Derek Jeter is great, and his greatness is unparalleled. However, after taking a backseat and scrolling through his statistics, is he really that great? Yes indeed, but Derek Jeter was never about numbers. He was about leading, dominating, competing, and standing right in front of his team, always.

Despite the presence of multiple popular personalities on the Yankee roster, for the longest time, Jeter was the face of the Yankees. During his 20-year Yankee career, he covered and achieved everything. He won five World Series Championships, appeared on 14 All-Star teams, and won five Golden Glove and Silver Slugger awards as well. However, again, his popularity and fandom are associated with his persona and charisma, not his numbers and achievements.

What is the root cause of Derek Jeter and his competitiveness?

Derek Jeter discusses the origin of his fighting spirit in the ballpark and credits it to his father. He speaks about his dynamic with his father and the games they played when he was a kid. Jeter has always sentimentalized the competitive spark that his father ignited in him. He said, “I used to go to afternoon kindergarten afterwards. And we’d sit down and we’d watch The Price Is Right. We guessed the prices and my dad would just enjoy beating me [at the game]. As I said in the doc, it could be some form of child abuse.”

He associates the “form of child abuse,” with the pressure and felt to always compete, win and dominate. In effect, how playing without the motive to win was essentially meaningless.

Read More: Brian Cashman Strongly Affirms That Captaincy Should Also Be Retired With “Perfect” Captain Derek Jeter’s Jersey

He further continued, “We used to compete at everything. Checkers, tic-tac-toe. I still remember the first time I beat him one-on-one in basketball. It’s this sense of accomplishment.”

Who will be the next Yankee captain?

After Don Mattingly in 1995, it took the Yanks 8 years to elect their next captain. Derek Jeter became the 15th Yankee captain in 2003. He continued to captain the Yanks until 2014, which is when he retired. Since 2014, the NY Yankees haven’t appointed a new captain. The Yankee pattern of not electing a captain for long years proves the importance and credibility they give to the captaincy role. The Yankees General Manager, Brian Cashman, had once spoken about retiring the title of “captaincy” with Jeter’s jersey.

Given Aaron Judge’s recent form, he is the most eligible choice for the next Yankee captain. As of yesterday, he hit his 52nd homer of the season. Judge is currently racing against time to cross Roger Maris’ special number 61.

Do you think Aaron Judge is a fitting captain for the NY Yankees?

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