You probably know by now that Derek Jeter played his final Yankees game last week. In the process, he hung up his baseball cap after a 20-year career. He’s only 40 years old. I wondered what (if anything) he’d be doing with his retirement. Since money is no object for a player of Jeter’s stature, he doesn’t have to do anything. If I was him, my tush would be enjoying the silence at the top of a mountain right now.
Jeter has no plans to stop working. He’s simply switched careers, and it’s only taken him a few days to announce a new project. Jeter has launched his own website! Just like Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop and Blake Lively’s Budget Goop and the other imitators to come. Jeter’s site doesn’t have any real material yet. The site, called The Player’s Tribune, contains one mysterious blog entry called “The Start of Something New.” The description sounds like the site will be a forum for athletes to communicate with fans. Buuuut. Derek also has a new book deal and has launched Jeter Publishing under Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster. Gallery’s rep issued a statement calling Jeter “a curator of all things cool.” That tells me that this site is totally going to be an athletic-lifestyle blog in manner of Goop. This should be weird. Here are some details from People:
Just three days after New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter took a bow on 20 years in major league baseball, he’s back — as a media mogul out to reshape the press box.
“I do think fans deserve more than ‘no comments’ or ‘I don’t knows,’ ” Jeter wrote Wednesday on the homepage of his new website, The Players’ Tribune, which he describes as a place for pro athletes to “connect directly with our fans with no filter.”
The former Yankees captain, who described his emotional final game at Yankee Stadium on Thursday as “an out-of-body experience,” said that, through all the tributes that came in the eight months since he announced his retirement, “I realize I’ve been guarded. I learned early on in New York, the toughest media environment in sports, that just because a reporter asks you a question, doesn’t mean you have to answer.”
Jeter, who’s seen his share of career highs and lows, says he hopes his website will give players safe haven from “genuine concern that any statement, any opinion or detail, might be distorted. … We just need to be sure our thoughts will come across the way we intend.”
Beyond the new website, Jeter is also heading an imprint, Jeter Publishing, with Gallery Books at Simon & Schuster, and his debut children’s book, The Contract, is out this week.
“He has a lot of interests, and he is interested in developing content,” Gallery president Louise Burke tells PEOPLE. “He’s a curator of all things cool, is how I see it. So many people want to work with him.”
[From People]
Maybe I’m making too much of this announcement. This could simply be a forum where jocks hang out to scratch that itch. Get your mind out of the gutter! Maybe it’s a place where Jeter and his fellow pro athletes hold AMAs. I doubt it’s that simple though. Jeter and his backers will want to rake in some revenue, so there will be “curating” a plenty. Thanks, Goop.
Oh, and Derek already held a little Q&A session on Twitter yesterday. The most riveting admission was how he’s afraid of cats. Huh.
.@Shinman116 I'm scared of cats -DJ
— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) October 1, 2014
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & Getty
Happy retirement to one of only two (reasonably current) baseball players this Brit girl can name!
And he can thank Mariah Carey for that…
haha same here, I never understood his appeal, but he had SO MANY gorgeous women (and a certain type) throughout the years, it’s insane and just when I thought it died down, I hear his name in the Mindy project.
Athletic lifestyle? Is that when you’re one of those gym types who get around everywhere in workout gear?
I wish him well. He seems like a genuinely nice person.
A site like livestrong? Is lance Armstrong really the comparison you want to draw at the end of your career?
He is not handsome to me. At all.
I’m not sure he claims to be handsome. He made his living by his athletic talent, not his looks.
Just wanted to mention it, in case someone asks me.
Lol. I WAS curious about your thoughts on the subject.
He can be kinda cute sometimes, not really handsome, but boyish looking.
This is the guy that sends a gift basket full of autographed swag to chicks after a one-night stand.
Classy athlete? Yes.
Classy guy? Not so much.
That being said, my BF got tix to Saturday’s Yanks-Sox game at Fenway and Jeter got a standing O for his at-bat. He was a great athlete, no doubt. One of the best baseball players of all time.
I love the story about the woman who got “gift baskets” on two separate occasions.
The person who actually started the story about the gift baskets said it definitely was not Jeter.
A Laurie-Nope, it was definitely Jeter.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/28/rounding-the-bases-with-derek-jeter.html
Great ballplayer but a skeezy womanizer. It’s his business, he’s not married and can do what he likes, but players (playas?) will always be a bit gross to me.
Per his stint as host of SNL years ago, I can honestly say that Jete looks great in drag. Like Patrick Swayze in To Wong Foo kind of great.
Yeah he’s an athlete not a model.
Best wishes for a long, happy, and healthy retirement to Jeter, and that’s from a Red Sox fan. Red Sox Nation does truly appreciate that Jeter chose to play his last game in Fenway Park. He lasted for twenty years in one of the most critical sports cities in the world, took part in one of the most intense rivalries in sports, and was always a class act. He was good for the Yankees and good for baseball.
Aw, that’s really sweet. He seems to inspire real sportsmanship in people, and is well liked by competitors as well as fans. That’s nice to see.
happy retirement to him.
and best of luck curating lifestyles?
I wonder if he’ll give autographed “gift baskets” to all the female visitors that visit his site. 😉
Haha, I thought of gift baskets, too. Wonder why the whole site isn’t gift baskets? Curated baskets full of all things cool.
I know I shouldn’t shade him. My son has long been a fan and one of his dreams came true this summer when got to see him play at Yankee Stadium. It was fun to see someone inspire such passion and admiration.
That was my subtle shade because
I think he’s a doucheI was *trying* to be respectful. Great athlete tho.ETA: That’s cool your son got to see the Yankee’s play at the stadium, Esmom. I’ve been 86’d from watching any Yankee’s game for life. Lol
Oh, no. He’s a douche? Hey is everybody on earth a douche these days? Is there no one left? *sob*
Just my opinion, GoodNames, not to worry. I’m sure someone will come along and correct me.
mimif, I caught the shade, very civil.
GNAT, I’ve been trying to figure that out, seems like there are some cracks in the facade. In the last couple months I felt like more and more crap was coming out — personal and professional stuff — that’s made me regard him differently. But who knows, could be sour grapes, people can be bitter?
Poop.
Only if the crab fishing is good that year. Ha, kidding. I don’t know much about him except he was my nephews favorite player.
Yes, but can he bake a cake preciously like my sweet potato princess?
I didn’t think so.
Sit down sir.
Derek is from my hometown and our parents worked together – he (and his entire family) do A LOT of charity work in our town. From the time he was little he said he was going to be a short-stop for the Yankees! Crazy that it really happened and crazy that he’s had a pretty clean career on/off the field. Kalamazoo <3's #2!
They recently made a video featuring many of his mentors & friends from Kzoo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-GODjyDYE0
I’m kind of ambivalent about him but one cool thing I saw online was a copy of the scouting report from when he was in high school, the scout had written something like “this guy will be a star in the MLB.” He must have been just a phenom as a kid.
It was literally just all he did and all he talked about. I only knew him peripherally (I’d see him at our parent’s work functions, etc.). His family is just awesome.
I love hearing stories of dedication and passion and big dreams like that. My younger son is in a slacker phase right now, I wish he’d show even a tiny fraction of that kind of passion for the things he used to love so much.
In any case, I don’t wish Jeter any ill will, he has been a great role model for both my sons. I think I got caught up in some of the cynical reporting that was done about him as of late, boo on me.
Watch out for Miss Stewart, Derek! Love him
“He’’s a charming, pretty person um who um has a feeling for the athletic lifestyle. He wants to be an athletic lifestyle arbiter, fine.”
Martha Stewart’s next round of shade.
Douche or not, it’s not easy to have had a career he’s had and navigate the world of fame and fortune without much incident. Kudos to him and everyone around him. He is a great athlete – and very gracious to his fans, especially the kids.
Derek Jeter is a nice guy. I was at Yankees spring training a few years back. Lots of kids crowded the batting area when he was up there taking swings. He talked to them and signed autographs. One child told Jeter that he did a report on him, and Jeter asked him what grade he got. I think for a player of Jeter’s stature, that was amazing. He was very polite to all the children before he had to get some practice in.
I’m a Yankees fan and was in LOVE with Derek Jeter about 15 years ago. However, after reading a post on Jezebel awhile back about groupie encounters, I cannot see him without thinking “yeah Jeets.” Google it.
Ha I know what you are referencing, but the guy is single. Unlike that other BigStar, he didn’t cheat on a wife. Plus, he allegedly gives out gift baskets. So win/win, if you ask me.
BTW, 15 years ago, I would have taken Tino Martinez over Jeter.
Tino was a verrrry close second. He still looks too.
When I heard about this site I thought it would just be the usual PR bullshit written by their agents or whoever but this was put up this morning: http://www.theplayerstribune.com/lets-talk-about-it/
It’s a piece by Russell Wilson about just addressing domestic violence and the reluctance to talk about it and it seems very personal and like it was actually written by him. Makes me happy that a huge star in one sport and a huge star in another sport would put this on there right away.
This is the quote on the home page:
Introducing The Players’ Tribune, a new media platform that will present the unfiltered voices of professional athletes, bringing fans closer to the games they love than ever before. Founded by Derek Jeter, The Players’ Tribune aims to provide unique insight into the daily sports conversation and to publish first-person stories directly from athletes. From video to podcasts to player polls and written pieces, The Tribune will strive to be “The Voice of the Game.”
Seems like a neat idea… not what I thought it might be at all.
I’m a massive baseball fan (grew up watching and playing), and given that the Yanks are in the same division as my Jays, I saw him play a lot. Was fortunate enough to be at Fenway for his second last game this past weekend. He’s always been so classy and so professional, particularly in the steroid era, that even people who hate the Yankees would admit it, too.
Yeah, he dated around, but he’s my #1 forever dong. Even my boyfriend of 5 years knows that if I got the chance, there would be no hesitation lol
So I will admit as a Red Sox fan after interning at an organization sponsored by this man I could never ever say another bad thing about the Yankees again. Jeter’s dad is a social worker (like me 🙂 ) and his whole family is very invested in working with at risk youth in Florida, NY, and Michigan. This guy is an amazing individual and honestly has a tremendous heart, I wish him all the best!
He might not be “eye” appeal like that of A-Rod, a genuine douche. But he’s really humble & sweet. When i managed a hotel in NYC, he was so kind & generous & everything began with Yes, please or no, thank you. Its easy to see why women fawn all over him. Hes a rarity, especially in the world of fame. I’d take him anyday over the a-Rods, or dare I say, RAY RICE’!