Derek Jeter by Sports Illustrated

Author:Sports Illustrated
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-05-11T05:14:06+00:00

Behind the scenes at the 2009 Sportsman of the Year photo shoot.

Watching Jeter shoot a commercial is like watching him play for the Yankees: he exudes a down-to-earth charm and boyish enthusiasm that make him a star without acting like one, but he is out to win. “One moment he can be joking with somebody in the stands while on deck,” says Casey Close, his primary agent, “asking them, ‘What do you think they’re going to throw me here?’ And then it’s like with a snap of his fingers, he gets lost in the moment of the at-bat and his focus is incredible. One of the most impressive things about him is a calm sense of self, a complete confidence in exactly who he is.”

“I don’t think I’ve changed,” Jeter says. “I think people around you change. The way they react when you’re around. My closest friends I’ve had for a long time.” His inner circle is small, populated by friends he met before he got to the big leagues, including teammates Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte; two longtime friends, Douglas Biro and Sean Twitty; and former teammate Gerald Williams, who Jeter says “always looked out for me” in his first major league training camp (1993) and who lives near him in Tampa.

“There are a few reasons why teammates look to Derek and respond to him,” Posada says. “He doesn’t make any excuses—about anything—and whenever he hears anything negative, he’s going to prove you wrong. That fuels him to get better.”

For the Gatorade commercial, Jeter was shot in super-slow-motion high definition by a camera moving along a track as he made his trademark jump throw, a leaping throw to first base deep from the shortstop hole. The shot was spectacular to the point of artistry, a kind of Baryshnikov meets The Matrix. “It’s almost perfect,” gushed the young, enthusiastic director, Adam Berg. Almost. The director tried more takes. Jeter finally presented Berg with a proposal.

“I told you I would do five jumps and three slides,” Jeter said, referring to another scene in which he slid into second base. “But I’ll make you a deal: I’ll do 10 jumps and six slides, and all you have to do is swallow one spoonful of cinnamon. If not, five and three. Just one spoonful.”

“With water?” Berg asked.

“Only after you swallow it.”

Jeter’s jump throw ranks with the basket catch of Willie Mays as one of the signature plays in baseball history. Still, Jeter’s defense, especially his range, has been an object of derision by statistical analysts. “There is no possible way you can measure it,” Jeter says of defensive skill, which he said includes too many variables that cannot be quantified. “There’s just no way. It’s impossible. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but…no way.”

After the 2007 season, at 33, Jeter hired a personal trainer, Jason Riley, to improve his leg strength and agility. As a young player Jeter didn’t work out at all in November and December. “What I found out as you get older,” he says, “is it’s a lot easier to stay in shape than get back into shape.

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