Yankees star Derek Jeter named Dancer of the Year

Just days after being named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, a popular magazine from the 1980s, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter added another well-deserved accolade to his list when he was tabbed Dancer of the Year by Dancer Magazine.

While Jeter lacks any sort of training in the field of dance, he showed millions on a daily basis the grace of a swan and the footwork of Fred Astaire while patrolling a small portion of the area between second and third base this season, according to Dance Magazine Editor-in-Chief Wendy Perron.

"Hey, is Jeter classically trained or someone who has ever danced in a non-wedding, non-club setting? Of course not," Perron explained. "But we took into account two things when naming him Dancer of the Year; the first being does he exhibit the characteristics of someone who could be a great dancer? Absolutely he does.

"The second thing was would his face on the front of our magazine sell better than that of, say, Svetlana Zakharova? Sure she's a ballerina who anchors the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, but who's ever heard of her, you know? We're trying to sell magazines here, not be a credible source for judging one's talents."

Jeter's teammates felt he was well-deserving of the honor.

"No question," Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher said. "As a captain, it's your job to answer questions as directly as possible with the media, but the way he artfully danced around questions about Alex (Rodriguez) when he was struggling last year was a thing of beauty. He refused to support him, but he refused to chastise him. He's an artist, what more can I say?"

The always gracious Jeter was quick to accept the award with the grace that got him noticed in the first place.

"It's fabulous," said Jeter, who appeared at Dance Magazine's press conference in a tutu and white tights. "For years, I've tried to express my baseball through the art of dance, and it's just an honor to know an esteemed publication like Dance Magazine would do something like this for me."

Jeter then attempted to dance from one end of the stage of the other, but was only able to make it about two-thirds of the way across before diving in vain.