New York Yankees: Derek Jeter makes MLB debut 25 years ago

Today marks the date when New York Yankees‘ legend Derek Jeter made his MLB debut and began his legacy. Dealing with a big number of injuries that season, the Yankees needed players to cover spots and Jeter was brought up to fill in shortstop Tony Fernandez as he was dealing with an injury. May 29, 1995, Jeter was given the uniform number two and was penciled into the nine spot in the lineup.

Jeter would go 0-5 in his first Major League game and the Yankees would fall to the Seattle Mariners 8-7 in 12 innings. The following day, Jeter was in the lineup again and recorded his first two hits of his career. He finished 2-3 on the day with a walk and would get another hit on the final game of the series.

Jeter only played 15 games in 1995 and his Rookie Year began in 1996. That season Jeter showed the world what he was about. Racking up a total of 183 hits in 157 games played, Jeter finished with a .314 batting average and was awarded Rookie of the Year because of his young success.

Following those 15 games in the Major Leagues in 1995, Jeter was sent back down to triple-A along with other Yankee legend, Mariano Rivera. Don Mattingly, who also played his entire career with the Yankees, told 20-year-old Jeter after he was sent down, “You’ll be back.” Boy was Mattingly right.

The next 19 years Jeter would go on to win five World Series titles all with the New York Yankees. As a 14-time All-Star, Jeter would be awarded five Golden Gloves and five Silver Slugger awards. Retiring in 2014, Jeter was inducted into the Class of 2020 Baseball Hall of Fame where he was shy just one vote of being unanimous. Due to his tremendous success as a ballplayer, Jeter goes down as one of the best and most clutch players in MLB history.