From West Milford to Kalamazoo at age 4

Derek was born June 26, 1974 in Pequannock, New Jersey. His father Charles is African-American (originally from Alabama); his mother Dorothy is Irish-American (originally from New Jersey). When Derek was 4, the family moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan because Charles took a job as a substance-abuse counselor for the Kalamazoo Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Derek’s only sibling, Sharlee (younger sister), was born in Kalamazoo in 1979.

The Jeters lived in the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church neighborhood on Kalamazoo’s east side. Derek attended Kalamazoo Christian Elementary School (private K-8) and St. Augustine’s Cathedral School for middle school before enrolling at Kalamazoo Central — the city’s main public high school — in fall 1988.

Four years of varsity dominance

Jeter started at shortstop on Kalamazoo Central’s varsity baseball team as a freshman — rare for the Michigan public-school system in 1988. By his senior year (1992) he was the most-watched prep prospect in the country. He hit .508 his senior year with 23 RBIs and 21 stolen bases in 23 games. He set the Kalamazoo Central single-season records for batting average and on-base percentage that stand to this day.

He was named USA Today’s National High School Baseball Player of the Year, the Gatorade National Player of the Year, the High School Baseball America Player of the Year, and the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Player of the Year. He had committed to the University of Michigan to play baseball — his backup plan if the MLB Draft didn’t work out. The Houston Astros had the #1 pick in 1992 and projected him as their guy.

The Astros, the Yankees, and Hal Newhouser

Hal Newhouser — the Detroit Tigers’ Hall of Fame pitcher and the Astros’ veteran scout — had been advocating for Jeter at #1 since spring 1992. Houston’s GM Bill Wood preferred catcher Phil Nevin (Cal State Fullerton) and overruled Newhouser. Houston took Nevin first; Newhouser quit the Astros immediately, in protest, and never scouted again.

The next four picks went to Cleveland (Paul Shuey), Montreal (B.J. Wallace), Baltimore (Jeffrey Hammonds), and Cincinnati (Chad Mottola). The Yankees had pick #6 — and they took Jeter. He signed for $800,000, played minor-league ball for two years, and made his MLB debut at age 21 in May 1995. He won the 1996 AL Rookie of the Year, 5 World Series rings, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020 with 99.7% of the vote (one ballot short of unanimous). Phil Nevin played 12 MLB seasons and made one All-Star team (2001 with the Padres).

Background facts cross-referenced with the Wikipedia article on Derek Jeter and Pro-Football-Reference / Basketball-Reference public records.