New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter bid farewell to the game in the most iconic fashion by hitting an iconic walk-off single, keeping his head held high. In the two-decade-long career that he played, the Yankees legend achieved the pinnacle. And one of the highest honors of his career is being part of Cooperstown. However, Jeter’s highest honor as a Yankee was getting named the Captain of the Bronx Bombers in the spring of 2003.
The former shortstop fondly remembers the day the Boss, aka the late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, called him into his office and told him the news. Because that was the day he thought he was in a lot of trouble.
Why did Derek Jeter think he was in trouble?
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It is no secret that the former shortstop had a great relationship with George Steinbrenner. They used to have a sort of routine where in every off-season the Boss used to call Jeter up to his office and tell him how he should be performing and staying disciplined in the next season and everything about it.
But the 2003 season was a bit different. He had dislocated his shoulder and was back in Tampa for rehab. There, during one of the off days, he and the rest of the team went up to have a night out and got clicked. The next day, on the front page, Derek Jeter was present partying till 3 am. Therefore, when Jeter got a call that Boss wanted to see him, he thought he was in trouble. Recalling that day, in the podcast with The Player’s tribune, he said, “I thought I was in trouble.”
“I thought I was in trouble.”@derekjeter takes us back to 2003 to tell the story of how he was named captain of the @Yankees. pic.twitter.com/m8jCRYWYVK
— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) January 7, 2023
But instead of getting disciplined by the boss, he got named the fifteenth captain of the New York Yankees. Jeter has since talked about that honor, as it means a great deal for any Yankee.
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Jeter still has a lot of New York inside of him
Even though the former shortstop got retired from MLB in 2014, he still has New York City inside of him. When he became the CEO of the baseball team, Miami Marlins, he took his family and moved to Miami. And has been living there ever since.
Watch this story: Every New York Yankees record broken by MLB icon Derek Jeter
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A few years ago, in one of his interviews, the Yankees legend was asked to name five of his top rappers that he liked. Since he is from Michigan, he named Eminem on his top 5 rappers list. But he wasn’t about to forget the Big Apple, therefore, he added Diddy to that list as well.
This shows that no matter where he goes, he’ll still be a Yankee, from his heart.