Despite Playing for a Basketball Team Who Idolised Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter Showed Unwavering Loyalty Towards Baseball and the New York Yankees

Dreams keep a person alive. There was a dream that baseball legend Derek Jeter once saw that kept him going till he made it true. The Hall of Famer who only ever saw one dream, to play as a shortstop for the Yankees, did not only play baseball. The shortstop used to play another sport as a motive to stay fit for baseball. Also, before making a mark as a baseball player, he made his ninth-grade mark with a basketball. 

Even though he was pretty good at dribbling, Jeter was not going to get away from his one dream. He wanted to play baseball. That too, only for New York Yankees, and only as a shortstop. And he made all of it possible. His teammates, while playing basketball, often used to make fun of him. 

What did Derek Jeter do differently that made him a source of mockery?

Simply by outrunning and out-hustling the boys, the high-schooler Derek Jeter won the roster spot when he tried out for the basketball team Kalamazoo Blues. While the whole team donned Michael Jordan jerseys or Detroit Pistons T-shirts, Jeter was the only one who was dressed up in Yankee gear. That Yankee gear of Jeter’s also included the omnipresent gold Yankee pendant.

The shortstop’s love for the Yankees also got him mocked by almost all of his teammates. “Derek probably got dunked on more than anybody in the state of Michigan,” said the Blues’ assistant, Greg Williams. 

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But the man stood tall in his dream no matter what anybody said. Not only he stayed a baseball player as a Yankee or a shortstop, but he also became one of the greatest baseball players in the history of Major League Baseball.

Did Jeter ever say anything to his teammates?

In mockery or even in serious tones, whenever his teammates questioned his allegiances, the Hall of Famer had a perfect reply to all of them. He used to assure them of the one thing that he also told everybody else. Whether or not any one of them was going to make it to the NBA, he was going to be the Yankee shortstop someday.

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And the rest is history.