NO SURE THING
Jeter not guaranteed to succeed as boss
THE SPECIFICS behind Derek Jeter’s pursuit of the Marlins — its seriousness, Jeter’s contribution financially and his role structurally — remain hazy to all besides a select few. Here’s what can be asserted with extreme clarity: Major League Baseball would
love, love, love it if Jeter, one of the game’s most transcendent and iconic players ever, got involved at the ownership level. Particularly in Miami, where the current ownership group has experienced extreme turbulence with its fan base.
You get it. Jeter would bring pizzazz as well as some much-needed diversity to baseball’s ownership fraternity (and it’s very much a fraternity, in the “all-male” sense). Approving a Jeter-centric ownership group would be a risk worth taking. Yet it would be a risk, for sure. Examine the history of elite athletes who either assumed ownership of professional sports teams or received clearance through richer folks to “call the shots,” to use a phrase favored by Jeter. The only pattern that stands out is the lack of a pattern.
Jeter’s good pal Michael Jordan got fired as the Wizards’ director of basketball operations and has experienced mixed results since becoming the majority owner of the Hornets. Jordan’s playing-days nemesis Isiah Thomas proved epically bad when handed the keys to the Knicks. Larry Bird, after a successful stint as the Pacers’ coach, has been pretty good as the team’s president of basketball operations.
John Elway won his Broncos a Super Bowl as executive vice president of football operations, and Ozzie Newsome did the same as the Ravens’ general manager. In hockey, Mario Lemieux is an NHL asset as the Penguins’ owner and Steve Yzerman has done great work as the Lightning’s general manager, but Wayne Gretzky’s stint atop the Coyotes will not be remembered as a great one.
The most prominent baseball player to take a whack at ownership is Nolan Ryan, who invested in the Rangers and served as the team’s president. He oversaw a period of the franchise’s greatest success, consecutive World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011, although much of the credit given to him for the team’s improved pitching was overblown. Ryan ultimately struggled to yield power to the club’s highly regarded baseball operations group and stepped down in 2013, after six seasons.
Where would Jeter fit on this spectrum? All we can do is guess, for his résumé contains scant clues. He deserves the most credit for creating the Turn 2 Foundation, a terrific, long-lasting endeavor, as a young Yankee. The Players’ Tribune has carved out an interesting niche in the sports media world; its impact is debatable. His career as a publisher and author of books for teenagers sheds little light. His successes in the advertising world and with Steiner Sports display his knack for branding and marketing, and perhaps there would be some carryover there. However, Jeter doesn’t yearn to sell. He yearns to build.
Could he build a successful organizational culture? Here’s where you’ll find it hardest to transpose any of his previous deeds and feats. He drew respect for the way he played baseball. He drew few close friends, with most teammates maintaining a respectful distance. As the Yankees’ captain, he made himself consistently accessible to the media and took it upon himself to call players-only meetings. And, as the Yankees’ captain, he could be thinskinned to anything he perceived as criticism and even received a scolding from his front-office superiors when he refused to call out his best friend, Jorge Posada, for pulling himself out of a game one hour before first pitch.
A Marlins sale to a Jeter-led group right now ranks as anything besides a slam dunk; nothing appears close on the team being sold to anyone. Should it actually occur, it would be cause for excitement and intrigue. Twenty-five years ago, though, scouts correctly identified Jeter as a can’t-miss playing prospect. As an owner prospect? He’d be can-miss. Not a guaranteed bust, mind you. Hardly a surefire winner, either.