HBO aired its one-hour documentary about Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit last night — the one that promised unprecedented access to the Yankees captain. Of course, Jeter’s career, and his pursuit of 3,000 hits especially, has already been pretty well documented. So what did we learn (and what didn’t we learn) last night?
WHAT WE LEARNED
1. Jeter’s apartment is pretty awesome. Well, we already assumed this was the case, but last night we got a look inside at the telescope, and the amazing view of the Empire State Building, and the logo with the number two and the initials “DJ” built right into the hardwood floors.
2. Jeter has friends of many different races. That’s not our personal observation, by the way, but something that Jeter, for whatever reason, explicitly said during his interview, which played over footage of a lunch with friends at his apartment. (The exact quote: “I have a good mix of friends: black, white, Latino, male, female. They come in all sizes and shapes, races, religions. But when everyone gets together, it’s a lot of fun.”) So now you know.
3. Minka Kelly would know nothing about baseball if she wasn’t dating Derek Jeter. For instance, she said that before they met, she didn’t know the difference between a run and home run. And she says she also thought that “if you made a connection with the ball, that was an automatic hit.” Imagine how many more hits Jeter would have if that was the case!
4. He agreed to participate in the documentary so that when he has kids, they could watch it. If you were looking for Jeter to really open up, this was the closest he got. (Wrote the Daily News two weeks ago, about his participation: “It’s still not really clear why he decided to go ahead with the project. There was some buzz about Jeter wanting someone to chronicle the road to 3,000 hits but only as a private project ultimately viewed by just family and friends.” That second part makes a little more sense now.)
WHAT WE DIDN’T LEARN
1. What Jorge Posada said to Jeter when he crossed home plate. The audio was too muffled to tell what Posada said — did their hug mess up the mic Jeter was wearing? — so Jorge’s words remain a Lost in Translation-like mystery.