Derek Jeter Announces The Players’ Tribune

Derek Jeter did not wait long after his baseball career ended to start something new in his retirement. This morning Jeter announced he is starting The Players’ Tribune. Jeter released a typed statement, similar to how he announced his retirement in February. In the release, he touches on his last year in pinstripes and admits many emotions and thoughts we did not hear out of him during the year. That is where The Players’ Tribune comes in.

Jeter is introducing the Tribune as a safe zone for athletes to tell their stories, give their opinions, and feel free to discuss whatever is on their mind. Jeter states, “I do think fans deserve more than ‘no comments’ or ‘I don’t knows’” and admits he has done that too often himself. He is proposing that the Tribune will fix that. It will be an open community to give fans access to player’s thoughts and emotions like no site or channel has done before.

In this open letter, Jeter is both admitting a fault he sees in himself and finding a solution so other athletes are not too guarded. No one ever faulted Jeter for being tight lipped. That was just the Jeter way of handling business. While he spoke more freely this season than in any other previously, it is interesting to see how much it seems to bother him that he’s been called emotionless in the past.

More will be coming out about The Players’ Tribune tomorrow and in the weeks ahead. Tomorrow he has an interview airing on the Today Show with Matt Lauer. He will be hitting the late night circuit in the coming weeks as well.