Derek Jeter to participate in Old Timers’ Day for first time since his retirement

Things aren’t going particularly well for the 2023 edition of the New York Yankees at the moment, with Sunday’s ninth-inning meltdown against the Miami Marlins just the latest indignity in a summer full of them. But take heart, Yankees fans: Derek Jeter is coming back to the Bronx ... no, not as your starting shortstop, but as a participant in the team’s annual Old Timers’ Day.

This will be the 75th edition of the storied event, in which franchise greats return to the Bronx to shake hands and swap stories. And to commemorate the occasion, the Yankees are pulling out all the stops, bringing Jeter back for the first time since his retirement in 2014 as part of a 25th-anniversary celebration of the historic 1998 World Series team.

Alas, we won’t get to see the former captain actually play ball: While the event used to feature an actual baseball game — with greats like Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra turning back the clock and swinging for the fences — the Yankees have changed up the format this year, explaining that there’s a “new question and answer roundtable format in which the former Yankees greats will share memories of their days in pinstripes.” The echoes from Jeter’s last in-game memory at Yankee Stadium will have to suffice:

Jeter’s inaugural Old Timers’ Day is the headliner, but he’ll be joined by several teammates from the ‘98 squad, from manager Joe Torre to closer Mariano Rivera to starter Andy Pettitte to first baseman Tino Martinez to right fielder Paul O’Neill. That team enjoyed one of the most impressive seasons in Major League history, going 114–48 in the regular season before going 11-2 in the postseason en route to a second World Series title in a three-year span (and the first of what would become three in a row from 1998 to 2000).

Jeter’s last appearance at Yankee Stadium came back in 2017, when the team retired his iconic No. 2 — the team’s last remaining single-digit jersey number — and presented him with his very own Monument Park plaque in a pregame ceremony. Later that year, Jeter was part of an ownership group that finalized a deal to purchase the Miami Marlins. He was named the franchise’s CEO, tasked with overseeing day-to-day operations, a role that he held until stepping down in February 2022.