Derek Jeter eyes Joe Girardi - for The Players’ Tribune
Derek Jeter ’s publishing venture, the Players’ Tribune, always on the hunt for contributors who will drive traffic, would love to have ex-Yankee manager Joe Girardi write of his Pinstripe experience down the road.
But don’t expect Jeter to have any head start over rivals — the Yankee great said Thursday he received no advance word of Girardi’s exit.
“I just found this out,” he said on a panel that was getting underway at 1:30 p.m., hours after the Yanks decided not to tender Girardi a new contract after a 10-year run as manager — and only days after a longer-than-expected run into the postseason had ended.
“I slept in today, so I just found out on the way over,” Jeter said. “I’ve played with Joe. He was a coach. He was a manager. He’s probably one of the nicest people you’ll ever see, and it’s unfortunate, but this is a business.
“You learn that,” the future Hall of Famer added. “I think when you first come up as an athlete, as a professional athlete, when you’re younger, you’re just playing the game. The longer you play, you realize this is starting to become a business. So … some things at times are unpopular or not popular, but it’s part of the business.”
Jeter launched The Players’ Tribune three years ago as a forum for star athletes to talk directly to fans, but he said that, like any good athlete, he had been contemplating the move for several years before the end of his career.
It fell to the Players’ Tribune new CEO, Jeff Levick , to try and entice Girardi to write a piece for the site.
“We’d love for Joe to come and sit with us and talk about his experience as a Yankee and what comes next,” said Levick, a former Spotify chief revenue officer who joined TPT as its first CEO in June.
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Levick made his comments after appearing with Jeter at the Fast Company Innovation Festival.
Jeter has said that in sports, the relationship between mainstream media and athletes is “broken.”
While he wants TPT to be a forum for athletes, he says he regards it as a “complement to mainstream media, not a competitor.”
“The stories we get in Players’ Tribune — Sports Illustrated and ESPN weren’t going to get them,” Jeter said.
Levick said TPT was launched “three short years ago.” That prompted Jeter to jump in and say, “He wasn’t here — it was three long years.”
Jeter said one of his great strengths is “knowing what I don’t know.”
TPT has raised about $60 million from New Enterprise Associates, Institutional Venture Partners and GV, formerly Google Ventures.
“We’re still in the investment stage right now,” said Levick, “concentrating on growing the audience.’’
There are about 65 people on board, with former ESPN Editor-in-Chief Gary Hoenig as editorial director.
Jeter offered few hints on what he plans as CEO of the Miami Marlins. “I’ve only been there three weeks,” he said.