The Life of Derek Jeter: Before a World Champion
"Derek Jeter, a professional ballplayer for the Yankees
" are the exact words Derek Jeter, himself, used in his eighth-grade yearbook (Jeter xvi). For as long as he could remember, Jeter has longed to be a New York Yankee. Fifteen years after predicting he would be a professional ballplayer for the Yankees, Derek Jeter is now more than a Yankee. Jeter isn't only a Yankee; he is a family guy and a World Champion. His career started when he was five years old, and everything has evolved from there. Sports fans know what life for Derek Jeter is now, but what was life like before he became a world champion, superstar, and captain of the New York Yankees.
Derek Jeter's life is started and baseball is about to be changed forever. On June 26, 1974, Charles and Dorothy Jeter gave birth to one of the greatest athletes today, Derek Jeter, in Pequannock, New Jersey (Biography par 1). Charles, being caucasian, and Dorothy, being African American, gave Derek his tan complexion. For the next four years Jeter lived in New Jersey within 30 miles of Yankee Stadium (Biography par 1). Not knowing at the time that he would end up back in New York as a Yankee, Jeter's family moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan where Derek was able to start playing baseball at the age of five, and would spend the summers with his grandma in New Jersey (Biography par 1). She persuaded him to be a Yankee fan by taking him to multiple games during the summer at Yankee Stadium. Soon, Jeter would come to idolize Dave Winfield (Biography par 1), who played outfield for the Yankees from 1981 to 1988 (Winfield), and was later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Now that Jeter has been exposed to baseball and Yankee...
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... healthy lifestyle. It also taught kids to "turn away" from substances such as drugs and alcohol.
From the time Jeter was born he should have been put in a Yankee uniform. He was born to play baseball and he obviously realized that. With his hard work and effort, he now is Captain of the New York Yankees. But without his hard work, dedication, and family support, Jeter wouldn't be anywhere near a Yankee. Now a four time World Champion and two times MVP of the World Series. Jeter continues to work hard and accomplish more and more goals. Derek Jeter will soon be remembered as one of the best players to ever play the game of baseball.
Works Cited
1. Jeter, Derek. The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for achieving you're dreams. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2000.
2. Derek Jeter-Biography. 1 Nov 2006 .
3. Dave Winfield-Fielding. 30 Oct 2006 .
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Jackie Robinson was the most influential ball player of all time. Jackie was born in Cairo, Georgia on January 31, 1919. Robinson had a tough childhood since his dad left his family when he was only 1 year old. This was very difficult for his family, so Jackie, his mom, and his 4 siblings moved to California. This move actually helped Jackie in the long run as he later attended UCLA. At UCLA, Jackie became the first 4-letter man. This meant that he was the first person in the school’s history to join four varsity sports teams. From there, Jackie went on to the army and then to the Negro Leagues. During his time in the Negro Leagues, Branch Rickey, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, was looking for a black man to break the
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An African-American man who faced Racism and insult of White people. He was born in Cairo, Georgia. But, because his family were African American, he faced poverty, which cause him to live hard time, during childhood. In 1920, Robinson’s family decided to moveto Pasadena, California. When he went to school, Jackie got a lots of scout by a school coach. In high school, Jackie mastered most of the sports, like baseball, football.etc. After his graduation of his high school, Jackie went college in Pasadena. Two years later, he went to the UCLA. But because of his skin color, professional team didn’t scout him on their team. Also, lots of sports teams were segregated during 1930-1940. In 1941, he left the UCLA and help his mother. However, Jackie has to join army for WWII. After he came back in early 1945, Kansas City Monarchs scouted him, and decided to play baseball as his career. But, Because he didn’t play as professional Baseball player, He had to get use to play. However, Jackie already had all the necessary abilities for baseball. During the season, Boston Redsoxs proposed a contract with him. However, Because of the racism action by white people, the deal failed. Lots of sports teams also tried to transfer African American player to Major league. However he decided transfer to Los angeles Dodgers. During the game(in Dodgers), he had lots of insult by other players. However, he endures the
Some would even argue that Jeter was the greatest leader in the history of the game of baseball. Derek was even given the nickname “The Captain” which suited him very well. He guided the New York Yankee vessel for almost 20 years, and led them to five World Series championships. Ever since the day that he was drafted by the organization, players chose to follow him. Jeter’s ex-teammate and former coach, Joe Girardi, said, “(His leadership) is by example, and one-on-one; he’s going to take players aside and talk to them, and the way he plays the game, people will follow” (DiPietro). According to Girardi, Jeter led in more than one way. Girardi believed that people would follow Jeter, but he also believed that Jeter would pull people aside and confront them, when necessary. According to Joe Torre, another one of Jeter’s ex-managers, Jeter came onto the scene and began leading almost immediately (DiPietro). It is very unusual for a player to be a leader at such a young age, but Jeter did it and did it well. There was a distinct moment in time when Joe Torre knew that Jeter was going to be leader for a long, long time to come. That moment came during the 1996 season, which was Jeter’s rookie