Mr. November wasn’t going to let a little rain stop his coverage of October baseball.
Derek Jeter, during his Fox MLB analyst duties on the pregame show for Tuesday’s Mariners-Tigers ALDS Game 3, ran into a bit of a dilemma when the game in Detroit was pushed back three hours due to rain.
Jeter, in the middle of talking about the Yankees-Blue Jays series, had his phone go off when he told the folks on the panel — and those watching at home — that he was supposed to be attending a parent-teacher conference. Instead, though, he was still talking baseball and not so much about school.
“Sorry, it’s a rain delay,” Jeter, who has four children with his wife Hannah, said. “I had an appointment, a parent-teacher conference that I’m gonna miss. So sorry, guys.”
When the rest of the panel, including Red Sox legend David Ortiz, urged Jeter to take the call, the smiling Yankees Hall of Fame shortstop said, “I might, I might.”
It’s not clear if Jeter took the call once the crew went to a commercial break.
Earlier in the year, Jeter missed a baseball-related function for a family commitment when he skipped the Yankees’ Old-Timers’ Day celebration that honored the 2000 World Series championship squad.
He explained in a video that played on the Yankee Stadium scoreboard that he felt bad for missing the early August event.
“Sorry I couldn’t be in person this year, but I did want to reach out to say what’s up to my teammates on the 2000 World Series championship team,” Jeter said. “It’s been hard to believe it’s been 25 years. Twenty-sixth title in franchise history. The last team to win three in a row. Quite frankly, it might be the last team you see a team win three in a row. And we beat the Mets on top of it.
“To the Yankees fans, thank you as always for being so passionate and energetic and undoubtedly the greatest fans in the world.”
As for the current Yankees, they sit in a 0-2 hole and would see their season end with one more loss in the ALDS.
After they lost Game 2, 13-7, on Sunday, Jeter spoke on the postgame show that they should be happy with the “positive” of the offense waking up, but made clear there needs to be one major improvement if they want to turn the series around.
“They have to find a way to shut down the Toronto Blue Jays’ offense,” Jeter said.
That task will fall on lefty starter Carlos Rodón on Tuesday night. He’ll go against Blue Jays righty Shane Bieber in The Bronx.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
