Yankees: Friendship Comes First
NJ Star-Ledger, May 19, 2000
By Dan Graziano
NEW YORK -- Derek Jeter had it all in 1999. Career highs in batting average, home runs, RBI, runs scored. Starting shortstop on a World Series champion Yankees team for the third time by the age of 25. Any magazine cover you could name. Endorsement deals. Video games with his picture on them.
Jorge Posada? Well, he didn't have quite so good a year.
Relegated to part-time duty as the Yankees catcher when he truly believed he could be a starter, Posada sulked and struggled. But when things were at their worst, he could always turn to his best friend on the team.
Posada saw the gaudy numbers, the magazine covers and the video games. He saw the way people screamed when Jeter entered a bar or a hotel lobby. But to him, Derek Jeter was the same guy he met in 1992 in Greensboro, N.C., when he was 21 and Jeter was 18 and both were Class-A minor-leaguers still dreaming of Yankee Stadium.
"We always kid each other now, saying, 'You've changed, You've changed'," Posada said. "But he hasn't changed at all. He's still the same guy he was in the minor leagues. He comes out here every day to have fun." Jeter was the best man in Posada's wedding this past January. They live in the same Upper East Side apartment building in Manhattan. When things weren't going well for Posada last year, Jeter was always around to listen and help him work through the problem.
But the most important thing Jeter did for his friend, Posada says, was not change.
"More than any one thing he said, I think the thing that stands out the most was just, 'Have fun, and play your game'," Posada said. "And that meant a lot, because you could see that's what he's always done."
That's what Jeter was doing in the minor leagues, when his path crossed Posada's in 1992, 1994 and again in 1995. By the end of 1995, both were sitting in the Yankees' dugout during that thrilling playoff series against Seattle. Posada made it into one game in that series, as a pinch-runner in the 12th inning of Game 2. Jeter didn't play in it at all.
What they did was watch. And talk. And become friends.
"I think that's when we really got close," Posada said. "Just sitting on that bench in Seattle, knowing we had no chance of getting into one of those games. We just had a lot of fun." Jeter remembers that series as a great learning experience, but he also remembers enjoying himself as a spectator.
"We had a blast," Jeter said. "We knew each other a little bit from the minor leagues, but that was just a time when we could enjoy where we were together, and it felt kind of like we had made it, but without all the pressure."
Since then, of course, Jeter has burst into full-fledged superstardom. He is one of America's best-known athletes, and he draws huge and enthusiastic crowds everywhere he goes. Posada isn't surprised that the friend he made in the minor leagues has turned into such a pop culture phenomenon, but he is happy to see it.
"He's out there, and everybody wants a little piece of Derek Jeter," Posada said. "But I just enjoy it, because he's so good around people. He's a good example. It sounds funny, but even though he's younger than me, he's a good example for all of us." It was that example that helped Posada through his difficult times last season, and for that he thanks his friend.
But Jeter downplays his role. He's thrilled that Posada is off to such a wonderful start this season, but he says he's not surprised.
"We always knew he was talented, and more importantly, he knew it," Jeter said. "If I helped him out, that's great. But he's doing this because he can do it."
It may now be Posada's time to join Jeter at the All-Star Game. It may be time for him to start earning at least a portion of the recognition his friend gets when they go out together at night. They're leading somewhat different lives now that Posada's starting a family and all, but they still hang out. And have fun.
"That's what he's all about," Posada said. "That's what we've always done together, and it's still the same."