Jack Robinson
November 13, 2014
Mr. Tice
Language Arts
Weekly Essay
Mr. November
Derek Sanderson Jeter is widely considered as one of the best players to play baseball but is also one of the most professional and classy players of the major leagues. He was born in jersey, moved to Michigan and started baseball at a very young age. He is one of the most decorated athletes in baseball, not just in the major leagues but also from high school. He holds many Yankee all time records including most hits ever. But he isn’t just a figure on the field he also has a charity called The Turn 2 Foundation.
Derek was born on June 26th, 1974 in Pequannock, New Jersey. His parents were descended from very different parts of the world. His mom, Dorothy is a mixture of Irish, German, and also English. His Father, Sanderson Charles Jeter was an African-American, his dad also had a PH.D. and played shortstop in college. They had met in Germany while serving in the war. When Derek was 4 years old they moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 1979 Derek’s sister, Sharlee, was born. Derek went to Kalamazoo Central High School where he posted record high batting averages and other statistics. In his senior year he won the Gatorade high school player of the year award recognizing him for his outstanding performance in baseball.
Before the 1992 draft had begun everyone thought that the Houston Astros were going to select Derek But only being 18 he didn’t have much experience. The Astros had the number one overall pick in the draft so they would have the first choice on him. But since the Astros were a small team they didn’t have much money and that was a problem because the number one overall pick always costs a lot of money to sign and to keep on their roster. When the draft came the Astros passed on picking up Jeter so at the 6th overall pick the New York Yankees selected Jeter. The Yankees signed Derek to an eight hundred thousand dollar contract. Derek started out on the lowest level of minor league baseball in the Yankees organization, The Gulf Coast Yankees. After struggling horribly his first season the Yankees promoted him to the Greensbourgh Hornets, the second worst team in the Yankees organization. On that team he met catcher Jorge Posada and Pitcher Andy Pettitte who would play with Derek for a lot of his career. Before his third season in the minor leagues he was rated the 44th best baseball prospect in America, by the end of that season he was ranked 16th best prospect in the country. In the 1994 season he worked his way up to AAA minor league baseball, the best of the minor leagues. He performed so well that year that he won the minor league player of the year award and was ranked in the top 5 for best baseball prospects. Derek made his Major League debut on May 5th, 1995. He was
