Derek Jeter grew up admiring his father. In fact, the New York Yankees legend has cited him as one of his inspirations for his love of baseball. Furthermore, his father’s lessons during his childhood helped Jeter prepare for the Major Leagues. During a recent interview, the Yankees legend opened up on his father’s baseball abilities. 

Despite gushing over his favorite player, the Yankees’ iconic captain used his father as inspiration. In fact, the retired shortstop has even called his dad his first role model. His latest story seems to reiterate that fact. 

Derek Jeter Shares a Childhood Story About His Father’s Opportunity in Baseball

Derek Jeter achieved the pinnacle in baseball. After a 20-year career in the sport, he reached the Baseball Hall of Fame. But despite this, his father Sanderson Jeter still believes that he is better than his Yankees icon son. Furthermore, he offered a variety of reasons why Derek had a better career than him. The Bronx Bombers legend recently shared how his father would talk about his incredible career while appearing on the “Black Diamonds” podcast. 

During the podcast, Derek said, “Don’t get me started with my dad. Because I had to listen to my whole entire life, him telling me how great of a baseball player he was. And he was so much better than I was, but he just didn’t have the opportunity. He said, look there’s more teams now, he used a wooden bat and when they broke it, they’d have to put nails in it, they kept using it. So, he had all kinds of excuses.” 

He then mentioned that his father played shortstop at Fisk University. This is one of the reasons that he wanted to play shortstop as well, but by doing it for the Yankees, he defied his father’s MLB fandom. 

Read More: “Number of Black People in MLB Continue to Dwindle” – Derek Jeter, Who Faced Racism in His Early Days, Gets Candid

He Considers His Father His First Role Model

Later on in the podcast, Derek Jeter talks about how his father was his first role model in baseball. As a kid, he would watch his father play in corporate Leagues and dominate. This made him stand out and the Yankees legend wanted to emulate him. Sanderson Jeter not only set a good example for his son but also motivated him to work hard. This along with a lot of effort, helped the Bombers’ shortstop reach his legendary heights.

But Derek Jeter has also revealed some funny stories about his father’s baseball skills. What do you think about this latest recollection from his childhood?

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