Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter has never wavered in his approach to the game

By JOEY JOHNSTON

Tribune Staff Writer

(c) Tampa Bay Times. Originally published Feb. 14, 2011.

TAMPA — In another life, when Derek Jeter initially arrived in Tampa, he was a hopelessly skinny 18-year-old who dealt with failure for the first time. It was 1992. He couldn’t hit. His infield throws sailed high and wide. Life in the Gulf Coast League was miserable. He cried some. He called home a lot.

But his on-field demeanor never wavered.

“Same approach, every day,” said relief pitcher Mariano Rivera, who met Jeter in the minor leagues and will soon begin his 17th consecutive season as his teammate with the New York Yankees. “This guy, he never changes. He worked. He learned. You saw the bat. You saw the arm.

“Then later on, you saw him pulling guys aside, telling them how to be a Yankee. When I see him, I say, ‘That is who a leader is.’ “

This week, Jeter again reports to spring training at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field.

Now he’s the legend who grew up in pinstripes, the well-established symbol of a franchise.

And a whole lot more.

“Old-time scouts used to say, ‘He has a great face,’ when they were talking about players they really liked,” said Baltimore’s Buck Showalter, who managed the Yankees through the period when Jeter was drafted and broke into the big leagues. “Derek Jeter has a great face. He has a sincere, earnest, alert face.

“There’s no Hollywood starlet phoniness with him. First time I met Derek, I talked to him, saw him interact with his parents, and I just sensed, ‘Well, we got that one right.’ Too many guys surround themselves with people who don’t define reality. Derek has always known what was real.”

Now there may be a new reality: How much time does Jeter have left?

A generation of Tampa-based spring-training fans can’t imagine the Yankees without Jeter, 36. He was a rookie in 1996, when then-Legends Field was unveiled.

This was an offseason like no other, though. The Yankees confronted the possibility of life without their captain, whose 10-year contract had lapsed.

Not for long. In December, Jeter agreed to a three-year, $51 million deal, but only after the Yankees publicly suggested that he should shop his talents if their offer wasn’t suitable.

Jeter, admittedly angry at the time, has moved on. And he has deflected the most recent dust-up, the suggestion by General Manager Brian Cashman that he believes Jeter will be an outfielder, not a shortstop, by the end of his contract.

At this point, what is there for Jeter to prove?

He was the catalyst of five World Series championship teams.

With 74 hits, he will become the first player to reach 3,000 in a Yankee uniform.

But after a career-low .270 batting average, with his defensive range being questioned, expect Jeter’s fire to be burning. He’s determined to make it a footnote mention in his distinguished career, not the start of a downward trend.

“Sometimes, numbers don’t tell the whole story,” Jeter said. “I think you learn from your struggles. I’ve had a lot of great moments in the postseason, but I’ve had my struggles there, too. Maybe they just haven’t been noticed as much.

“You can’t be afraid to fail. You don’t stop working.”

That never has been a problem for Jeter.

“Do you ever have to tell Derek Jeter to be out on time to stretch?” said Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles. “Do you ever have to ask him to be in shape? Do you ever wonder about his preparation? Ever?”

“I don’t think it’s natural to be the way Derek Jeter is,” Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan said. “He never cracks. He never deviates. Obviously, you lose a little bit when you get older. I think he has earned the right to be who he is. He brings so much to that clubhouse. Just ask his teammates.”

Or his opponents.

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria, a three-time All-Star heading into his fourth major-league season, said he doesn’t want to copy anyone’s style. But if he chose one player to emulate, it would be Jeter.

He watched from afar — the consistency, the work ethic, the temperament. Longoria was a fifth-grader when Jeter hit the big leagues.

“I don’t want to say I grew up watching Derek, but it’s kind of true,” Longoria said with a smile. “He’s a baseball player, through and through. He plays it hard. He respects the game. Those are the three things I aspire to and he has always had them.”

Los Angeles Angels infielder Howie Kendrick, 27, remembers the first time he encountered Jeter. He was tempted to ask for an autograph. He didn’t dare speak.

Instead, Jeter approached him.

“He’s a superstar and could probably act any way he wanted to,” Kendrick said. “He told me he had been watching me and he liked the way I approached it. I could’ve fallen over right there. I mean, I didn’t think he knew I even existed.”

Last season, when the Yankees were in Toronto, Blue Jays relief pitcher Shawn Camp asked Jeter if he would pose for a photograph — with him, his wife and his kids.

“It’s something I’m always going to have displayed in my house,” Camp said. “I’m just glad I got to play in his era.”

It has been an era of steroids and scandal, of fallen heroes, of young players feeling entitlement.

Jeter is the throwback.

“Young players should watch the way he acts,” said Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield, 44, who has faced Jeter more than anyone (115 career plate appearances). “You hit a home run, you act like you’ve done it before. No crazy emotion, just a lot of professionalism. It’s what I love about him.”

Part of Jeter’s approach was early advice from his father, Charles.

Don’t let anyone outwork you.

Never make excuses.

Jeter, an intensely competitive kid, famously didn’t want to shake hands with anyone after losing a Little League game. His father said maybe he shouldn’t play a team sport. Point made. Point taken.

Before every school year, Jeter’s parents presented a contract for him to sign, outlining academic goals and curfew rules.

“Structure is a very good thing,” Jeter said. “It’s not like I don’t have a temper. I think I have self-control. In a game, I haven’t embarrassed myself. Maybe I hide it well.

“I think how you carry yourself is important. I’ve always favored players like that.”

Players such as Longoria.

“There are plenty of guys with talent,” Jeter said. “I’m looking for the guys who play hard and also handle themselves well. Evan is like that. I just think that’s how you go about it.”

It’s how Jeter has always gone about it with the Yankees.

“He plays the game in a classy way,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “He runs out every ground ball, regardless of the game situation. As a shortstop, he’s disgustingly consistent. He grinds out the same type of at-bat, regardless of the pitcher.

“Furthermore, there’s never any sense that he’s looking to show anyone up, no gloating, no arrogance. And it’s not like he does this in anonymity. He’s under the greatest microscope in a city like that. But he keeps cranking along, like he’s oblivious to it all. It’s kind of amazing.”

Kind of amazing, indeed.

Jeter has been the guest host for “Saturday Night Live.” He has made cameos for feature films. He has squired glamorous women.

And now he owns the largest home in Tampa, a 30,875-square-foot mansion on Davis Islands.

Yet, he is … low-key?

“I play in New York, but I don’t think everything needs to be aired out through the media or the public,” Jeter said. “You’re accountable to your team and the way you play every day. Some things in your personal life, you just keep them to yourself.”

Even when Jeter played for the Single-A Tampa Yankees, observers remember a first-round bonus-baby who valued his privacy. His extravagance was a trip to the video store. He wanted no special treatment.

“He’s a normal guy who does a lot of things for people that no one knows about,” said Tampa’s Tino Martinez, Jeter’s close friend and former Yankee teammate.

“When you’re around him, you realize why he’s so good,” said Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson, the former Detroit Tiger who was acquired last season. “He never stops working. He’s never satisfied.”

That’s still true.

Jeter is a career .314 hitter. As recently as 2009, he was third in the American League MVP voting. But now, in many corners, his long-term value has been questioned.

“You still never want to see him in a game-winning situation,” Maddon said.

“He has that rare internal mechanism,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “It’s that quiet determination. You never count him out.”

“The approach he has now, he had it as a teenager,” Yankees catcher Jorge Posada said.

In the Gulf Coast League all those years ago, at his all-time worst, Jeter wasn’t beaten by doubt. Think he’s going to let it happen now?

This guy, he never changes.