Baseball

The superstar

Even as Derek Jeter's legend grows, the Yankees' All-Star shortstop faces opening day with the same concern: When will he get that first hit?

By BRANT JAMES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 31, 2003

If these were the innocent years, before baseball took him to the pinnacle of American sport and the apex of a city's attention, Derek Jeter knows what he would have been doing Sunday night.

He would have been standing in front of a mirror at home in Kalamazoo, Mich., in full uniform, sizing it up for looks, for fit, for the hope it somehow could teleport him through the agonizing few hours left until opening day.

The colors and sponsors changed nearly every year on those Little League and Connie Mack uniforms, but the fashion of his hopes was constant. From the first summers he remembered visiting his grandmother in New Milford, N.J., when they would make the short trip to Yankee Stadium, he dreamed of wearing pinstripes.

If Jeter found himself standing in front of his mirror Sunday in his suite at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto, he might have pictured himself in the gray Yankees uniform he'll wear tonight when the Yankees open against the Blue Jays. Or maybe he would think back to one of those ill-fitting tops from Kalamazoo.

Even though he's a Yankee, even though he has come so far at age 28, opening day means just as much.

"I remember so well putting on the uniform and going to show my parents how it looked," Jeter said. "Obviously, now you dress at the stadium, but the whole thing is special.

"It's going out for the pregame introductions, the fans are obviously excited to get a new year started. It's everything."

Jeter has accomplished enough -- 2000 All-Star and World Series MVP, five consecutive All-Star Games, fifth on the Yankees' all-time list with a .317 career batting average in eight seasons -- to know his statistics will rank him among the best in baseball by the time the trees start to shed their leaves. Perhaps that allows him to admit the twinge of fear every ballplayer feels until he gets the first hit or successfully fields the first grounder.

"You can't wait to get the first hit out of the way because it seems at times that the first one is the hardest to get," Jeter said. "You start the season, and your average is up on the board. You're going to hit .000 until you get a hit and you want to get it quick."

That uncertainty leads to nervousness.

"You always have butterflies until you get out there," he said. "You're not human if you don't get butterflies."

They never thumped harder than April 2, 1996, at Jacobs Field in Cleveland. The previous summer, at age 20, Jeter had supplanted an injured Tony Fernandez as starting shortstop of a storied franchise looking for new hope and a return to glory. An instant matinee idol with his good lucks, inspiring minor-league play and reputation as an affable guy, he was the Yankee phenom who actually was going to pan out. Then he batted .234 in 13 starts and was demoted to Triple-A Columbus by midsummer. Jeter finished batting .250 in 15 games for the Yankees.

By next spring, the job was his. He was the first rookie to start at shortstop for the Yankees since Tom Tresh in 1962. It was his first opening day as a major-leaguer, and he was terrified.

"I remember being out there and thinking I finally got where I wanted to be," he said. "That first time is really special. ... And I hit a home run."

That homer off Dennis Martinez, his first, still resides in his small personal collection of mementos.

The opening-day burst provided the impetus for a breakout season that has turned into a possible Hall of Fame career. Jeter hit .314 with 10 home runs and 78 RBIs in 1996 to win AL rookie of the year. His controversial homer off the Orioles' Armando Benitez (when a young fan reached in play to interfere with outfielder Tony Tarasco) in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series provided one of the season's freeze-frame moments and helped spark the Yankees to their first world championship since 1978.

They've won three more since.

Maybe Jeter smuggled his road uniform out of the clubhouse and gave it a good look in front of the mirror Sunday. Probably not, but that won't diminish his desire to toe the first-base line late this afternoon, look through the SkyDome roof and contemplate the last few moments of bunting-and-banner-waving ceremony.

"It's a fresh start," he said. "It's like the first day of school when you were a kid. There's a lot of optimism. Everybody has a chance, every team. It's just exciting."

Jeter won't have to wait long, batting second in the Yankees order. But it'll seem like forever.

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