get-go, when I talked to some folks about being here,” Namath said.

    “I’m a baseball fan, I’m a Yankees fan, I’m a people fan. So yeah, this is very special,” Namath continued.

    Image via Facebook

  • Derek Jeter Announces Reasons For Retirement

    Derek Jeter has watched the players he came up with through the Yankee farm system retire one by one. First, Bernie Williams, then his best friend Jorge Posada and finally both Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte last year. The Captain has played more games in a Yankee uniform, 2602, and has more hits, 3,316, than any other Bronx Bomber. He also owns five World Series rings. According to Jeter, he is not retiring at the end of the 2014 season because he is going to turn 40 in June. It’s also not because he is worried that the injured ankle that cost almost the entire 2013 season will not be strong enough.

    The Captain is simply ready to move on. We first heard of his retirement news via his personal Facebook page on February 12. Today was the first day of spring training for position players. Jeter had his normal press conference this morning, but even though he didn’t seem to really want to talk about retirement, the media needed to know why.

    So, for 26 minutes, Jeter sat at the press conference, stoic, nearly emotionless and simply explained why his 20th season playing Major League Baseball would be his last. “Because I feel as though the time is right. There’s other things I want to do. I look forward to doing other things. This is a difficult job. I put everything into it each and every year. It’s a 12-month job. It’s not a six-month season. This is 12 months. And I look forward to doing other things — not yet — but the idea of doing other things is something I look forward to.” He added, “I’m in the greatest shape of my life. But who’s to measure that? I know I worked harder than I ever worked before, but I feel good.”

    Everyone knows that Derek Jeter is a winner. He is a player who somehow has the knack to remain calm in big moments, to make the enormity of the game seem compartmentalized and manageable. Nothing ever seemed to matter to Jeter except winning. “You work out the entire year and the ultimate goal is to win. That’s the bottom line. When we win, those are the memories that stand out for me. I’ve done a lot of things personally in my career that I appreciated and mean a lot. But if you ask me what stands out the most, it’s winning.”

    Jeter and the new-look Yankees will take the field this year with a chip on their shoulders. They missed out on the post season last fall for only the second time in 19 years. They added several key pieces via free agency this winter: Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, and Japanese sensation Masahiro Tanaka.

    The Yankees opening day is set for April 1. They will begin their season with a three-game away series against the Houston Astros.

    Image via Wikimedia

  • Derek Jeter’s Exit Will Be Tough on Yankee Fans

    They came up together, in a farm system bounty for the ages: Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte. Together, they won four World Series Rings. Then Pettitte left for his hometown Houston Astros in 2004 and Williams retired in 2006. It was the end of an era.

    But the story wasn’t over, a new chapter was just beginning. Pettitte returned to the pinstripes in 2007 and was part of a three-man rotation that helped to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009 to capture a fifth World Series ring.

    The “Core-Four” had its encore, another championship in the Bronx during the inaugural season of the New Yankee Stadium. However, time moves on and nothing lasts forever.

    Posada retired after the 2011 season. Both Pettitte and Rivera followed after the 2013 season. Now, after 19 seasons, the Captain, with over 3,000 hits, a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer, a five-time Gold-Glove winner, and considered by all, even the most ardent Yankee-haters, as one of the classiest guys to play the game, has officially announced that the 2014 season will be his last.

    The short stop who always played the game of baseball with respect had an injury-plagued 2013 season. That was enough for Jeter to know that it was time to move on, pursue other interests like traveling the world, starting a family, and maybe even one day realizing his dream of eventually owning a baseball team of his own.

    The Captain officially announced his retirement to the world on his personal Facebook page on Wednesday.

    Post by Derek Jeter.

    The 39 year old will have his swan song season like Rivera did last year. His retirement signals the end of an era for Yankee fans and baseball fans alike. Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman said of the Captain, “It has been an incredible honor having a front row seat for one of the great players of all time. Derek has been a winner every step of the way.”

    (image)

    This will be a tough pill to swallow for Yankee fans. Jeter is perhaps the most beloved Yankee of all time, certainly of this generation. If he is healthy and plays well, watching him leave will only be more difficult. But no matter how much time passes, we will always have memories of “the flip play,” the bloody catch in the stands, Jeffrey Maier, Mr. November, and a homerun that counted as number 3,000.

    Images via Wikimedia, New York Yankees, Twitter

  • Derek Jeter Announces Retirement On Facebook

    Derek Jeter announced via Facebook today that he will only be playing one more season of baseball before he retires and moves on to the next chapter.

    Jeter made the announcement in a lengthy letter addressed to his fans and supporters, saying he actually came to the decision months ago but wanted to wait until he was absolutely sure before he confirmed the news to the world.

    “Last year was a tough one for me. As I suffered through a bunch of injuries, I realized that some of the things that had always come easily to me and were always fun had started to become a struggle. The one thing I always said to myself was that when baseball started to feel more like a job, it would be time to move forward,” he wrote in the post.

    Jeter was only able to play 17 games in the 2013 season due to a broken ankle. The 39-year old thanked Yankees fans for supporting and challenging him throughout his tenure on the team and says the experience has made him a better person.

    “New York made me stronger, kept me more focused and made me a better, more well-rounded person. For that I will be forever grateful. I never could have imagined playing anywhere else,” he wrote.

    “In the 21-plus years in which I have served as Commissioner, Major League Baseball has had no finer ambassador than Derek Jeter,” Bud Selig said in a statement. “Since his championship rookie season of 1996, Derek has represented all the best of the National Pastime on and off the field. He is one of the most accomplished and memorable players of his – or any – era.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Derek Jeter Begins Spring Training Workouts

    Yankees star Derek Jeter hit the field this week for his first baseball workout of 2014. The short stop is attempting a comeback after his season ended early last year due to an ankle injury.

    The team captain could only play 17 games last season because of a broken ankle from two years ago. The 40-year-old fractured the joint during the first game of the American League playoffs against the Detroit Tigers on Oct. 13, 2012. Still bothering him, the injury only allowed Jeter to play in five games, with a meager 11 at bats during last year’s spring training. He even stayed behind in Florida after training for rehabilitation, where he broke his ankle again.

    It’s safe to say that 2013 was an “off” year for Jeter. After missing the first 91 games of the season, he made his first appearance on July 11, only to go back on the disabled list again because of pain in his quadriceps. He came off of the list on July 28, played for three games, and then strained his right calf.

    His season was not over yet, however, as the All-Star played from August 26 to September 7. He had to leave his last game early because of his ankle. Four days later, the team declared he was done for the year. Jeter was only able to hit one homer and earn seven RBIs for the season, with a batting average of .190.

    Things looked promising for the veteran during his workout; he was able to hit the ball off of the tee in the batting cage and field 108 ground balls. Jeter typically begins his workouts for spring training around mid-January.

    The Yankees officially begin their workouts for pitchers, catchers and injured players on February 15. The rest of the team starts five days later.

    Fans took to Twitter to show their support for Jeter:

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Derek Jeter Launches His Own Line Of Books

    Well it is certainly not often that we hear about an athlete doing something like this, but in an odd move, Derek Jeter has turned to literature. The all-star baseball player revealed that he would be launching his own line of books today.

    Jeter has inked a deal with the publishing company Simon and Schuster, and will launch his own line of books with them.

    The company will be called Jeter Publishing, and plans to publish adult non-fiction titles, fiction and children’s books.

    Of course, Derek Jeter being the professional baseball player that he is, plans to focus on sports-related books, but will also plan to help out other personalities in the world of pop culture. He said of the business venture, “This publishing partnership is an exciting way for me to discover and develop new books, sharing insights of my own, or from people I believe have interesting stories, philosophies or practices to share.”

    Derek Jeter is one of the highest paid, and most well-known baseball players in the world. He has enjoyed a long career with the New York Yankees, and as he is nearing his retirement soon, it has started to work on his post-baseball career early. With the injuries that he suffered in the past year, he was only able to play in 17 games, and as a 39-year-old athlete, everyone knows that his time will be up soon.

    While it is not the typical route that former baseball players take, Derek Jeter feels that he has always had an interest in business, and wants to finally put that to use, while also connecting with the public through books.

    He mentioned to the New York Times, “I’ve always had an interest in business, and my interest in business has really expanded over the years. And I have an interest in content. So this gives me the opportunity to really combine the two. And it gives me the opportunity to curate and share interesting stories and share content with the public.”

    After returning from his injury, Derek Jeter expects to be the primary shortstop for the Yankees in the spring. However, he certainly has his sights sight on his post-baseball business career already, and through his time being injured, he had a lot of time to think about the future.

    Image via Youtube

  • Mariano Rivera Bids Farewell to Yankee Stadium

    In a sport that has been marred in recent years by steroids investigations and doping scandals, there are still some shining lights. However, perhaps the brightest star in baseball had his black dwarf moment Thursday night. After coming into the game during the 8th inning, with 2 on and 1 out, Mariano Rivera quickly mowed through the next 4 batters. At that moment, Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte approached the mound, and Rivera knew that his career at Yankee Stadium was over.

    As Yankee captain, Derek Jeter, approached the mound, he seemingly stated “It’s time to go.” A fitting statement to end the career of a reliever who approached the game with a humble simplicity and respect that everyone admired.

    Pettitte then told Rivera, “It’s been an honor to play alongside you.” And that was it for Mariano. After 19 years of playing professional baseball for the New York Yankees, he could no longer control his emotions: “I was bombarded with emotions and feeling that I couldn’t describe. Everything hit at that time. I knew that was the last time. Period. I never felt like that before.”

    And neither had Yankees’s fans, baseball fans, or the general populace. It’s a safe bet to assume there was not a dry-eye in Yankee Stadium that night, nor for anyone who watches the video of Rivera’s exit.

    There is good reason for this catharsis. Rivera is, without a shadow of doubt, the best reliever baseball has ever seen. Period. Over his 19 year career, Rivera racked up 652 saves. The next active baseball player on the list has 339 saves, 313 behind Rivera. The “Sandman” (Rivera’s moniker derived from the music he plays while entering games – “Enter Sandman”) also accumulated 42 postseason saves, with an ERA of 0.7. Despite the immense pressure surrounding playoff games (especially for the Yankees), Rivera’s numbers are equivalent to what most top-notch relievers average over the course of an entire regular season.

    Rivera’s all-time ERA is 2.21, making him 13th all-time. While that figure may not seem terribly impressive, Rivera leads the category for pitchers from the modern era of baseball (the 12 preceding him on the list were all born in the 18th century).

    Today’s professional athlete is constantly lambasted for making millions of dollars per year to simply play a game, and doing so without understanding how fortunate they are. Thursday night’s moment at Yankee Stadium was so heart-wrenching because it was obvious how much Rivera truly cared for and appreciated the game. His embrace of Pettitte is one of the most genuine human reactions that has ever been recorded – that of utter devastation of losing something one holds so dear. Regardless of one’s feelings towards the Yankees or baseball, one cannot help but be moved by the genuine outpourings of emotions from Rivera, his fellow baseball players, and the fans in Yankee Stadium. Rivera may not play professional baseball ever again, but hopefully his legacy of professional and respectful dominance carries on.

    tl;dr – Watch the damn video and be prepared to cry.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Derek Jeter Could Be Doping, According To Bayless

    Derek Jeter has shown quite an improvement in his game recently, so obviously he must be jacked up on something.

    That’s the gist of what Skip Bayless said on Wednesday, when he suddenly decided to ruminate on the fact that Jeter was considered “washed up” not that long ago and is now showing more promise at the age of 38 than he did last year.

    “I am shocked by what I’m seeing from Derek Jeter right now. They all said he was washed up,” Bayless said. “All of a sudden, this man has turned 38 years of age in June and already he has more hits than he had last year. … I’m seeing a whole new guy this year from last year … Are you kidding me? You would have to have your head in the sand or your head somewhere else not to at least wonder, ‘How is he doing this?’ ”

    You might say Bayless is just leaping to the conclusion many others have leapt to, especially since there have been so many athletes found guilty of doping in the past year or two. The difference is, he has a televised platform on which to make those statements, unlike everyone else. And although Jeter’s numbers are considerably better than they were last year–he has twice as many hits–one can’t just start throwing accusations around.

    Of course, Bayless backpedalled and said he wasn’t accusing Jeter of anything, he just thinks the situation is suspect.

    “I am not saying he uses a thing,” Bayless said. “I have no idea. But within the confines of his sport, it is fair for all of us, in fact you are remiss, if you don’t at least think about this.”

    Jeter, aside from being irritated, seemed dumbfounded that Bayless would cross that line.

    “This is a first for me, man,” Jeter said. “I don’t know what to tell you … What do you want me to say? I ain’t getting involved with this, man. You can say whatever you want to say now, huh? There’s no repercussions.”