Derek Jeter

Derek Sanderson Jeter, born June 26, 1974 is an American baseball shortstop who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. A twelve-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, Jeter has been a central figure of the Yankees during their success of the 1990s and 2000s due to his clubhouse presence, on-field leadership, hitting ability, and baserunning. He is the Yankees' all-time career leader in hits (3,088), games played (2,426), stolen bases (329), and at bats (9,868). His accolades include four Silver Slugger Awards and five Gold Glove awards.
The Yankees drafted Jeter out of high school in 1992, and he debuted in the major leagues in 1995. The following year, he became the Yankees' starting shortstop, won the Rookie of the Year Award, and helped the team win the 1996 World Series. Jeter continued to perform well during the team's championship seasons of 1998–2000; he finished third in voting for the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 1998, recorded multiple career-high numbers in 1999, and won both the All-Star Game MVP and World Series MVP Awards in 2000. He has been among the AL leaders in hits and runs scored for the past ten years, and since 2003, he has served as the Yankees' team captain. In 2009, Jeter broke the major league record for most hits by a shortstop, and two years later, he became the 28th player to reach the 3,000 hit club.
Throughout his career, Jeter has contributed reliably to the Yankees' successes in the postseason. He holds many postseason records, and has a .351 batting average in the World Series. Jeter has earned the titles of "Captain Clutch", and "Mr. November" due to his postseason heroics. Teammates and opponents alike regard Jeter as a consummate professional and one of the best players of his generation. Sportswriters anticipate that Jeter will be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame following his playing career.
Jeter has been one of the most heavily marketed athletes of his generation and is involved in several product endorsements. His personal life and relationships with celebrities have drawn the attention of the media throughout his career.


Jeter was born in Pequannock, New Jersey in 1974. His father, Sanderson Charles Jeter, Ph.D., a substance abuse counselor, is African American; his mother, Dorothy, an accountant, is Caucasian and of Irish/German descent. They met while serving in the United States Army in Germany. As a child, Jeter's parents made him sign a contract every year that set acceptable and unacceptable forms of behavior. Dorothy instilled a positive attitude in her son, insisting that he not use the word "can't". Jeter's sister Sharlee, who is five years younger, was a softball star in high school, while his father played baseball at Fisk University in Tennessee at the shortstop position.




Jeter with his boyhood idol Dave Winfield at Dodger Stadium, June 2010.
The Jeters lived in North Arlington, New Jersey until Derek was four years old, at which point they moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan. Derek and Sharlee lived in Kalamazoo with their parents during the school year and spent their summers with their grandparents in New Jersey. Jeter became a passionate New York Yankees fan by attending Yankees games with his grandparents. Watching Yankees player Dave Winfield inspired him to pursue baseball.


Jeter maintains an apartment in Manhattan's Trump World Tower and homes in Marlboro, New Jersey, Greenwood Lake, New York, and the Davis Islands neighborhood of Tampa, Florida.
Jeter's personal life has been a frequent topic in gossip columns and celebrity magazines since his rookie year in 1996. He had a well-publicized relationship with pop diva Mariah Carey from 1997 to 1998. Jeter has also dated former Miss Universe Lara Dutta, singer Joy Enriquez, actress Jordana Brewster, television personality Vanessa Minillo, actress Jessica Biel, and actress Minka Kelly.
In December 2002, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner criticized Jeter for staying out until 3 a.m. at a birthday party during the 2002 season, saying that his star shortstop "wasn't totally focused" and that "it didn't sit well" with him. The two mocked the incident in a May 2003 VISA commercial, where they went club-hopping, in a fashion similar to how Steinbrenner and former Yankees manager Billy Martin made light of their feud in a Miller Lite commercial during the 1970s.
Jeter settled a tax dispute with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance in 2008. New York State alleged that Jeter should have paid state income tax from 2001 to 2003, as Jeter bought a Manhattan apartment in 2001; Jeter established his residence in Tampa, Florida, in 1994 and claimed that he was still a resident of Florida at the time, where there is no state income tax.
Jeter is a close personal friend of Yankees catcher Jorge Posada and served as best man at Posada's wedding. He has also renewed his close friendship with teammate Alex Rodriguez after a rift between them developed several years ago.