CAPTAIN CHEERS
Yankee fans give Derek Jeter standing ovation as he feels heat in Miami for tearing up Marlins
JUPITER, Fla. — Hundreds of fans at Roger Dean Stadium stood and applauded and chanted Derek Jeter’s name as he emerged from his luxury box behind home plate on Sunday, which immediately told you there were far more supporters of the Yankees’ traveling road show on hand than there were those pulling for his gutted Marlins.
No, Jeter still is not the most popular sports figure these days in South Florida. Not after authorizing the latest fire sale in Marlins history — highlighted by trading Giancarlo Stanton to his former team — since becoming a minority owner and taking over the team's baseball operations in October.
Jeter didn’t address the New York media upon his former team’s only visit this spring to face his new one, only exchanging pleasantries with Yanks GM Brian Cashman, former teammate Aaron Boone and other team officials and staffers before his Marlins pulled out a 7-5 victory.
“I just heard the people going crazy when he got up in his little suite,” Aaron Judge noted.
Numbah Two similarly can thank the Yanks for making sure to bring Judge and several fellow regulars for the three-hour trek across the state to help fill his springtraining ballpark.
Other than The Captain, the biggest cheers all day were reserved for Judge and the Bombers from the partisan crowd mostly adorned in pinstriped jerseys and other team attire.
In fact, that has been the case not only at the Yanks’ home games in Tampa, but in most road parks all spring following their unexpected ride to Game 7 of the ALCS in 2017.
“It’s noticeable, it really is,” Boone said. “It’s been really exciting, and I think that’s a tribute to these guys and I think it’s a tribute to the way they play the game.
“I think it started last year, especially in the second half of the season and into the postseason where we've really seen this fan base latch on to this generation of Yankees. I think not only their talent, but the fun that comes across when you watch them, you sense the fun they’re having playing the game. So I think they’ve really connected with Yankee fans and it’s been noticeable each and every day for me in spring training.”
One noticeable Yankee not on the trip, however, was Stanton — the ex-Marlins slugger and reigning NL MVP who was critical of Miami’s newly assembled front office for dismantling a team that won 77 games one year ago.
Boone insisted that Stanton didn’t express any desire to avoid facing his former team, saying the decision was “more being a 31/2-hour (bus) trip” across the state.
“He was off today,” Boone said flatly when asked about Stanton before the game. “He’ll play back-to-back the next two days (in Tampa). I didn’t ask him one way or another… We actually brought quite a bit of our regulars, obviously. But,
no, I didn’t give it much thought.”
Stanton, who had clubbed his first home run of the preseason on Saturday back at The Boss, was outspoken about being happy to be dealt from rebuilding Miami, even calling the Marlins “a circus” following the trade that sent Starlin Castro and two prospects to South Florida.
Starlin the Marlin told New York media members Sunday morning that he was “sad” at first about being included in the blockbuster trade, in case his subsequent but still-unfulfilled request to be flipped elsewhere wasn't all the proof necessary to understand the All-Star second baseman’s unhappiness.
Castro took a Yankees contingent including Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, Gleyber Torres and a few prospects out to dinner locally on Saturday night, and he later acknowledged that he’s adjusting to his shift to the rebuilding Marlins.
Jeter’s adjustment period is ongoing, but he’ll always have the adulation of Yankees fans and those affiliated with his former team in the Bronx. That includes Judge, who still recalls fondly the Captain’s Camp dinners and talks he engaged in with Jeter coming up through the organization.
“He’s always good, he’s a professional, a guy I’ve always looked up to and he always played the game the right way. That’s the biggest thing I always picked up from him,” said Judge, who ripped his first homer of spring training in the seventh inning. “He just respects not only the game, but he respects his opponent, respects his teammates. Respect for the game, that’s the biggest thing.”
Re2pect certainly goes both ways, of course, even if it’s weird to consider Jeter now as an opponent of the Yankees.
While he is off to a rocky start in his foray into team ownership, Jeter’s old fans from New York made sure to show him plenty of love at his new spring-training home.