Joe Namath calls Derek Jeter an ‘angel’

Derek Jeter has been described in a variety of ways during his career.

Joe Namath brought something new Monday.

“Knowing the scrutiny that he’s had over the years,” the Jets Hall of Famer said at Yankees camp, “I can’t imagine how the guy could be an angel like this over the years. He’s to be respected for every phase of his life, it seems.” ...

“Over the years, I’ve learned to respect what teammates and coaches have to say about the guys they work with, and I’ve only heard wonderful compliments about him,” Namath said. “And then we get to see him in person or on the television and how he conducts himself away from the game or off the field . . . Many of us fell short with some of that, but you learn to bounce back. It’s human to error, and I know about that. We do our best to come back. Derek hasn’t made many errors that I’ve been able to witness.”

Told of Namath’s “angel” description, Jeter smiled.

“Puts a lot of pressure on me,” he said…

Despite his status as a New York legend, Namath said he cannot relate to Jeter.

“Only if I had a big enough head to try to,” Namath said. “No, he’s special, I can’t relate to him. Some of the things that athletes, people in the public eye [go through], I can relate to a bit. But his career and where he’s been, what he’s done, I can’t relate to all that.

“We accomplished a goal when I was a part of a couple of teams in my career and we won championships. Well, he’s done quite a bit more. So no, I don’t relate to what he’s been able to do.”

Shut up, stats nerds and haters: You’re wrong about Derek Jeter

If one had to synthesize most of the recent Jeter coverage under one headline, it would be: Is Derek Jeter a True Hall of Famer or Is He Overrated?

Let’s deal with the first question. There isn’t any doubt that he is going to get into the Hall of Fame. Only nine players in the history of baseball have more hits than Jeter. He’s a 13-time All-Star with five World Series rings. And he’s tremendously popular. If you put down a deposit on a hotel room in Cooperstown for July 2020, it’s good as gold.

Those who have cast doubts about his HOF worthiness have always stressed the lack of bold numbers on his statistics page on BaseballReference.com. In other words, he never led the league in many offensive categories. This is true. He only led the league in runs scored in 1998 and in hits in 1999 and 2012, and HOFers have usually topped the list in more stats than that.

He was never quite a match for the top superstars of his era. Or as Ted Berg put it in USA Today (in a piece titled “Derek Jeter is the most fervently overrated shoo-in for the Hall of Fame”), “In terms of overall value to his teams, Jeter just doesn’t stack up to recent historic greats like Albert Pujols and Barry Bonds, and can’t quite match great contemporaries like Chipper Jones and Jeff Bagwell either.”

This is also true, but not to the point.

When Hal Newhouser quit his job over Derek Jeter

If anyone knew a top notch baseball prospect when he saw one, Hal Newhouser did. But the Houston Astros, for whom Newhouser was a scout in the early 1990s, ignored what “Prince Hal” told them. He told them to draft Derek Jeter with the #1 pick and pay him whatever he wanted. They didn’t, and instead the young infielder was drafted by the New York Yankees with the sixth pick. Jeter went on to become a superstar in pinstripes, winning five World Series titles.

Newhouser quit the Astros the day after the draft, ending a career of more than 50 years in professional baseball.

Posnanski Top-100 #57: Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter is the most overrated/underrated player of our time. This is in part because he has been a central figure on the essential team of the last 20 or so years, the New York Yankees. This is in part because he is such a charismatic figure and because he has so gracefully (and carefully) managed his image. But perhaps most, this is because Jeter’s value as a player has always felt at least partly unmeasurable. And the arguments about unmeasurable things can rage hot and rage forever.

Derek Jeter’s ‘St. Jetersburg’ has strict ‘no cameras’ policy | Page Six

But can they take pictures of the gift baskets when they leave?

Derek Jeter has a strict “no camera or phones” rule when it comes to his sprawling Florida mansion.
We’re told the famously private Yankee has a basket in the foyer of his 30,875-square-foot, multimillion dollar Davis Island home, dubbed by locals “St. Jetersburg.” All guests are expected to plunk down their camera phones before entering his castle.
“He points and says, ‘Phones go there,’ so no one can take pictures inside his house,” says a source.

Brendan Ryan has deal with Yankees, will provide Jeter insurance

I thought Obamacare was supposed to mark the end of crappy insurance?

Brendan Ryan, who will provide insurance for shortstop Derek Jeter, has a deal with the Yankees, sources say.

Ryan hit .197 for the Mariners and Yankees last year but won a place with the Yankees for his exceptional defense.

The Yankees are still pursuing free-agent shrtstop Stephen Drew as they have questions on both sides of the infield. Jeter signed a one-year, $12 million deal for 2014.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported the sides were close.

Jeter Prepares to Turn a Page and Publish Many Others

Jon Anderson: Going for the 2

Derek Jeter, nearing the final act of a storied athletic career, is ready to talk about his life after baseball. He wants to be a book publisher.

On Thursday, Jeter, the Yankees’ shortstop and captain, announced that he would start a publishing imprint, Jeter Publishing, a partnership with Simon & Schuster…

The publishing imprint will include nonfiction books for adults, like biographies and titles on business and lifestyle; children’s picture books; middle-grade fiction; and books for children who are learning to read…

Jeter Publishing will work with Wicked Cow Entertainment, a firm that manages strategy for sports and entertainment brands and will be looking for “brand extensions” for books.

“You never know where this may go,” Jeter said. “You look at all the opportunities that come with content in general; I mean, there might be a compelling story that someone has that turns into a film or a TV show.”...

Jon Anderson, the president of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, said that Jeter’s parents, Dorothy and Charles, were planning to meet with the editorial staff at Simon & Schuster to provide “background on young Derek Jeter.” Jeter’s charitable organization, the Turn 2 Foundation, will be involved with the children’s books stamped with the Jeter name.

One of the first books planned, Anderson said, is a “Derek Jeter guide to baseball” for young readers. The plan includes updating the book each year.

How Jeter’s new deal counts against Yankees’ $189M goal | New York Post

An attempt to explain how Jeter’s new contract impacts the Competitive Balance Tax.

Yankees sign Derek Jeter to a one-year, $12 million deal for 2014  - NY Daily News

A little more info about the Jeter signing. How could Jeter expect to take such a big pay cut after such a great year in 2013? It’s usually not pretty watching a great one end his career.

Even after the worst season of his career, Derek Jeter found a way to get a raise.
No, Jeter won’t be making more than the $17 million he earned in each of the past three seasons, but rather than triggering his $9.5 million player option, on Friday the 39-year-old captain agreed to a one-year, $12 million deal with the Yankees for 2014.
According to a source, Jeter and his agent, Casey Close, recently approached Hal Steinbrenner about a new contract, not wanting to take a pay cut of $7.5 million.
The two sides ultimately came to an agreement on the $12 million pact, getting it done before Monday, when Jeter would have had to accept or decline the option.
“He’s Derek Jeter,” the source said. “Nobody wanted a fight over a couple million dollars.”[Emphasis added.]

Yankees re-sign Jeter for one-year, $12 million | yankees.com: News

Speaking as a diehard Red Sox fan, I heartily support this move.

The Yankees announced Friday they have re-signed shortstop Derek Jeter to a one-year, $12 million contract for the 2014 season.

Deadspin: Mariano Rivera’s Goodbye Turns Us All Into Blubbering Children

This is the last time Mariano Rivera will wear pinstripes, until some Old Timer’s Day in the near future when he’ll probably look exactly the same, and the fastball will still be cutting, and you’ll wonder if he couldn’t have done this for a few more years if he wanted to. But it’s over, and even if a season-long victory lap was secretly as much about saying “we want you to stay” as “we’re thankful we got to see you play,” the man’s done. As Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte approached the mound to remove Rivera from the game, cameras caught the first words exchanged. Jeter to Rivera: “Time to go.”