Derek Jeter has been a synonym for the New York Yankees since his debut with them in 1995. The shortstop is one of those players who played for a single team all their MLB career. But there was a time when many teams lined up to have Jeter sign their contract.
It all happened after the 2009 world series win. Even after so much interest, Jeter did not sign for any other franchise, showing his love and loyalty for the Yankees. He again signed for the Pinstripes, but the process was not smooth. Jeter recently shared about the incident, which was wrong on the part of the front office.
Derek Jeter recalls an incident during his contract negotiations!
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The Yankees had won the world series in 2009, and Jeter went in for free agency. Even though he had many offers to choose from, the shortstop wanted to remain with the Yankees only. But the information of him only listening to the Yankees’ offers, got leaked in the market.
Jeter recalled the whole incident on a show and shared, “When I was a free agent, I was only a free agent once in my career, and right when the World Series is over, you can be a free agent. I went and met with our owner and GM team president. My agent and I said look, verbatim, I’m not going anywhere, not going anywhere.”
Focusing on the fact that Jeter even told his agent that he was not interested in offers from any other team, he added that he asked everyone not to make this news public, but they made it public.
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To the question, was it Boss who made it public? He answered, “No, that was the front office.” Though Jeter did not let this incident impact his relationship with the Yankees and played with them till his retirement in 2014. He finished his career as a one-team man.
An illustrious MLB career for Captain Clutch
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Jeter played 2,745 games during his MLB career. He scored 1,923 runs at an average of 0.310. Jeter was involved in 1311 RBIs and 280 home runs to his credit at an OPS of 0.817. Jeter won five world series titles with the Yankees. His other accomplishments include being on the All-Star team 14 times, five Gold Glove Awards, and five Silver Slugger Awards. He also made it to the Hall of Fame in 2021. His legacy is unmatched and his loyalty is a story of inspiration that will be etched forever in history.
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