“It Was the Only Way to Get Back Up There” – Yankees Legend Derek Jeter Once Consoled His Teammate MR After a Disastrous Debut for the Yankees

The journey of the two greatest players in baseball history would not be like what it is today, had they given up after a bad debut in the Major League. The Shortstop, Derek Jeter, and pitcher, Mariano Rivera, both made their debut for the New York Yankees in May 1995.

Evidently, their debut in the Majors was not as great as they thought it would be, as just after a month of the debut, they were told, that they were being sent back to the Minors. 

Wherein Rivera thought it was his fault that both of them were going back to the Minors. And Jeter consoled his teammate as it was not the case.

How did Derek Jeter console his teammate?

After a rough day, both Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera were sitting at New Jersey Bennigans. Thereafter, Rivera took the blame for being sent to the Minors.

He said, “That had he pitched better, maybe the two of them wouldn’t have been sent down.”

Since it was not the case and Rivera did not need to apologize. Jeter tried to console his friend and teammate with some comforting words. In the book by Bill Pennington, Jeter said, “I just said that we would have to prove ourselves again. It was the only way to get back up there.”

At that point in time, their journeys did not look like they would become the two greatest baseball players in the history of the Major League.

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But as fate chose it, they did prove themselves. And both of them became two of the most wonderful players not only the New York Yankees have seen but the entire baseball history. 

How did Rivera make his debut in the Major Leagues?

The New York Yankees offered Rivera his first contract in 1990. And at that time, he was working six days a week on his father’s fishing boat in Panama. Naturally, he hated the job, and the only relief came on Sundays when he played baseball.

During those days, Rivera played as a shortstop. But he was asked to play as a pitcher in the local All-Star game. By luck or fate, whatever it was, a cab driver fickling as a baseball scout was also present there. Who then, persuaded the Yankees’ Latin American scouting director to give Rivera a tryout.

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And then history talks for itself. Rivera went on to play in the Major Leagues for 19 seasons, only as a Yankee.