Kaplan on Jeter
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1€ * d, \ $ I 'h$ I I tl _l_- I th _l'L._. I j - ontentspn I "l grew up a Yankeefan, and my dreamwas toplay shortstopfor the New York Yankees.So getting toplay sbortstopfor tlte Yankeesis the bestjob in the wor/d." 24 BeauDerek 59 Theater A Gotham lohn Simon f€ By lames Kaplan 15 Pizzarelli channels a$n ;ohnny Plummer depths:The star of Bcr- Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle, Matting- Mercer; don't smoke on Jackson, fohnny rymore is, like his subject, a tal- ly-and now feter? After his 1996 season, top of a cab; ode on a Grecian ent for the ages which made him Rookie of the Year (and neighborhood Most Eligible YankeeBachelor), people start- 61 Ad Depadments MarkStevens ed believing that this disarmingly sweet 22- 20lhe GityPolitic Bird brains: fohn James Audu- year-oldcould be a superstar.And his preco- MichaelTomasky bon's works convey personality cious charismamight even score him the big Come November, Rudy Giuliani as well as facility with feathers endorsementsthat rarely go to playersof what may have a surprise constituen- used to be known as the national pastime. cy: Iiberalsl 63 GlassicalMusic Peter G. 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APRrL 7, rggT NEw YORK T" s .- a 'E &LrY L 1 Yq' ! fl\--i*'f gc&d _rtr € l-:F#, '"__ ' .\li {{: lr*?rn-rdd-.* "sLSs S -{^€-- ',i-q',1-q' ri: r,a&s- .-"{ €- saD ,#P t Y l.'t t-_ i --,e irt I f'4 rS:r ICIl' : \. _\-_ /'.+_ -- '-'/ /' /--' //------ zt",z* --: * -_.-____ ----.----\ lj--\_ --_--_ ilt:l: 5- EREKJETER IS SIX FEETTHREE INCHES TALL AND 195 pounds,broad at the shoulders,narrow at the hips.Praxiteles would havebeen impressed. The smoothcaf6-aulait skin of his long,broad face is sunburnedred. His kinky brownhair is cut rook- ie-copstyle, buzzed around the sides,short on top. A heavygold chainhangs on his thick sun- tannedneck. feter is in a battingcage on aprac- tice field in Tampa,on a winter moming long be- fore the start ofrf the season.Amid the minsled aromasof cut grassand Flexall,as teammatesand coachesbanter and traffic streamsalong the highwaybeyond the outfield,he standsin the cage,wearing a blue-on-whiteNew York YankeesT-shirt and baggygray shortsover dark-bluecompression shorts, holding his bat high behind his head and facing the practicepitcher, who'sbehind a safetynet on the mound. "Can you stand a little heat?" the pitcher asks."I'm really wild today." "Today?"feter says. There'sa slight,innocent sneer in his white, lopsidedsmile, a draw-pokerchallenge to his long-lashed,green-eyed stare. It's the look of a very youngman regardingthe beckoningworld with cautionand a certainironic distance.It is alsothe look of a youngman holding a handful of aces.In the cage,his eyes fixed on the red seamsof the Rawlingscork-centered baseball as the practicepitcher releases it, his lankybody jittering ashe preparesto swing, he resemblesa Thoroughbredcolt in the startinggate, itching to getat it. *rh;*q*t.= fetersets as the pitcherthrows, then takes a smoothwhistling cut and cracksthe ball high, high, out over the left-fieldfence, toward the weekday-morningtraffic. He hits the ball out to- ward the cars three times in succession:three pitches,three homers. Everyone expected he would hit decently-it was Jeter's "Whoo!" saysTino Martinez, the Yankees'first-baseman. dependable glove that was the real surprise last year. "You could start today." Martinez,the star brought in from Seattleto replaceDon fielderTony Tarasco by a boyin the stands.The homeradded to Mattingly,is a disarminglymodest, pleasant-looking young man the ten that feterhit in his gloriousfirst season,a numberthat, with massiveforearms. He lookslike pure capability.At bat, he as the euphoric haze of the world championshipwears off, is a provencommodity. And yet his stancehas none of Jeter's takeson a certainsobering quality. On the day he signedwith electricity.One's eyes wander awayfrom Tino Martinez when he the Yankeesin 1992,Derek Jeter weighed 159 pounds-"in my standsin the cage.Derek |eter attractsattention wherever he shoes,"he says.The Yankees listed him at 175.A hundredand goes.After batting practice,he leanson the chain-linkfence, fifty-ninepounds is not an impressivefigure, especially in this chattingwith two white-shoedgrannies. era of power-hittingshortstops. an era for which iron man Cal "Theseare my girls," the shortstopsays, in his rich, boyish Ripken fr.-six feet four and 220 pounds;twenty-plus home baritone. runs per year for elevenyears running-has set the standard. The granniesgiggle. "We've been following him from the be- Through weight-training.Jeter has bulked up to 195, but he ginning,"one says. wantsto weighmore. "l'm veak," he told me, that morningin Tampa."l needto get stronger." IT HASN'T BEENSO LONG. IETERSIGNED WITH THE YANKEESON JUNE It struckme thenas a curiousstatement: He lookednot even 27, 1992,the day after his 18th birthday,and-partly because remotelyweak. But it was clearthat somehowin the merciless the teambadly needed a shortstop,and partly becauseJeter had arenaof top-flightmajor-league baseball, as well as in the hard the whiff of stardomabout him-came alongamazingly quick- light of his own high ambition,Derek feter felt . challenged. ly in the minors. Notwithstandingthe Yankees'reputation for It wasand is, afterall, the beginningofhis secondseason un- squanderingtheir own homegrowntalent-George Steinbren- der the most demandingboss in baseball,on a teamunder pal- ner is notoriouslyimpatient with rookies-foe Torre brought pable pressureto repeata nearlyimpossible feat, in the most feterup for full-timework lessthan four yearsafter he signed. vociferouslycritical sportsmarketplace in the world. To make And thenlightning struck: The young shortstop batted .314, mattersworse, Jeter is slatedto bat leadoff-which meanshe knockedin 78 runs, and was chosenAmerican League Rook- will haveto learnto be patientat the plateand takemore walks. ie of the Year; the Yankeeswon the Series.Whatever any of He'll alsobe anchoringa slightlyiffy infield,a fact that will put them might havetold you, the womenwho threw handwritten pressureon him to improveupon last year'stotal of 22 errors. marriageproposals to feter during the Yankees'October vic- As early as |anuary,New York's army of sportswriterswas start- tory paradethrough Manhattan weren't merely inspired by his ing to natter about Jeter,polishing up old battle-axeslike youth and good looks. His athleticprowess was an important "sophomorejinx" and "sophomoreslump." part of the picture, as was his World Seriesring. feter was in But no onedemands more of Jeterthan feterhimself. "I don't the right placeat the right time, with the right stuff. But is it setmy sightslow," he says."l didn't go into my my first yearsay- the stuff of superstardom? ing 'lf I hit .250,I'll be satisfied.'I setgoals for myself,but I Derekfeter hit a famoushome run in the playoffsagainst Bal- don't tell people.When I was in high school,I told myself,'l timore last October,the ball that was grabbedaway from out- want to be High SchoolPlayer of the Year.'" And he got it-de- z6 NEw YoRK API.IL 7, rggT Photogmph by AP Wide \lbrld. - spite the fact that, coming from the snow world championshipsmultiple times; all are the best at what belt town of Kalamazoo,Michigan, he was they do. When you talk about iconsin baseball,Ken Griffey is up againstFlorida and California players the goingrate. He hits homers,scores runs, and is a Gold Glove who got to practiceyear-round. "ln'94," he player." says,"l told myselfI wanted to be Minor For the moment, feter's image-in New York, a market LeaguePlayer of the Year."He got it. larger than local but smaller than national-couldn't be "He's #t $. nf What's he telling himselfabout 1997? stronger. extremelybright, articulate, handsome,and fetershakes his head:He doesn'ttell people.