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Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Spike Lee to Executive Produce Derek Jeter Docuseries for ESPN

ESPN Films is teaming up with Spike Lee and Derek Jeter for an upcoming docuseries about the former Major League Baseball star’s career with the New York Yankees.

The multi-part series, titled “The Captain,” is set to debut on ESPN and the streaming service ESPN+ in 2022. Here is the network’s full description:

Derek Jeter’s arrival with the New York Yankees helped transform a struggling franchise into a storied dynasty, all within a time of great change in New York City. As Jeter forged a Hall of Fame career, he established himself as the model Yankee both on- and off-the field, with his style, class, and charisma. Jeter’s commitment to winning came with a rare combination of competiveness and cool, traits he has taken with him into retirement as he tackles new tests as a team owner and executive with the Miami Marlins and as a father. As he prepares to enter Cooperstown this July, he is pulling back the curtain to reveal what it was really like to be “The Captain.”

Randy Wilkins, who previously collaborated with Lee on his episode of the Apple TV+ docueseries “Dear…,” will serve as director on the series.

Promising “candid access” to Jeter and his story, the project is described as “a vessel to tell a larger cultural story that explores race, family, community, rivalries and more.”

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: May 18, 2021 at 02:12 PM | 57 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: derek jeter

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1. Tin Angel Posted: May 18, 2021 at 03:30 PM (#6019428)

(heavy breathing)

2. Pat Rapper's Delight (as quoted on MLB Network) Posted: May 18, 2021 at 03:35 PM (#6019429)

Can't wait to miss it!

3. What did Billy Ripken have against ElRoy Face? Posted: May 18, 2021 at 03:38 PM (#6019430)

“Candid access” = being in the room with Jeter’s agent when he drafts the talking points script.

4. JL72 Posted: May 18, 2021 at 03:45 PM (#6019431)

Will Spike get a gift basket after this runs?

5. bookbook Posted: May 18, 2021 at 04:09 PM (#6019437)

I had no idea Spike Lee had fallen so far.

6. Ziggy: social distancing since 1980 Posted: May 18, 2021 at 04:55 PM (#6019448)

*preemptively vomits*

7. SoSH U at work Posted: May 18, 2021 at 04:59 PM (#6019450)

Is there any reason to believe there's anything remotely interesting about Jeter?

8. Hombre Brotani

Posted: May 18, 2021 at 05:11 PM (#6019456)

Of all the things I'm not going to watch, I'm not going to watch this the most.

9. Tom Goes to the Ballpark Posted: May 18, 2021 at 05:22 PM (#6019458)

Pass

10. the Hugh Jorgan returns Posted: May 18, 2021 at 06:27 PM (#6019477)

nevermind

11. The Gary DiSarcina Fan Club (JAHV) Posted: May 18, 2021 at 06:27 PM (#6019478)

Why?

12. gef the talking mongoose, peppery hostile Posted: May 18, 2021 at 06:32 PM (#6019479)

*preemptively vomits*

Make room for me.

13. gef the talking mongoose, peppery hostile Posted: May 18, 2021 at 06:33 PM (#6019480)

Otherwise ... can't be more of a debacle than Summer of Sam.

Can it?

14. the Hugh Jorgan returns Posted: May 18, 2021 at 06:38 PM (#6019481)

Spike Lee, Jeter, ESPN...it's like a meeting of overrated things from the aughts...

15. Alex meets the threshold for granular review Posted: May 18, 2021 at 07:01 PM (#6019486)

Spike Lee is one of the modern greats, no reason to drag him down with Jeter and ESPN.

16. Cowboy Popup Posted: May 18, 2021 at 07:02 PM (#6019487)

Is there any reason to believe there's anything remotely interesting about Jeter?

It'd be interesting to hear him be candid about his time in the league. Even if it's just his least favorite and favorite pitchers to face or his favorite contemporary ballplayers. It'd also be interesting to see if he has anything to say about race, which he's basically been silent on, given the times.

I wouldn't expect any of that, but if Jeter were willing to open up (and he's clearly not!) I'm sure it would be interesting. Dude played MLB for 20 years and is now running a team.

17. What did Billy Ripken have against ElRoy Face? Posted: May 18, 2021 at 07:24 PM (#6019495)

Of all the things I'm not going to watch, I'm not going to watch this the most.

Is this original? If so, nicely done. I like it.

18. The Yankee Clapper Posted: May 18, 2021 at 07:30 PM (#6019496)

Dude played MLB for 20 years and is now running a team.

And no one won more World Series in the Wildcard Era, yet the small minds continue to take fan-boy-hater pot shots. Sad

19. BillWallace Posted: May 18, 2021 at 08:01 PM (#6019501)

Of all the things I'm not going to watch, I'm not going to watch this the most.

Well said

20. Perry Posted: May 18, 2021 at 08:08 PM (#6019506)

Posnanski's twitter: Sorry, I have a colonoscopy that day, whatever day that is.

21. Perry Posted: May 18, 2021 at 08:11 PM (#6019508)

Spike Lee, Jeter, ESPN...it's like a meeting of overrated things from the aughts...

Can't agree with you there, every Lee film I've seen has been worth watching, he's a terrific director.

22. Edmundo got dem ol' Kozma blues again mama

Posted: May 18, 2021 at 08:55 PM (#6019514)

I initially read docuseries as doucheseries and thought that was harsh.

Unless Jeter opens up there’s nothing of interest for me.

23. A triple short of the cycle

Posted: May 18, 2021 at 09:02 PM (#6019515)

Opens up what?

24. Edmundo got dem ol' Kozma blues again mama

Posted: May 18, 2021 at 09:07 PM (#6019520)

An honest discussion of Arods joining the team, for one

25. SoSH U at work Posted: May 18, 2021 at 09:25 PM (#6019524)

And no one won more World Series in the Wildcard Era, yet the small minds continue to take fan-boy-hater pot shots. Sad

Yeah, we wouldn't want pathetic fanboys around.

I've got nothing against Jeter. Hell of a player. Seems like a nice enough bloke. But at no point in his 20-plus years in the public eye has he said anything remotely interesting or thoughtful, nor has he given any hint there's something deeper lurking. Now, perhaps he's managed to keep this real Jeets hidden from view for a quarter century, but that would be monumentally good job at keeping that self tamped down.

OTOH, look at that all that shiny bling. Wow, fascinating.

26. The Yankee Clapper Posted: May 18, 2021 at 10:01 PM (#6019531)

You guys know this is ESPN TV, not the Cannes Film Festival?

27. Cowboy Popup Posted: May 18, 2021 at 10:17 PM (#6019537)

I've got nothing against Jeter. Hell of a player. Seems like a nice enough bloke. But at no point in his 20-plus years in the public eye has he said anything remotely interesting or thoughtful, nor has he given any hint there's something deeper lurking. Now, perhaps he's managed to keep this real Jeets hidden from view for a quarter century, but that would be monumentally good job at keeping that self tamped down.

I feel you but I don't have the same take away. That perpetual wall is part of what I think would make it interesting if he ever opened up and I think there is at least something in there that would be surprising. I remember reading a DiMaggio biography when I was young that was "controversial" and supposedly uncovered some compelling personal motivations that were (again, as someone who was maybe 13 at the time and with no other context about the story, supposedly) totally hidden during DiMaggio's time alive. I've always suspected there was something like that in Jeter.

IDK, not like we're ever going to find out.

28. Traderdave

Posted: May 18, 2021 at 10:33 PM (#6019542)

29. Pat Rapper's Delight (as quoted on MLB Network) Posted: May 18, 2021 at 10:51 PM (#6019548)

People don't take pot shots at Jeter, they take pot shots at the Cult of Derek.

Hey now! Show some RE2PECT, why don't ya?

30. gef the talking mongoose, peppery hostile Posted: May 18, 2021 at 11:22 PM (#6019556)

And no one won more World Series in the Wildcard Era, yet the small minds continue to take fan-boy-hater pot shots. Sad

Wipe your chin. Jesus.

31. gef the talking mongoose, peppery hostile Posted: May 18, 2021 at 11:24 PM (#6019557)

Can't agree with you there, every Lee film I've seen has been worth watching, he's a terrific director.

Last thing of his I watched was the documentary Four Little Girls, which was profoundly moving. Otherwise, I think I've seen only She's Gotta Have It (solid debut), Do the Right Thing (extermely good), Malcolm X (one of my favorites of that decade) & the pathetic Summer of Sam. Can't win 'em all.

32. Lowry Seasoning Salt Posted: May 18, 2021 at 11:30 PM (#6019559)

I've got no doubt Jeter's got a good personality behind the facade he's used to protect his privacy, and his comments to President Bush before throwing the first pitch of 2001 World Series Game 3 are enough proof for me. I'll give anyone credit for busting the president's chops, even more so for doing it amidst a fraught time like NY City just after 9/11.

Link Goes Right To The Key 1-minute Segment of the Video

33. Alex meets the threshold for granular review Posted: May 18, 2021 at 11:37 PM (#6019560)

You guys know this is ESPN TV, not the Cannes Film Festival?

What's that got to do with the fact that this is going to be insanely boring?

34. Best Dressed Chicken in Town Posted: May 18, 2021 at 11:59 PM (#6019567)

35. MuttsIdolCochrane Posted: May 19, 2021 at 04:39 AM (#6019575)

Inside Man - 2006

36. Slivers of Maranville descends into chaos (SdeB) Posted: May 19, 2021 at 06:26 AM (#6019576)

struggling franchise

They had barely won 22 World Series by the time Jeter joined!

37. villageidiom Posted: May 19, 2021 at 07:55 AM (#6019580)

Documentaries are tough. I mean, if a documentarian is approaching the subject as "this is a compelling story and nobody knows about it" then it might be a great one to watch. If the approach is more like "everyone knows this story, and I love it, so I want to tell it, too" then it has a good chance of being just like any random YouTube fanboy video except longer. Spike Lee profiling a Yankees player who had carefully crafted his image for a couple decades doesn't really give me much optimism for the former, but I look forward to being proven wrong.

38. Itchy Row Posted: May 19, 2021 at 08:44 AM (#6019583)

Spike Lee and Derek Jeter are/were both good at their jobs, but both are overrated. That said, this is a baseball documentary, so I’ll watch.

39. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick

Posted: May 19, 2021 at 08:56 AM (#6019587)

Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X are enough to cement Spike's legacy. 4 Little Girls, When the Levees Broke, 25th Hour, Crooklyn are great. He has many more films well worth watching - some may also qualify as "great" but I don't remember them well enough to be sure.

AFAIC Jungle Fever is the best thing Lee's ever done, on many different levels. At his best, Lee has the ability to make movies with intense racial undertones without smothering them with politically correct cliches.

As for the Jeter documentary, I won't deliberately avoid it, but since I almost never watch ESPN I probably won't even be aware of it when I'm watching a ball game or a movie.

40. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: May 19, 2021 at 09:18 AM (#6019589)

Everyone on this page knows that Jeter was a fantastic player, very much in the Dimaggio-graceful-plays-the-game-right vein. But everyone here also knows he has been extremely overrated, worshipped is probably a more accurate word. People don't take pot shots at Jeter, they take pot shots at the Cult of Derek.

Yes, 100% agreed (as a lifelong Yankees fan).

I'd also like to point out that Jeter was like half as good as DiMaggio was. WAR/650 PA DiMaggio 6.7, Jeter 3.7, WAA/650 PA DiMaggio 4.7, Jeter 1.5. He's discussed with the Yankees inner circle greats, but doesn't belong there.

41. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick

Posted: May 19, 2021 at 10:22 AM (#6019608)

He's discussed with the Yankees inner circle greats, but [Jeter] doesn't belong there.

Yeah, but it's obvious why he's in those discussions. He's the Yankees' all-time greatest shortstop, he got more national TV exposure than any player in his era, he upped his game in the postseason, he's on a zillion highlight videos, he never says anything deliberately offensive, 99% of fans pay no attention to the range factor metric that throws a spotlight on his one major weakness, and except for one freak injury he was about as durable as any player this side of Cal. He wasn't Honus Wagner or Cal Ripken, but when it comes to Yankees shortstops his only competition is Phil Rizzuto.

42. My name is Votto, and I love to get Moppo Posted: May 19, 2021 at 10:44 AM (#6019612)

Somehow, I have never seen "Do The Right Thing" or "Malcolm X", but "Inside Man" was great, and "Da 5 Bloods" was also pretty good.

43. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: May 19, 2021 at 11:04 AM (#6019620)

Yeah, but it's obvious why he's in those discussions.

Sure.

He's the Yankees' all-time greatest shortstop,

I think it's the guys they made play 3B.

44. Tom Nawrocki Posted: May 19, 2021 at 11:06 AM (#6019622)

He's the Yankees' all-time greatest shortstop, he got more national TV exposure than any player in his era, he upped his game in the postseason,

Jeter played in 158 postseason games, and his postseason line looks exactly like a normal Derek Jeter Season. He hit .308/.374/.465 in the postseason, and .310/.377/.440 in the regular season. His postseason line is nearly identical to his 2001 season.

That's to his credit, of course, since you're generally facing better pitching in October.

45. Blastin Posted: May 19, 2021 at 11:57 AM (#6019635)

I mean, I wasn't super into it, but I personally like the director Randy Wilkins a lot (I talk to him online) so I'm happy for him.

The Last Dance wasn't just a hagiography, Jordan came off like kind of a lunatic (but in the way that he wanted to). So I'm curious.

People dismissing the career of Spike Lee are ludicrous, though he's not the authorial voice on this.

46. Blastin Posted: May 19, 2021 at 11:58 AM (#6019636)

Spike Lee profiling a Yankees player

The director is Randy Wilkins.

47. Fred Lynn Nolan Ryan Sweeney Agonistes Posted: May 19, 2021 at 12:29 PM (#6019641)

Jeter played in 158 postseason games, and his postseason line looks exactly like a normal Derek Jeter Season. He hit .308/.374/.465 in the postseason, and .310/.377/.440 in the regular season. His postseason line is nearly identical to his 2001 season.

Jeter in the minors (463 games) is also very much a normal Derek Jeter Season: .308/.386/.416

48. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick

Posted: May 19, 2021 at 12:50 PM (#6019645)

He's the Yankees' all-time greatest shortstop, he got more national TV exposure than any player in his era, he upped his game in the postseason,

Jeter played in 158 postseason games, and his postseason line looks exactly like a normal Derek Jeter Season. He hit .308/.374/.465 in the postseason, and .310/.377/.440 in the regular season. His postseason line is nearly identical to his 2001 season.

That's to his credit, of course, since you're generally facing better pitching in October.

Which is why players have to "up their game" in October (and now November), because if they don't they wind up looking like ARod for most of his Yankees' postseason career.

49. Hot Wheeling American Posted: May 19, 2021 at 01:10 PM (#6019654)

The Last Dance wasn't just a hagiography, Jordan came off like kind of a lunatic (but in the way that he wanted to). So I'm curious.

Right, Jordan has a personality. And is the greatest of all time in his sport and was at one point likely the most famous person on the planet. And the series didn't focus solely on him.

I could see a one-off piece about Jeter's biography, or a series revisiting the Yankees of that era. But I really don't see how there's any 'there' there for a long profile on Jeets.

50. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick

Posted: May 19, 2021 at 02:26 PM (#6019678)

If we moved the clock back about 70 years, Jeter would be a perfect subject for an 8 or 10 page "SPORT Special" article in SPORT magazine. Not always hagiographic, but always looking at the best side of the player.

51. Pat Rapper's Delight (as quoted on MLB Network) Posted: May 19, 2021 at 02:43 PM (#6019686)

I really don't see how there's any 'there' there for a long profile on Jeets.

Just wait until the 12-part Ken Burns mini-series where Billy Crystal, Bob Costas, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Al Sharpton, John Goodman, Andrew Cuomo, George Will, Barack and Michelle Obama, Garrison Keillor, Lorne Michaels, Alec Baldwin, Bald Vinny, Jay-Z, Noam Chomsky, Alan Dershowitz, Wynton Marsalis, Jennifer Lopez, and more surprise talking heads regale us with tales of Jeter's importance to the Yankees, Major League Baseball, and America for 36 hours.

52. What did Billy Ripken have against ElRoy Face? Posted: May 19, 2021 at 02:55 PM (#6019693)

If we moved the clock back about 70 years, Jeter would be a perfect subject for an 8 or 10 page "SPORT Special" article in SPORT magazine. Not always hagiographic, but always looking at the best side of the player.

Better calibrate the time machine carefully, because you couldn’t overshoot the 70 years by much.

53. gef the talking mongoose, peppery hostile Posted: May 19, 2021 at 07:41 PM (#6019770)

Just wait until the 12-part Ken Burns mini-series where Billy Crystal, Bob Costas, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Al Sharpton, John Goodman, Andrew Cuomo, George Will, Barack and Michelle Obama, Garrison Keillor, Lorne Michaels, Alec Baldwin, Bald Vinny, Jay-Z, Noam Chomsky, Alan Dershowitz, Wynton Marsalis, Jennifer Lopez, and more surprise talking heads regale us with tales of Jeter's importance to the Yankees, Major League Baseball, and America for 36 hours.

Clapper would die from chafing &/or dehydration.

54. toratoratora Posted: May 20, 2021 at 05:25 PM (#6019988)

Bloviating like the intro leaves me longing for the glory that was Derek Jeter's Diary on the now defunct Grantland.
That was fun reading there.

55. ReggieThomasLives Posted: May 23, 2021 at 11:57 PM (#6020527)

I’m only watching the part where he explains the gift baskets.

56. Starring Bradley Scotchman as RMc Posted: May 24, 2021 at 07:15 AM (#6020540)

(It) can't be more of a debacle than Summer of Sam.

Can it?

I don't think I've ever been more disappointed in a movie than in Summer of Sam. A great director making a film about a fascinating time and place that occurred in my lifetime...shoulda been great, instead it was dreck. (And until BlacKkKlansman, nearly 20 years later [!!], Lee made exactly one good movie in 25th Hour. Yikes!)

57. JJ1986 Posted: May 24, 2021 at 07:30 AM (#6020541)

Inside Man doesn't rise to the level of his best movies, but it is good.

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Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Spike Lee to Executive Produce Derek Jeter Docuseries for ESPN

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