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Derek Sanderson Jeter
was born on June 26, 1974 in Pequannock, NJ. After spending the early
years of his life growing up less than 30 miles away from Yankee
Stadium, his family moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan where Derek began
playing tee-ball at the age of five. Thanks to the influence of his
grandmother, he grew up a Yankees fan and idolized outfielder Dave
Winfield. Jeter would normally return to New Jersey during the summer
to visit his grandparents and attend Yankees games.
Derek collected several awards in high school,
including the Kalamazoo Area B'nai B'rith Award for Scholar Athlete,
the 1992 High School Player of the Year by the American Baseball
Coaches Association, the 1992 Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year
and USA Today's High School Player of the Year.
That spring, the Yankees drafted Derek Jeter with
the sixth overall pick in the June 1992 draft. He was the first high
school player chosen that year and became the third shortstop selected
in Yankees history with a first round pick.
In 1993, his first full-year of professional
baseball, Derek was voted the "Most Outstanding Major League Prospect"
by South Atlantic League managers after hitting .295 with 5 HR, 71
RBIs and 18 stolen bases at Class-A Greensboro. Jeter was named to the
All-Star Team after finishing second in the league in triples (11),
third in hits (152) and 11th in batting average. Derek Jeter was also
voted by Baseball America as the South Atlantic League's Best
Defensive Shortstop, Most Exciting Player and Best Infield Arm.
Derek continued to improve and in 1994 he was named
the Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America, The Sporting
News, USA Today Baseball Weekly and Topps/NAPBL after hitting .344
with 5 HR, 68 RBIs and 50 stolen bases combined at Triple-A Columbus,
Double-A Albany and Class-A Tampa. Jeter was also named the MVP of the
Florida State League.
In 1996, the Yankees made Derek Jeter their first
Opening Day rookie shortstop since Tom Tresh in 1962. He responded by
hitting his first Major League home run, a solo shot off Cleveland's
Dennis Martinez in the fifth inning of a 7-1 Yankees victory. Jeter
finished his rookie season with a .314 average, 10 HR, 78 RBIs and 14
steals, en route to winning the American League Rookie of the Year
Award.
That fall, Derek got his first taste of postseason
play, batting .361 to help lead the Yankees to their first World
Series title since 1978. Shortly after celebrating his team's
championship, Jeter initiated the "Turn 2 Foundation," formed to
support and create activities and programs designed to motivate youth
to "turn to" a healthy lifestyle, academic achievement and leadership
development and "turn away" from substances such as drugs and alcohol.
The following season, Derek helped lead the Yankees
back to the postseason, where they would lose to Cleveland in the ALDS.
New York rebounded by winning a franchise record 114 games in 1998,
and would capture its second World Series title in three years.
Jeter's .324 average, 203 hits, 19 homers and 30 steals helped him
earn the first of six All-Star appearances (1998-2002, 2004), and a
year later he would bat a career-high .349, as New York cruised to its
third championship in four seasons.
In 2000, Derek Jeter was named the MVP of both the
All-Star Game and the World Series, as the Yankees downed the Mets to
capture the Subway Series and a fourth title in Jeter's five seasons
in the Majors.
On June 3, 2003 Derek Jeter was named Captain of New
York Yankees, becoming only the 11th player to be named captain in
franchise history, and the first since Don Mattingly retired after the
1995 season. In 2004, he captured his first Gold Glove award, and
helped the Yankees earn their tenth straight appearance in the
postseason.
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