New Jeter film a tantalizing ‘what if ’
Among topics: Astros passing on chance in ’92 to draft Hall of Famer
In the opening seconds of “The Captain,” an upcoming seven-part documentary about Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter, the film’s subject says “I’m a Yankee — I’ll always be a Yankee. … I felt as though I was built to play in New York.”
The film, which debuts at approximately 9 p.m. Monday on ESPN following the All-Star Home Run Derby, is a sprawling look at Jeter’s life and career in pinstripes, done in a similar vein to “The Last Dance,” the 2020 documentary about Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls.
“The Captain,” directed by Randy Wilkins and executive produced by Hollywood luminaries Spike Lee and Mike Tollin, tells Jeter’s story through a variety of perspectives. Jeter is interviewed at length, as are family members, former teammates and opponents, managers and other celebrities.
Jeter’s successes on the field — five World Series championships and plenty of individual accolades — are amply covered as are other phases of his life such as the racism he faced being the son of a Black father and white mother, early minor league struggles, a historic Yankees collapse in 2004 against the archrival Red Sox and Jeter’s rocky tenure as an executive running the Miami Marlins.
While Jeter might have been a natural fit as a Yankee — his maternal grandmother instilled his lifelong New York fandom in him and his bedroom growing up in Kalamazoo, Mich., had a Yankees uniform pinned to the wall — his Bronx tale might’ve been gifted to the Yankees thanks to other teams’ foibles.
During the first episode, Astros fans might want to avert their eyes when the fateful 1992 draft is covered.
“At the outset, there wasn’t a lot of hope in their eyes that he was going to fall to them,” ESPN’s Buster Olney, a former Yankees beat writer, said of New York, which held the sixth pick.
Houston had the first pick that year, and Hal Newhouser, the Hall of Fame pitcher who was the Astros’ area scout in Michigan, lobbied hard for the team to take Jeter, the Kalamazoo Central shortstop who was the Gatorade High School Player of the Year.
“Hal Newhouser told the Astros (that) Derek Jeter is going to be the centerpiece of championship teams for years to come,” said Olney, who wrote extensively about Newhouser scouting Jeter in his 2004 book “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty.”
In the film, Jeter said “I was supposed to be drafted first or fifth. (That’s) what I was told.”
Then footage from the 1992 draft conference call shows the moment the Astros passed on Jeter, with the now-infamous words “Houston selects Nevin, Phillip J., a third baseman from Cal State University in Fullerton” uttered by an Astros representative.
There went the chance for the Astros to have an infield with first baseman Jeff Bagwell, second baseman Craig Biggio, third baseman Ken Caminiti and Jeter. The late Caminiti is the only one of the foursome not in the Hall of Fame.
Newhouser, a baseball lifer who died in November 1998 at age 77, quit shortly after the Astros, who reportedly balked at Jeter’s $1 million asking price for a signing bonus, passed on the future star.
“Hal said, ‘If I can’t convince that team to take Derek Jeter, I can’t convince anybody of anything,’ ” Olney said in the film.
Four picks later, Cincinnati, the other team believed to be interested in Jeter, selected Central Florida outfielder Chad Mottola.
The Yankees then took Jeter, with the film showing the celebration in the Jeter family living room via 30-year-old home video.
Less than three years later, the Astros traded Nevin after just 16 games in the majors and a blowup with team management. Houston didn’t win a playoff series for the first time until 2004. Mottola? He played all of 59 games in the majors for five different teams.
As for Jeter, the rest is history, told in seven installments over the next month.
While the Yankees aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, particularly in Houston given the rivalry between the teams during recent playoff meetings and cheating scandals, this look at the notoriously guarded Jeter’s life and career is worth the watch.
Albeit with one of the biggest “what ifs” in Astros history.