How long has derek jeter played baseball

Coming off his strong season, Baseball America rated Jeter as the 16th-best prospect in baseball. He was also named the most valuable player of the FSL. Considered the fourth-best prospect in baseball by Baseball America heading into the season, Jeter was projected as the starting shortstop for the Yankees. However, he suffered mild inflammation in his right shoulder in the Arizona Fall League after the conclusion of the regular season.

During the —95 Major League Baseball strike, Gene Michael, the Yankees' general manager, offered Jeter the opportunity to work out for the MLB team with replacement players in spring training before the season.

Jeter denied receiving the offer, and he did not cross the picket line. Major Leagues. Following his graduation, Jeter was selected by the Yankees with the sixth overall pick in the June draft. He also enrolled at the University of Michigan, but his time on campus was brief as he rapidly ascended the ranks of the Yankees' farm system. After batting. In , Derek Jeter realized his dream when Yankees shortstop Tony Fernandez was put on the disabled list. Jeter made his big league debut on May 29 of that year, playing against the Seattle Mariners.

The following year, in his first full season as a Major League Baseball player, he batted. The skilled shortstop also performed well in the infield and helped the Yankees win the World Series against the Atlanta Braves. After spending the early years of his life growing up less than 30 miles away from Yankee Stadium, Derek moved with his family to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he began playing T-ball at the age of 5.

Thanks to the influence of his grandmother, he grew up a Yankees fan and idolized outfielder, Dave Winfield. Derek would regularly return to New Jersey during the summer to visit his grandparents and attend Yankees games. His early days on the diamond in Kalamazoo were spent honing his skills in the Eastwood, Oakwood and Westwood Little Leagues.

When he started playing high school ball in , his talents helped him earn a spot on the Kalamazoo Central varsity team as a freshman. After batting. He got on base He was the first high school player chosen that year and became the third shortstop selected in Yankees history with a first-round pick.

Derek also received a scholarship to play Baseball at the University of Michigan, attending in following his first summer of Minor League Baseball. He was named to the All-Star team after finishing second in the league in triples 11 , third in hits and 11th in batting average. The following day, Derek collected his first two Major League hits and scored his first career run. Derek finished his rookie season with a. In October of that memorable year, Derek had his first taste of post-season play, batting.

During Jeters High School year he was chosen to go and play for Michigan. Although Jeter received a baseball scholarship to attend the University of Michigan , he was drafted by the New York Yankees with the 6th overall pick of the amateur draft and chose to go pro.

Jeter spent 4 years in the minor leagues , beginning in the Rookie League before advancing to Class A. Jeter connects for a hit against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He got his first major league hit the following day off of veteran pitcher Tim Belcher , and started 13 games before being sent back down to the minors.

He returned on Opening Day of the season as the starting shortstop and hit his first major-league home run on that day. He played his way to a successful rookie season, hitting for a.

In Jeter led the AL in hits , and was 2nd in the league in batting average. However, in the last week of voting, Garciaparra, despite being 30, votes behind Jeter propelled to the top of the vote. New York mayor Rudy Guiliani accused Red Sox fans of stuffing the ballot boxes, however, MLB officials asserted that the jump had come from online votes, which had not been counted until the last week of voting.

This was the second voting controversy involving Garciaparra that year, after a Red Sox fan named Chris Nandor developed a program that allowed him to vote for Garciaparra 40, times.

He was caught, however, and his votes were nullified. It was actually an October 31 game that ran past midnight. In , Jeter started the season by dislocating his left shoulder on opening day, March 31, at the SkyDome in Toronto. He ended up missing the next 36 games. However, he still led the major leagues in batting average on balls in play that year. The beginning of the season saw Jeter mired in a major slump; on May 25, he was hitting only. This included a personal career record 0-for skid in April.

In June, however, Jeter broke out of his slump. He hit nearly. He finished the season with a. Derek Jeter against the Colorado Rockies. In he was 2nd in the AL in runs and batting average on balls in play. He was 2nd in the league in batting average. This is maybe the most memorable individual play of Jeter's career. It is certainly the most memorable defensive play.

In the seventh inning of Game 3 of the ALDS against the Oakland Athletics , Jeter ventured out to the right side of the infield to serve as an emergency cutoff man. He reeled in Shane Spencer's airmailed throw from right field and flipped it to Jorge Posada at the plate. Posada tagged Jeremy Giambi out at home. Jeter and the Yankees insist they practice that play. It's part of their regular spring training activities even to this day, so Jeter did not do anything out of the ordinary.

He was right where he was supposed to be, as far as they're concerned. Of course, you never see a shortstop there, which is what makes this so special. Context is important too.

The Yankees were down two games to none in the best-of-five series at the time, and they were nursing a lead in Game 3. Jeter's flip play cut down the tying run at the plate. The Yankees went on to win that game They came back to win the series in five games.

For the first time in history, baseball was played in the month of November in The Sept. The Yankees were down two games to one heading into Game 4 of the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks , and they were one out away from a three-games-to-one series deficit when Tino Martinez hit a game-tying two-run home run off D-Backs closer Byung-Hyun Kim.

That sent the game to extra innings. A few minutes after the clock struck midnight and October 31 became November 1, Jeter ended Game 4 with a walk-off home run. That was the final pitch of a nine-pitch at-bat. The Yankees tied the series at two games apiece, though they went on to lose the World Series on Luis Gonzalez's walk-off single in Game 7. To date, this remains one of the most exciting regular season games I've ever seen.

The pitching matchup was lopsided Pedro Martinez vs. Brad Halsey , yet the Yankees jumped out to an early lead. The Boston Red Sox eventually rallied to tie things up and send the game to extra innings.

With the go-ahead run at second base and two outs in the top of the 12th, Red Sox outfielder Trot Nixon lifted a pop-up into foul territory, a pop-up Jeter ran down before crashing into the stands. An overrated play? Yeah, possibly.