A fairly uncritical biography of Derek Jeter. Interesting but not essential. A better book will be written when his playing days are over and people are more willing to talk about him on the record. Lots of material on his relationship with A-Rod. ( )

As Derek Jeter, the captain of the New York Yankees, closes in on the 3,000 lifetime career hits mark, this is a timely book. Going back to 1995, Jeter's first year with the Yankees, he has always been the epitome of class and leadership, grit and effort, the personification of a player who puts his team's accomplishments ahead of his own individual stats and this book does an excellent job of conveying this to the reader.

Much of the information included in this book is familiar to die-hard baseball fans, yet the author manages to get behind the scenes to reveal the inner workings of the Yankee great's life both on the field and off, much more so than in anything else I've ever read. Jeter is a private guy but the author manages to present the challenges Jeter has faced over the years, before his rise to stardom in the major leagues and after he became the most marketable and perhaps best-loved current ballplayer.

My only gripe with this book is the author's near obsession with the Jeter/A-Rod feud. Yes, the reader needs to know about it but not at this level of detail.

Highly recommended to the baseball fan but a book that others may like as well. ( )

There are athletes, and then there are iconic athletes. But there is nothing that captivates us as much as an iconic athlete who also embodies leadership on and off his sports arena. Derek Jeter is such an athlete. From Kalamazoo to the bright lights of New York City, this man, not yet retired from the sport and the team he was dreamed of playing for since he was a child, has become the face of the Yankees, has built a legion of fans, including people who aren't even Yankees fans, and has still managed to remain untainted by scandal and a person most parents would be proud to have their own children emulate.

The fans see the handsome face, the trim figure, the ready smile for children, and the time he gives to the Turn2 Foundation, but what they don't see quite so obviously is the quiet determination to be all that he can be. There is an absence of an attention-seeking ego and a fierce loyalty to those he cares for. But this book is no love-fest of all that Jeter. This is an honest look at the man, his many strengths and also his weaknesses, few though they seem to be. It's an attempt understanding how a boy from Kalamazoo has become the captain of one of the most successful and world reknown baseball team.

The author's play-by-play of all the games brings the excitement of those games back to the reader and we can see the manicured grass of the ballpark, the cheers and jeers of the crowd, the thrill of the winning games and the disappointment and shock at some losses.

Interviews with some members of Jeter's team, scouts, coaches and with players from other teams through the years bear testament to a man many have come to admire. ( )

Derek Jeter might be the most revered and respected baseball player of the past 50 years. Jeter has always carried himself with a preternatural sense of dignity and confidence as a player, which has seemingly lead to his incredible success, despite playing in the world's biggest sports market, within an organization in near constant tumult.

In Ian O'Connor's upcoming book, The Captain, Jeter's life is presented with an eye to his incredible sense of privacy. O'Connor did speak with Jeter and several of his friend's and family members, but Jeter was concerned about being too involved in the writing of a biography which was written while he was still playing. Jeter did not want the book to be perceived as self-serving, as he approaches his 3000th career hit, which will all but cement his hall of fame career.

The most revealing and likely the most interesting aspect of O'Connor's book, were the chapters about Jeter's family history. It is clear that his family is the biggest reason and the solid foundation necessary for his incredible success.

Jeter's family were huge Yankees fans and his lifelong desire to become a Yankee was never squelched, The improbable series of events and circumstances which lead to his eventual draft selection by the Yankees only enhances his legacy, with the benefit of hindsight.

Jeter has an unimpeachable character and a near unmatched grace, which along with his yeoman work ethic and off-the-charts confidence in himself, all lead to him becoming the Derek Jeter who is so widely adored today.

Jeter did also benefit from a high quality team and the calm tutelage of Joe Torre, while winning four early world championships. Jeter was blessed with a successful environment with which his leadership abilities could continue to blossom and take hold.

After this early success in New York, we are exposed to just how difficult it was personally and professionally for Derek Jeter, while having his leadership abilities constantly challenged and enduring the unmet expectations of going nine straight seasons without a championship.

O'Connors is almost obsessed with the complicated friendship that Jeter shares with Alex Rodriguez, (who later becomes Jeter's biggest adversary) whose career is the most obvious contrast to Jeter's leadership and work ethic.

In the end, as much as I enjoyed the book, I don't feel like I learned anything more about the insular and constructed world of Jeter. As much as I enjoyed reliving his exploits as a leader and player on the field, I still find him to be an opaque mirror image of his predecessor in the corporatized, multi-platform and endorsements world of big time sports, Michael Jordan.

Unfortunately, in my eyes, that fact divorces him from sharing an essential humaneness that we might all benefit from. ( )