Derek Jeter and wife Hannah are expecting their first baby
Retired New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter is poised for a pretty exciting 2017. His number is being retired at Yankee Stadium in May, and there’s something even bigger in the works: a new baby.
Jeter and his wife, Hannah, are expecting their first child, a daughter. Hannah made the announcement on The Players’ Tribune, which her husband founded, in a touching piece called “The Derek I Know.” In it, she gave some insight into their relationship and how she came to know her husband, which was decidedly outside the baseball world. In fact, when they first met, she thought he was a pitcher.
I know it sounds strange that I didn’t know he was a shortstop. When a mutual friend introduced us while I was at dinner with my mom in New York, I didn’t really know who Derek was at all…
Derek and I met during the off-season, and I think that was a lucky break. It let us spend some time together away from New York. I didn’t have any preconceptions about who he was, and I didn’t need much more to go on than this: I had met the nicest guy, and I wanted to get to know him on my own terms. Not Google’s.
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But it didn’t take long for Hannah to understand the other part of Derek’s life, and what he meant to people.
I remember watching Derek walk out to shortstop for the last time at Yankee Stadium… I knew how much it meant to me. But for the first time, I think I could also fully sense how much it meant to everyone else: the culmination of this 20-year career, this 20-year journey that they had all been on together. This atmosphere that I had gotten so swept up in — for a lot of people, baseball is like that every night. Yankees fans had had two whole decades worth of nights like this. They grew up with Derek Jeter, and he grew up with them. And I don’t think I’d understood that before.
Of course, that was just the lead up to the big news, which is that there will be a new Jeter entering the world in the future.
Now, pregnant with our first child, Derek and I are looking to the future.
As for Baby Girl Jeter’s name? They’re not ready to reveal it quite yet, mostly because they haven’t decided.
He already has a name in mind — he’s set on it. (We’ll see.) He’ll say when he calls me during the day:
“So, how are you and so-and-so doing?”
“That’s not the name yet, sweetie.”
Whatever her name is, I know she’ll run circles around him.
The Players’ Tribune’s tweet about Hannah’s article also contained a thoroughly adorable GIF of Jeter with approximately a zillion pink balloons.
Hannah and Derek Jeter share their next chapter: https://t.co/ZY6aDhRQH6 pic.twitter.com/5heb7MTobQ
— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) February 13, 2017
If those pics are any indication, he’s pretty excited. Congratulations to the happy couple!
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
