His mother never let him say the word “can’t.”
His father made him sign a contract every year pledging to adhere to acceptable forms of personal behavior, or else he wouldn’t be allowed to play the sport that he loved most: baseball.
Derek Jeter was the obedient son.
And now, one of the sport’s most respected figures is on the verge of bringing that discipline and positive work ethic to the Miami Marlins as part of an ownership group that has agreed to buy the team from Jeffrey Loria.
“Derek’s easy to talk about because he’s a kid I’ve known since he first stepped into major league spring training,” said Marlins manager Don Mattingly, whose final year with the New York Yankees in 1995 coincided with Jeter’s first in the Bronx.