When Yankees legend Derek Jeter After hanging up his boots after 20 years in the major leagues, he knew he wanted to get into business. It’s a natural second step for athletes; making investments, embarking on philanthropic missions and starting businesses are some of the most popular paths for newly retired workers with a competitive mindset. (Another common path these days: Property.)
When Jeter, the legendary All-Star shortstop, turned his attention to the business world, he knew what he needed: mentors.
“You have to have mentors,” Jeter said Assets on Friday after appearing on the main stage at the Fanatics Fest convention in New York. “You have to reach out to people who have experience in a certain area.” The same goes for athletes, he added. “You learn from coaches who have experience. And I think when you have mentors, you learn not only from their successes, but also from their failures.”
Jeter hasn’t challenged any particular athlete-turned-businessman, perhaps because his path is completely unique.
Three days after his resignation in 2014 announced its new websiteThe Players’ Tribune, which he touted as a platform for athletes to connect directly with their fans, without intermediaries or Twitter’s then-limited 140-character limit. The Players’ Tribune was initially dismissed as a classic vanity project, Fortunes Michal Lev-Ram wrote in 2017but its all-star user base and Investments in Silicon Valley gradually gained momentum and legitimacy. Kevin Durant, for example, announced his contract with the Golden State Warriors via an essay in the Players’ Tribune in 2016.
In the following years, the former Yankee also served as CEO and part owner of the Miami Marlins baseball team, founded the Jeter Publishing imprint at Simon & Schuster, joined the board from Rockefeller Capital Management and became a founding partner of the virtual trading card company Arena-Club– which brought him to Fanatics Fest.
Jeter, who earned an incredible $265 million during his time as a shortstop, doesn’t think it makes sense to compare his years as a shortstop with his years as a businessman.
When asked what he attributes his success in the second act to, Jeter hesitated. “I never consider it a success; it’s kind of the same [as] than I played,” he said. “You always set higher goals for yourself. There are successes along the way, but you’re still trying hard and you’re still reaching for the stars, so to speak.”
As for the success of his ventures, he says he’s “lucky” to be surrounded by supportive, smart colleagues. “I’m very good at knowing what I don’t know, and I think you surround yourself with people who are experts in their respective fields, because you can’t be an expert in everything, but you can surround yourself with people who are experts in certain fields,” he said.
“People always ask about sports and business; there are a lot of parallels,” Jeter said. “It’s about goal setting, it’s about work ethic, there are teammates, it’s about accountability, there’s responsibility.”
But the biggest similarity between the two worlds, “I say this all the time,” is the team. “You don’t succeed alone,” he said. “You can fail alone, but you don’t succeed alone. I think it all comes down to having great teammates.” Spoken like a true team captain.
With a grin, he added one final addendum: “And I think I’ve been part of some great teams.”