Derek Jeter took a shot at the Miami Marlins on Friday night.
Jeter was honored during a special ceremony at Yankee Stadium ahead of the New York Yankees’ game against the Tampa Bay Rays. The ceremony honored the lifelong Yankee for his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame last year, and for his contributions to the team during a 20-season run from 1995-2014.
Jeter addressed the fans with a speech where he expressed gratitude and appreciation. He started by thanking the Steinbrenner family. Jeter’s mention of Hal Steinbrenner and the Steinbrenner family did not yield loud cheers, which led Jeter to say something to the fans.
“Let me tell you something,” Jeter said to the fans. “You better cheer. Trust me.”
Yankees fans were likely expressing displeasure with how this season’s team is playing when they booed the Steinbrenners. They might also feel like ownership hasn’t done as much as they can to improve the team. But Jeter knows better than anyone just how good Yankees fans have it, and how appreciative they should be.
Jeter was part of the ownership group that purchased the Marlins in 2017. He served as a chief executive with the team for four and a half years before stepping down and selling his stake in the team earlier this year.
When Jeter announced in February that he was leaving the Marlins, he said that the current vision for the team differed from his. The belief is that Jeter felt the team had a long-term plan to cut costs early, rebuild their system, and then start to spend money. But the problem is the team’s ownership did not want to spend any money. CC Sabathia said on his podcast that ownership’s refusal to spend to improve the team was Jeter’s big issue.
Though they haven’t been as bad as 2006-2009 when they had the lowest payroll in baseball three of four seasons, the Marlins have consistently had one of the lowest payrolls in MLB for over 20 years running. Maybe it was Jeter’s mistake for believing things would change when he was part of the ownership group. But there is no doubt now just how much he appreciates an owner who spends to improve the team.
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