Read Online The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter by Ian O'Connor - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Ian O'Connor
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had arrived. “It was a beehive of activity,” Livesey said. “We had a lot of manpower in the room. People on our files, people working the boards, people erasing names, people making calls.”
The Yankees had not been to the playoffs since 1981, and they were in dire need of a break neither Jeter nor his adviser thought they were going to get. Jeter was so sure he was going in the top five, so sure the Reds would take him if the Astros did not, so sure he had no chance of playing for his boyhood team, “I didn’t even know the Yankees picked sixth,” he said. “I thought I was going to Cincinnati and that I’d be stuck behind Larkin.”
Wearing a University of Michigan shirt, Jeter paced about his home as he waited with his family for the call. Out in Sacramento, Caruso gathered with a few aides in his office and stared at the phone. “We were preparing to negotiate a contract with the Reds,” he said.
Paul Morgan, the
Kalamazoo Gazette
sportswriter who had covered Derek’s high school career, was feverishly working his desktop at the newspaper’s offices, hitting his refresh button over and over to get the latest Associated Press bulletins on a draft that was not televised.
Morgan called the Jeters after a couple of picks were made, and when the phone rang Derek jumped out of his chair. With four selections in the books and the Reds ready to go, the sportswriter called back and told the shortstop he would contact him the second the AP posted his name.
Jeter was overwhelmed by the very real possibility he would be selected at number 5. The franchises picking ahead of the Yankees knew of Jeter’s pinstriped preferences, yet that did not shape their decisions. Like the teams that went before them, the Reds merely wanted the best available player at the best possible price.
Finally Julian Mock acted on his mid-jog epiphany. He leaned into the speakerphone and announced the Cincinnati Reds were using the fifth overall choice to take Chad Mottola of the University of Central Florida.
A cheer immediately went up in the Yankee draft room in Tampa, one loud enough to echo across the Bronx. Fists were pumped and backs were slapped. Somehow, some way, Derek Jeter had made it unscathed to the sixth pick.
Morgan called Derek with the news that the Reds had gone for Mottola, and that the Yankees were on deck. “Oh, God,” the kid said. A series of fateful choices—gross miscalculations, some observers believed—left the teenage Jeter holding a winning lottery ticket.
Livesey wasted little time after the voice from the commissioner’s office announced the Yankees were up next. The scouting director turned to Kevin Elfering, the assistant scouting coordinator and director of minor league operations, who was reviewing the large computer printout of prospects’ names before him.
“Jeter,” Livesey said.
Derek Sanderson Jeter.
Elfering found his name on the printout and noted his draft identification number—19921292. Elfering did not have a single thing to do with the scouting of Jeter, but he had the honor of making it official. “All I did,” Elfering said, “was say his name into the phone, Derek Jeter of Kalamazoo Central, and then he was ours.”
Just as the commissioner’s office was repeating what Elfering had said, Reds scout Gene Bennett walked into the room where Mock and other officials were gathered. Bennett could not believe his ears.
He heard a voice on the speakerphone say the Yankees had just taken Jeter, compelling the scout to blurt out, “Yeah, and the Cincinnati Reds take Babe Ruth.” Bennett figured someone was pulling his leg, at least until a coworker told him, “Be quiet, we’re on the hookup.”
A sick feeling came over him. Suddenly Bennett realized Mock had actually taken Mottola instead of Jeter, “and I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “Without question it was the most disappointing thing that ever happened to me as a scout.”
A prototypical five-tool guy with
The Yankees had not been to the playoffs since 1981, and they were in dire need of a break neither Jeter nor his adviser thought they were going to get. Jeter was so sure he was going in the top five, so sure the Reds would take him if the Astros did not, so sure he had no chance of playing for his boyhood team, “I didn’t even know the Yankees picked sixth,” he said. “I thought I was going to Cincinnati and that I’d be stuck behind Larkin.”
Wearing a University of Michigan shirt, Jeter paced about his home as he waited with his family for the call. Out in Sacramento, Caruso gathered with a few aides in his office and stared at the phone. “We were preparing to negotiate a contract with the Reds,” he said.
Paul Morgan, the
Kalamazoo Gazette
sportswriter who had covered Derek’s high school career, was feverishly working his desktop at the newspaper’s offices, hitting his refresh button over and over to get the latest Associated Press bulletins on a draft that was not televised.
Morgan called the Jeters after a couple of picks were made, and when the phone rang Derek jumped out of his chair. With four selections in the books and the Reds ready to go, the sportswriter called back and told the shortstop he would contact him the second the AP posted his name.
Jeter was overwhelmed by the very real possibility he would be selected at number 5. The franchises picking ahead of the Yankees knew of Jeter’s pinstriped preferences, yet that did not shape their decisions. Like the teams that went before them, the Reds merely wanted the best available player at the best possible price.
Finally Julian Mock acted on his mid-jog epiphany. He leaned into the speakerphone and announced the Cincinnati Reds were using the fifth overall choice to take Chad Mottola of the University of Central Florida.
A cheer immediately went up in the Yankee draft room in Tampa, one loud enough to echo across the Bronx. Fists were pumped and backs were slapped. Somehow, some way, Derek Jeter had made it unscathed to the sixth pick.
Morgan called Derek with the news that the Reds had gone for Mottola, and that the Yankees were on deck. “Oh, God,” the kid said. A series of fateful choices—gross miscalculations, some observers believed—left the teenage Jeter holding a winning lottery ticket.
Livesey wasted little time after the voice from the commissioner’s office announced the Yankees were up next. The scouting director turned to Kevin Elfering, the assistant scouting coordinator and director of minor league operations, who was reviewing the large computer printout of prospects’ names before him.
“Jeter,” Livesey said.
Derek Sanderson Jeter.
Elfering found his name on the printout and noted his draft identification number—19921292. Elfering did not have a single thing to do with the scouting of Jeter, but he had the honor of making it official. “All I did,” Elfering said, “was say his name into the phone, Derek Jeter of Kalamazoo Central, and then he was ours.”
Just as the commissioner’s office was repeating what Elfering had said, Reds scout Gene Bennett walked into the room where Mock and other officials were gathered. Bennett could not believe his ears.
He heard a voice on the speakerphone say the Yankees had just taken Jeter, compelling the scout to blurt out, “Yeah, and the Cincinnati Reds take Babe Ruth.” Bennett figured someone was pulling his leg, at least until a coworker told him, “Be quiet, we’re on the hookup.”
A sick feeling came over him. Suddenly Bennett realized Mock had actually taken Mottola instead of Jeter, “and I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “Without question it was the most disappointing thing that ever happened to me as a scout.”
A prototypical five-tool guy with
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