Jimmy Sez Film Review: The Captain
While the Yankees slowly let their stranglehold on the American League evaporate this summer, ESPN gave us all a palate cleanser in the form of The Captain, a documentary miniseries detailing Derek Jeter's career. Cut from the same mold as The Last Dance - which detailed Michael Jordan's career with the Chicago Bulls - the seven-part series told Jeter's story mostly from his perspective with a healthy dose of commentary from others who were along for the ride. During his career Jeter was a notoriously boring subject to interview. He was always cordial, answering all questions that came his way, but the responses were typically nothing more than boilerplate stuff about putting the team and winning above all. It was going to be interesting to see if The Captain was anything more than the usual fare from Jeter.
I was hopeful that it would be. As I may have mentioned before, Derek Jeter and I are good pals. When I met him, I was surprised at how engaged, thoughtful and honest he was with his responses to the myriad of questions coming his way. The retired version of Jeter wasn't suddenly full of controversial, juicy stories, but he was way more forthcoming with how he truly felt than he was as a player.
When I spoke with Jeter that day he had also mentioned his regret in not documenting his thoughts throughout his career so he could look back and re-live the glory days. The Captain seemed like a good opportunity for him to chow down on some member berries with the added bonus of the story being told by a much more candid Jeter than we're all accustomed to.
The series does an excellent job of re-capping the key events of the Yankees rapid rise and reign as champions from the late 1990's into the 2000's. Jeter is the star of the show, obviously, but some of the most relevant supporting characters chime in as well. They validate that the perception was reality. They were a calm, confident group that expected to win every game and was able to tune out any noise that would distract them from that goal. It was surprising, though, to learn that during these times Jeter never really reveled in the success or enjoyed it as much as one would think. For him, success simply increased the pressure to win again the following year.
During these years, most within the baseball world marveled at how Jeter played and carried himself with the savvy of a seasoned veteran even at a very young age. It's one thing for outside observers to talk about that, but it's also clear throughout the series that those playing with and against him each day felt the same way. One particularly revealing story included the day David Wells was demonstrably frustrated with his fielders for missing what should have been an easy pop fly. While still on the field, Jeter nipped the situation in the bud. He gave Wells - a veteran, journeyman pitcher with a bad-boy reputation - a firm, direct order that his reaction in that situation was unacceptable on this team. Wells never did it again as a Yankee.
It was all business on the field for Jeter, but we also get a few peeks into his lighter side. He has a healthy, dry sense of humor and a surprising ability to laugh at himself. Case in point, when he tells a story from early in his career about slipping on ice so hard that his belly button popped out, he can't contain himself from laughing. He also takes the infamous gift bag story head on and has some fun with how ridiculous the situation was.
And speaking of ridiculous situations, since this was a series focused on Derek Jeter, of course there was a healthy dose of Alex Rodriguez. I'll spare any of the well-worn details and just say that Jeter was fully aware that A-Rod was a better player than him. The difference between them was what they focused on. All Jeter cared about was winning. All A-Rod cared about but was desperately proving that he was worthy of more respect and admiration than anyone else. He was insecure. That's exactly why Jeter got respect in the court of public opinion and A-Rod didn't.
The biggest gap between Jeter and A-Rod as players was their fielding ability. Jeter looked like a smooth, slick fielder at shortstop but the reality was that he had very limited range that got much worse as he aged. Surprisingly, they do address this in one of my favorite sequences of the series. I had always assumed that Jeter felt he was a quality fielder and had to be convinced, kicking and screaming, to make some adjustments later in his career. That's not the case.
As Brian Cashman explains in the sixth episode, the Yankees' analytics department had been tracking Jeter's decline in the field for years and had instructed the coaching staff to correct the issues. Apparently, that correction never happened because when Cashman addressed it directly with Jeter before the 2009 season, it was news to him. He was actually pissed off that the front office let him hurt the team for years due to fear of backlash in giving their superstar negative feedback. To Jeter's credit, after that conversation with Cashman he took to heart all of their recommendations on how to improve defensively. As a result 2009 was his best season at shortstop and he earned the only one of his five career Gold Glove awards that he actually deserved.
If there are any low points in the series it has to be the incessant whining of some - not all - of the media members interviewed that covered Jeter as a player. In particular, Joel Sherman was clearly still miffed that Jeter didn't spoon-feed juicy stories to him and felt that he should have done more to publicly support A-Rod during the daily interrogations he was subjected to. It was pure nonsense from Sherman, but nothing compared to Wallace Matthews. His attempt at having a hot take on racism in sports and Jeter's place in it as a bi-racial athlete is cringeworthy. It only became entertaining when the Jeter family teed off on whatever point Matthews was trying to make.
Every Yankee fan will love the series. It vividly brings back fond memories for those of us who lived through the late 90's dynasty years, or creates new ones for younger fans who may be wondering what they missed. Casual baseball fans, or even non-baseball fans may find it entertaining as well. Hell, even Mrs. Sez watched the whole thing and liked it, and she hates baseball. Yankee haters will likely describe it as a snoozefest and that's OK. Jealousy is a strong emotion.
In the end, The Captain doesn't really break any new ground, but rather confirms everything you probably speculated about Derek Jeter. He was as dedicated to winning as he seemed. He did live for the big moments and felt as calm and confident as he looked during them. When the Yankees experienced a World Series drought in the 2000's it did bother and frustrate him that his newer teammates didn't rise with him in those moments. The fans in New York really did mean the world to him. Outside of being with his family, he felt his most comfortable when Yankee Stadium was packed and at its loudest.
It's rare to peel back the curtain on your heroes - especially in the sports world - and see that they actually live up to your impossible expectations. But The Captain shows us that's exactly what you get with Derek Jeter.
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