The Captain

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"Derek Jeter is undoubtedly the most talked about, argued about, cheered, booed and ultimately respected baseball player of his generation. And as public a figure as he has been, he is in many ways the least known. That changes now as Ian O'Connor, one of the best sports writers anywhere, goes deep and does what no one has quite been able to do: Tell us a bit about who Derek Jeter really is."—Joe Posnanski, author of The Machine

"Deftly told."—The Washington Post

In The Captain, Ian O'Connor draws on unique access to Derek Jeter and more than 200 new interviews to reveal how a biracial kid from Michigan became New York's most beloved sports figure and the face of the steroid-free athlete.


O'Connor takes us behind the scenes of a legendary baseball life, from Jeter's early struggles in the minor leagues, when homesickness and errors threatened a stillborn career, to the heady days of Yankee superiority and nightlife, to the battles with former best friend A-Rod.


All along the way, Jeter has made his Hall-of-Fame destiny look easy. But behind that leadership and hero's grace there are hidden struggles and complexities that have never been explored, until now.