‘I Was a Little Scared I Was Gonna Bounce It’ – Hall of Famer Derek Jeter on Throwing Out First Pitch at His HOF Celebration at Yankee Stadium

The Five-time World Series Champion, Derek Jeter, got honored by the Yankees and had a proper celebration of his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Therein, he also had to throw out the first pitch of the Yankees v/s Blue Jays game.

As a fan, one would think that being such a great player, throwing a pitch would be the smallest thing and not something to overthink. But this was not the case with the shortstop. 

After the ceremony, The Captain revealed that he was scared to throw the pitch and just did not want to embarrass himself in front of all the people present there.

Why was Derek Jeter scared to throw the pitch?

The former baseball player, Derek Jeter was genuinely happy to be back at Yankee stadium. This was the moment where he was going to share his life as a baseball player with his kids.

A little bit of nervousness was understandable, but the shortstop was fairly terrified of throwing the first pitch.

“I haven’t thrown a baseball since I threw out the first pitch in 2017. That’s the truth. I flipped tennis balls under hands to my girls, but I was a little scared I was gonna bounce it. It was good to be back,” Jeter said.

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But the captain did not bounce it at all. He came from the dugout with a smile from ear to ear, shook hands with Frankie Montas, and simply threw the ceremonial pitch. He looked quite content after that.

Did the ceremony go how Jeter would have wanted it?

The most important thing that Jeter was looking forward to, was sharing that moment with his kids. All three of his daughters were present there, his wife, parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. He got to share what he did for 23 years with his family, and that’s what he wanted. That’s what he was most looking forward to. 

During the time he played, his daughters were not there to see him. But when he gave a speech on Friday night, two of his daughters were standing right beside him. He was telling them, “I told you this place was special.”

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He had nothing to be scared of, and things went great as they should have.