Derek Jeter Leadership

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Leadership comes in many forms, and most will tell you that Derek Jeter exhibits them all.(AP)
He's got 3,450 hits (and counting) and 13 All-Star nods on the field, and five World Series rings, a World Series MVP and a Rookie of the Year Award on his shelf.
And yet, the greatest thing Derek Jeter may leave behind on the legacy of baseball is his own legacy of leadership.

"(His leadership) is by example, and one-on-one; he's going to take players aside and talk to them, and the way he plays the game, people will follow," ex-teammate and current manager Joe Girardi said Sunday. "If you're around the cage during his batting practice group, you'll hear him get on players about doing things right, about taking BP seriously and how you're not working …show more content…

"It doesn't happen right away, but Jeter was very unusual to be, at a young age, so responsible and comfortable in his own skin."

And there were two moments in the 1996 season that led Torre to believe and know that, the first a simple mistake that wasn't even Jeter's fault.

"He was trying to steal third with two outs in a tight game and got thrown out, and I blamed myself for not giving him the stop sign," Torre remembered. "I got angry at myself, but I didn't want to rattle him so I wasn't going to talk to him. But he came in after the half-inning and wedges himself between me and Don Zimmer like he was saying 'okay, I'm here to take my beating and move …show more content…

"The first playoff game we had against Texas, I think he made an error and we lost, and I was asked by the media if I felt I had to talk to him - being a rookie and all - and I said I'd figure it out," Torre said. "But on his way out of the clubhouse, he peeked into my office and said 'Mr. Torre, get your rest tonight, tomorrow's the most important game of your life,' and I knew I didn't need to talk to him."

Added then-teammate Tino Martinez: "His maturity as a rookie was that of a veteran; he was a leader at that time without saying everything, and always gave it 100 percent."

That has carried over for nearly 20 years now, something that those who have been around him the whole time can vouch for.

"You guys saw the outside of Derek for 20 years, but we saw the inside; you never saw the bumps and bruises he had in the trainer's room, but at the same time, when 6:45 came around, he was ready to play, and you wanted him to be there when it was time to make the final out," Mariano Rivera said Sunday. "Those are the types of guys you want on your team, because they will never say I can't play today because I don't feel

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