Text Of Derek Jeter's Speech Sunday
NEW YORK (AP) — Text of Derek Jeter's speech Sunday at Derek Jeter Night at Yankee Stadium, where his No. 2 was retired by the Yankees and a plaque was dedicated in his honor that will be placed in Monument Park:
First of all, I just want to say happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there, especially my mom, my grandmother, my sister and my wife, who is very soon going to be a mother. So happy Mother's Day.
What do you say on a day like this? You know, I'll start with thank you to George Steinbrenner and the Steinbrenner family for giving me the opportunity to play my entire career for the only team I ever wanted to play for.
I want to thank my managers, coaches, teammates, support staff, those of you that are here today and those of you who aren't for being with me along that entire journey.
I want to thank my family for their love, support, honesty and more importantly their presence at everything I did both on and off the field.
And the fans — wow — I want to thank you guys for pushing me, for challenging me, making me accountable, more importantly for embracing me since day one.
You know, I was asked recently by someone, they said if you could trade places with one person, who would it be? And I say this very humbly, that there isn't a person or player I would trade places with that's playing now or ever. And the reason why I say that is because I got a chance to play for a first-class organization and in front of the greatest fans in the history of sports.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH JETER TALK ABOUT HIS PLAQUE
You know, you play here in New York for 20 years, you know I learned that time flies, memories fade, but family is forever, and I'll be eternally grateful to be a part of the Yankee family. So I can't thank you guys enough. Thank you very much.
(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
