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Posts tagged as “Derek Jeter”

Derek Jeter Becomes 1st Black CEO of Major League Baseball Team, the Miami Marlins

By goodblacknews on October 13, 2017

Derek Jeter (photo via tvone.tv)

via tvone.tv
Former New York Yankee Derek Jeter has officially become the first African-American CEO of a Major League Baseball team. The 43-year-old, is also part owner of the Miami Marlins, joining only one other African-American in that specific role (Magic Johnson‘s Los Angeles Dodgers).
And if you wonder where the five-time World Series champion stands on athletes kneeling during the national anthem, he’s totally on board, telling the New York Daily News, “Everyone should be fine with that. They’re focused so much on the fact that they are kneeling as opposed to what they’re kneeling for. Peaceful protests are fine. You have your right to voice your opinion. As long as it’s a peaceful protest, everyone should be fine with that.”
Source: Derek Jeter Becomes First Black CEO Of Major League Baseball Team, Is ‘Okay’ With Players Kneeling

Bernie Williams, an Improbable Star in Center Field for the New York Yankees, is Immortalized Just Beyond It

By goodblacknews on May 31, 2015

Bernie Williams, who won four World Series titles with the Yankees, with catcher Brian McCann after throwing a ceremonial pitch in the Bronx on May 24. (BILL KOSTROUN / ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Bernie Williams, who won four World Series titles with the Yankees, with catcher Brian McCann after throwing a ceremonial pitch in the Bronx on May 24. (BILL KOSTROUN / ASSOCIATED PRESS)

On July 5, 1991, Cal Ripken Jr. drove a pitch from the Yankees’ Tim Leary to the center-field wall at the old Yankee Stadium. Roberto Kelly chased after it, crashed into the fence and sprained his right wrist. Two days later, Bernie Williams was roaming center field in the Bronx.

This is how it often happens, an emergency leading to the realization of a dream. Williams’s career unfolded in ways he never could have imagined, with four championships, five All-Star selections and $103 million in career earnings. He never left the Yankees, and on May 24th, the team retired his No. 51.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that a skinny little 17-year-old kid from Puerto Rico could be here this day, in this celebration,” Williams said in his speech, before the Yankees fell to Texas, 5-2, for their 10th loss in 11 games. “I am overwhelmed.”

Williams thanked George M. Steinbrenner, the principal owner who died in 2010, for making him a Yankee and keeping him here. Hal Steinbrenner presented Williams with a custom-made ring, No. 51 surrounded by diamonds on the face.

The Monument Park ceremony honoring Williams, right, was attended by many former Yankee greats, including Mariano Rivera, left, and Derek Jeter. (AL BELLO / GETTY IMAGES)

It is one for the thumb for a player who helped the Yankees win four championship rings from 1996 through 2000. Seven of his teammates in those seasons — Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Paul O’Neill, Tino Martinez and David Cone — came back for the night.

NFL QB Russell Wilson, 1st Contributor to Derek Jeter’s Website, Speaks Out Against Domestic Violence

By goodblacknews on October 3, 2014

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson wrote about domestic violence on Derek Jeter’s new website. (JOHN CORDES / ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson became the first contributor to Derek Jeter’s new website, The Players’ Tribune, on Thursday, using the forum to urge people to donate money to an organization that deals with the problem of domestic violence.
When Jeter started the website Wednesday he promised to offer athletes a forum to communicate with fans without the filter of the news media. He followed through quickly with an essay by Wilson, whose profile was boosted by Seattle’s Super Bowl victory in February. Wilson described himself as a “recovering bully” in the essay, and called for people to talk more openly about the problem of domestic violence.
“This issue is much bigger than N.F.L. suspensions,” Wilson wrote. “Domestic violence isn’t going to disappear tomorrow or the next day. But the more that we choose not to talk about it, the more we shy away from the issue, the more we lose.”
Wilson, 25, said that he was a bully as a child, but that he dealt with his anger issues and now believes there is no place for violence off the field.

Wilson did not address the Ray Rice incident specifically, but he did write that “recent incidents of domestic violence have forced the league, its fans and the players to take a hard look into our collective conscience.” And he urged fans to join his new foundation’s Pass the Peace initiative and donate money to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

article by Lynn Zinser via nytimes.com

Derek Jeter Backs New Sports Website Offering Unique Access to Fans

By goodblacknews on October 1, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — Derek Jeter was one of the world’s most covered athletes in media during his 20-season career with the New York Yankees. Now, he’s joining media with a new website devoted to delivering athletes’ “unfiltered” views to the fans.

The Players Tribune is being billed as a digital company that will offer unique access to top athletes in every sport — from videos to photos to podcasts and more — without having to deal with reporters to do it.
In a statement on the site that posted Wednesday, Jeter said he wants it to “transform how athletes and newsmakers share information, and bring fans closer than ever to the games they love.”
Jeter — who admits to being guarded with reporters — attributed his success in what he called “the toughest media market” to being careful about what he said.
“Those simple answers have always stemmed from a genuine concern that any statement, or opinion or detail, might be distorted,” he wrote in his letter on the site.
But he said fans deserve to hear more from their fans than “no comments” and his site will allow a direct connection to the athlete.
“We just need to be sure our thoughts will come across the way we intend,” he wrote.
The All-Star retired from the Yankees after spending his entire career with New York, winning five championships during a storied career. In his post on the site, he spoke about the “whirlwind” of his final season and his disappointment in missing the postseason.
While singling out Yankee fans as the greatest, he also paid tribute to fans outside of New York for their support.
“It’s the reception outside of New York that was the biggest difference this year. I’ll never forget how baseball fans across the country have treated me,” he said.
“Ballparks I used to view as enemy territory were transformed with cheers, handshakes and hat tips,” he said. “If I thought baseball was part of my family before this season, I now know that it’s truly the case. And I am grateful for that.”
article via blackamericaweb.com

Derek Jeter’s Yankee Stadium Farewell Scores Record-Setting Streams For MLB.TV

By goodblacknews on September 26, 2014

MLB.TV_Jeter_CelebrationMajor League Baseball’s online streaming service set a viewing record for a single game last night with the New York Yankees captain’s final game in pinstripes — where, in a moment almost too dramatically perfect to believe, he drove in the game-winning run. Fans accessed 641,000 streams, beating by 18% the previous one-game regular-season record set on this year’s opening day, March 31. Viewing peaked just before 10:20 PM ET when Derek Jeter hit his single to right and touched off the Yankees’ on-field celebration.

The streaming figure for Jeter is especially impressive because it doesn’t include any viewers in New York or Baltimore; MLB.TV subscribers only get to watch out-of-market games, so it doesn’t compete with local broadcast or cable telecasts. Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Boston were the top markets for last night’s game.  The only baseball event that topped last night was the Home Run Derby that took place the day before the All-Star Game in July. That attracted about 800,000 streams — but had the advantage of being available in all markets.

Fans clearly were cued in to the end of Jeter’s nearly 20-year career. In the past 24 hours they watched more than 15 million Jeter-related clips on MLB.com. The vast majority of MLB.TV subscribers pay $129.99 for a full season, which they can access via Apple and Android-powered devices, as well as all of the major gaming consoles and smart TVs.
It didn’t hurt, of course, that it was a most improbable ending to Derek Jeter‘s career at Yankee Stadium and, at the same time, utterly predictable: ninth inning, runner on second, game on the line and the player who has been called “Captain Clutch” at the plate.
As he has done so many times over the past two decades, Jeter jumped on a first-pitch fastball and with that instantly recognizable inside-out swing slapped the ball hard on the ground into right field to score the winning run in a dramatic 6-5 New York Yankees victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
Yankee Stadium, which had overflowed with love for Jeter all night, erupted in the kinds of cheers reserved for the greats of Yankees history.
It was an ending so perfect that even Jeter admitted, “I wouldn’t have believed it myself.”
“Everyone dreams of hitting a home run in the World Series or getting a game-winning hit,” Jeter said. “But I was happy with a broken bat and a run scored in the the seventh inning; I was happy with that being the end. But I’ll take this one.”

Derek Jeter's MLB All-Star Farewell is Perfect: No Rules, Just Right

By goodblacknews on July 16, 2014

lat-sp-2-derek-jeter-20140715
New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter receives a standing ovation from fans and players upon being taken out of the MLB All-Star Game in the fourth inning Tuesday at Target Field in Minneapolis. (Jim Mone / Associated Press)

As Derek Sanderson Jeter graced his final All-Star game, what made the moment special was what it was not.  Not contrived. Not manufactured. Not choreographed by a video board operator with his button on the oversized clapping hands, or by event planners with a budget fit for a royal wedding.
There will be time for all of that. The New York Yankees will make sure of it.  Bless the Minnesota Twins for not intruding on the moment with a gaudy ceremony. This was an understated evening — at Target Field, if not on television — the chance for the players to say farewell to the retiring Jeter in their own way.
“That was much better,” Jeter said, “than if there was something that was scripted.”
RELATED: “Re2pect” Commercial Honoring Derek Jeter below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X03_bNuihLU&w=560&h=315]
The Mike Trout comparisons are not really about ability and talent. Trout has more now, at 22, than Jeter ever had. The face of the game is the one that plays hard, keeps his head down, and acts as an ambassador for his sport without a hint of controversy.  Jeter gets it. He gathered the players on the American League team before the game, to say thank you to them.  Trout gets it too. “We should be thanking him,” Trout said, “for what he brings to the game.”
When the AL took the field, Oakland Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson waited behind, so Jeter could have the whole left side of the infield to himself. When Jeter led off for the AL in the bottom of the first, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright lingered on the mound so Jeter could enjoy the cheers — not just from the fans, but from the players on the top step of each dugout.
Jeter doubled, matching his total of extra-base hits this month. Not long after, Wainwright told reporters he had given Jeter “a couple of pipe shots” — that is, grooved a couple of pitches.