With Jeter's Whopping Deal Comes Role As Team Leader
Bergen Record, January 20, 2000
by Bob Klapisch
The countdown is in its final days, perhaps even hours, before Derek Jeter is anointed baseball's new economic powerhouse. With a seven-year, $118.5 million contract awaiting his signature, Jeter won't be just the game's hippest player -- he'll be the richest, which tells you something about the Yankees' vision of the future.
It means George Steinbrenner is entrusting the franchise to a 25-year-old shortstop with four years' experience in the majors. The moment The Boss and Jeter shake hands -- and it should be soon, even though some officials were saying Wednesday that Steinbrenner still hadn't given the pact his final blessing -- the Yankees will be Jeter's team.
Not David Cone's Yankees. Not Paul O'Neill's, or Bernie Williams'. Not even Joe Torre's.
It's Jeter who'll represent the Yankees on the field, in their marketing campaigns, and certainly with the fans, who already adore the shortstop's handsome face and untroubled personality. Who couldn't love Jeter in these last four years?
Like Cal Ripken, Jeter possesses all the good-guy mannerisms that everyone -- teammates, club officials, even opponents and umpires -- describe as sincere. From the very first day, Jeter has called his manager "Mr. Torre" and we've smiled at the humility. But that will all change, as soon as Jeter becomes a turbo-millionaire.
In fact, he'll be held to a different standard because . . . well, because that's what money does. Mike Piazza understands that, as the Mets' $94 million man. He knows he carries the Mets on a daily basis, and it means playing every day, when he's hurt or tired or even in a bad mood. Piazza has to absorb criticism and stand in front of his locker and answer questions, even the most mindless ones.
Hopefully, Jeter is ready for this mantle, because like it or not, it's now his. That means he can never again watch from the periphery, laughing with an opposing player when one of his teammates is being pummeled in a bench-clearing brawl.
Most Yankees thought Chad Curtis was wrong to challenge Jeter last August, when the shortstop seemed so indifferent to the beating Joe Girardi took from the Mariners' Frankie Rodriguez. Curtis was wrong only in that he handled the matter on the field, in front of fans, and later in the clubhouse, in full view of reporters.
Although no one asked Jeter to step in and throw punches, several Yankees considered it a breach of etiquette to hang out with his buddy -- and soon-to-be-hyper-rich -- Alex Rodriguez. As the Yankees' leader, Jeter now has to defend his teammates. It's a simple rule, time-honored, and non-negotiable.
Is he ready for the responsibility?
Better question: Is he ready to be this rich? Yankee people are universal in their belief that if the shortstop hasn't turned into a jerk by now, he never will. As one senior official put it Wednesday: "The guy is already as famous as any athlete in America. He can have any woman, endorse any product, and he might be going to the Hall of Fame. But I'm telling you, Derek is grounded, completely."
That's good news for the Yankees. Good news for baseball, actually, which has seen too many of its stars end up in rehab or jail, or simply with mediocre careers. By all accounts, Jeter is truly on a straight, unfettered path to greatness, having led the American League in hits (219) while finishing second with a .349 average last year.
In four seasons Jeter has a .318 career average, and his 795 hits are more than Ty Cobb, Henry Aaron, or Stan Musial had in their first four years. That's why Steinbrenner is gambling so heavily, ready to pay Jeter nearly double what he's paying Bernie Williams in annual salary, even though Jeter was still a year shy of free agency.
From a strict economic perspective, Steinbrenner's decision wasn't just smart, it was visionary. Next winter Ken Griffey Jr. will easily command $20 million a year on the free agent market. And Rodriguez, who possesses an even greater long-ball capability than Jeter and who has Scott Boras, America's toughest negotiator, representing him, will be courting teams for a $200 million contract.
That's why Jeter's pact will look cheap in just three to four years. By then, the Yankees will have an entirely different look. They'll be managed by Lee Mazzilli or perhaps Willie Randolph. Mike Hampton could be the ace. And Nick Johnson, long since having replaced Tino Martinez at first base, could be among the American League's most fearsome power hitters.
But the Bombers' core will be intact: Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Williams, and Jeter. By 2004, Jeter will be 30 -- mature and settled and well beyond the long, seductive tentacles of celebrity. Not that he won't always be famous, but one Yankee official reacted this way when informed that Jeter had recently bought a jet:
"He bought a what?" the official said. The ensuing silence needed no explanation.