The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter Review

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The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter ReviewIan O'Connor's THE CAPTAIN: THE JOURNEY OF DEREK JETER is a breezy and enjoyable biography of the iconic Yankee shortstop. O'Connor paints an overwhelmingly admiring portrait that nonetheless manages to remain objective. Through it all Jeter comes across as a prodigious talent who epitomizes class, grace, wholesomeness, dignity, dedication, and sportsmanship. If he sounds perfect, it's because he nearly is: as several different interviewees put it, he's the kind of person one would hope their son to be or their daughter to marry. There is not a more positive role model in all of sports.
Yet Jeter is still only human and O'Connor is perceptive of his subject's faults. In particular, Jeter is portrayed as being both overly sensitive to criticism and ruthlessly unforgiving towards those he perceives as having wronged him or violated his friendship. The latter trait is especially highlighted in the second-half of the book, which is dominated by the complex relationship between Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. O'Connor, not unfairly, concludes Jeter failed A-Rod in his role as Yankee captain by holding a grudge over passive-aggressive comments Rodriguez had made years earlier and not extending to the third baseman during his early struggles in New York the same public support Jeter had given Chuck Knoblauch and Jason Giambi during their adversities. The chinks-in-the-armor are relatively trifling and stand out only because they contrast, however slightly, with what O'Connor astutely describes as Jeter's almost unfailing instinct to do "the right thing at the right time." Ultimately, it's to Jeter's credit that he was able to overcome his twin shortcomings by improving both his fielding range and his relationship with Rodriguez, putting the Yankees on the path to their 27th World Series victory in 2009.
It's been said that Yankee superstars come in two general molds: those of the flamboyant Ruth-Mantle-Jackson lineage, and those of the stately Gehrig-DiMaggio-Mattingly lineage. A-Rod is of the first; Jeter, very much of the second. From their elegant playing styles and dogged work ethics to their guarded public personas and glamourous romantic lives, the similarities between Jeter and DiMaggio are uncanny. Like Jeter, DiMaggio was also known to summarily cut off anyone who transgressed him even once and was fiercely protective of his personal life. Fittingly, when the old Yankee Stadium closed in 2008, it was the sign in the clubhouse tunnel bearing DiMaggio's famous "I'd like to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee" quote that Jeter took home as a souvenir. The Jeter-DiMaggio comparison is a compelling one that's made several times within the book, including in a quote from Phil Rizzuto, though one significant difference between the Yankee legends is dutifully noted by O'Connor: Jeter is accessible and unfailingly polite, whereas DiMaggio was notoriously rude.
O'Connor's writing on the whole is smooth, though at times it can be too casual, and he makes one glaring factual error in placing David Justice on the '99 Yankees (Justice was not acquired from Cleveland until mid-way through 2000). While many of the stories will be familiar to Yankee diehards (particularly those who have read Buster Olney's The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty New Edition: The Game, the Team, and the Cost of Greatness), there is enough interesting new material and the book is current enough (up through the 2010-11 off-season, including the surprisingly contentious contract negotiations between Jeter and the Yankees) to stand in its own right as a worthwhile read.
Enthusiastically recommended for Jeter, Yankee, and baseball fans alike.The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter Overview

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