When it comes to baseball, one name echoes loud—Derek Jeter! While the New York Yankee star hung up his cleats in 2014, his legacy still shines bright. After all, he led the Yanks to win championships five times—talk about legendary. During his tenure, practice, exercise, and play seemed to be all he did. But somehow he must have been taking MBA classes because his business acumen is game on.

Like many athletes, Derek Jeter too, transitioned to the world of business. We know Michael Jordon did that with his NASCAR team, right? From investments to real estate, and philanthropic missions, athletes always go this route. And for Jeter, it was no different. While he didn’t name any particular athletes turned businessmen who seem to have inspired him, one thing is for sure — whoever inspired him must be good because just three days after retiring, Jeter announced his first website.

Derek Jeter’s business-winning formula, you can learn from

Derek Jeter knew one thing that’s baseball. He didn’t know the business. But he found the parallels between the two, and he worked around it. The first thing he knew he needed was—mentors! Just like sports need expert coaches, he knew he needed business experts. “Got to have mentors,” Jeter said at the recent Fanatics Fest event. He explained, “You have to reach out to people that have had experience in a particular field. The same goes for being an athlete. You learn from coaches that have had experience. And I think when you have mentors, you not only learn from their success, but you learn from their failures.”  

Secondly, Jeter understood that just like sports needs the best teammates, business needs the best colleagues, as he said, “But the biggest similarity between the two worlds—“I keep saying it over and over”—is the team. You don’t have success by yourself. You can fail by yourself, but you don’t have success by yourself. So I think it all boils down to having great teammates.” 

Derek Jeter did something basic of Business Success 101—he delegated tasks outside his expertise to those who excelled in those areas. He made sure professionals handled everything, so he could do what he’s best at and drive business success effectively. Jeter also mentioned that he doesn’t take pleasure in looking at success singularly. He just believes in setting higher goals and then success comes along the way. But wait—he doesn’t believe in stopping at this point.

Derek Jeter says that once you reach success, stretch it a little more and reach for the stars. Isn’t that just brilliant? Not just the best captain in baseball history, but an ace business owner. Is there anything he can’t turn into gold? 

From baseball legend to business mogul

To say Derek Jeter had a celebrated tenure as a baseball player would be an understatement. But after his retirement, he didn’t just jet off to the sunset! He brought the same flair for business as he did to baseball. Just three days after his retirement, he launched the Players Tribune, a platform that was designed to give athletes a direct voice to their fans. It was a great way to bring fans closer to the games and the players. But, it was first dismissed as project vanity!

However, later it gained momentum and Kevin Durant, for example, announced his contract with the Golden State Warriors through a Players Tribute essay in the year 2016. They started getting legitimate. But Jeter has bigger goals, so from bidding for a space at the Tampa Airport to open a restaurant to investing in Whistle Sports Network, he did it all.

In 2017, Derek Jeter turned eyeballs when he placed a bid for the ownership of the Miami Marlins. He and Bruce Sherman finalized the deal and even though Jeter had just 4% shares, he took the role of CEO. But things didn’t work out, and he sold his shares and left the team. But that didn’t stop him, because he wanted to reach the stars, remember? So he launched the Arena Club, a platform dealing with trading cards, their storage, grading, and a marketplace. This business had a personal story behind it. Jeter’s parents had kept his first trading cards over the years, but they lost them because of a flood. Determined not to let similar memories fade away, Jeter launched the Arena Club. 

Derek Jeter sure does have a Midas touch, turning everything to gold. His drive, and his willingness to learn kept him relevant and growing well beyond the diamond.