Those who are familiar with professional baseball are most likely aware that Derek Jeter is the captain and leader of the New York Yankees. Having been a 5x World Champion, 13x All-Star, 5x Silver Slugger, 5x Gold Glover, and 1 of 28 players to reach 3,000 hits, Derek's image is as big as it get, but that's not why he feels like he is a great leader. "Obviously, you're known for what you do," says Jeter. "But you still want to be known as a good person. You're a person a lot longer before and after you're a professional athlete. People always say to me, 'Your image is this, your image is that.' Your image isn't your character. Character is what you are as a person. That's what I worry about" (Men's Health, 2013, p.1). For the last nineteen years, Derek has been working to become the best leader he can be on the field, in the Yankee organization and in the community.
Early Life.
Derek Sanderson was born June 26th, 1974 in Pequannock, New Jersey. By the time he was four years old, his family moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan. Derek's father would take him to see Detroit Tigers games all the time but that never changed his love for the New York Yankees. Derek and his sister Sharlee spent their summers in New Jersey with their grandparents. Since the Yankees were just on the other side of the George Washington Bridge, Derek spent as much time as possible cheering on his favorite team and visualizing himself as a Yankee (Jockbio, 2011). .
As he grew, Derek was very quick-minded, self-mannered and self-confident which helped him exceed in everything he ever did. At a young age his parents encouraged him to install goals in sports and in the classroom. When Derek got into high school and the chance of playing professional baseball was becoming a reality, there was a lot of doubt in the community. Nobody thought anybody from a cold; small-town like Kalamazoo could make a name for themselves playing professional baseball and that they should just give up (Men's Health, 2013, p.
