MLB 21st century face of the franchise — New York Yankees: Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter is so obviously the face of the 21st century Yankees that it’s impossible to imagine any other Yankee even asserting a partial claim to the designation.
The Yankees themselves tacitly acknowledged that fact when they selected him as only the 16th team captain in the franchise’s 116-year history in 2003, filling a position vacated since Don Mattingly’s retirement eight seasons earlier.
Coming to the majors in 1995, Jeter played in 2,747 games, all of them as a Yankee, and all but 73 as the team’s shortstop. He was a unanimous choice as Rookie Of The Year in 1996, a 14-time All-Star and a 12-time .300 hitter. He led the Yankees to 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009 World Series victories, batting .409 in the 2009 six-game victory over Philadelphia. In the five-game 2000 World Series victory over the Mets, Jeter also hit .409, winning the Series MVP award in the process.
In 2017, the Yankees did the inevitable, retiring his jersey No. 2. “He was a dream for a manager to manage,” said Jeter’s long-time manager, Joe Torre, at those retirement ceremonies. Jeter was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2020.
Following his retirement, Jeter re-invested some of the estimated $265 million he earned during his playing days back into baseball, joining a group that purchased the Miami Marlins in 2017.
In the wings: In five or 10 years, we may want to revisit the “face of the Yankees” question. Aaron Judge is that good. His 62-home run season of 2022 was good enough to win Judge a new contract extension as well as the designation of team captain, vacant since Jeter’s retirement.