A half-hearted attempt at conjuring the lore of The Last Dance, The Captain falls short of the standard set by its predecessor
ESPN’s The Last Dance miniseries was a cultural touchpoint like no other. When all professional sports were on indefinite pause at the height of the pandemic, all that was left was the greatest basketball player of all time, reflecting on his vindictive triumphs. It galvanized sports fans on social media in a manner I hadn’t seen before, using Jordan’s sociopathic desire for victory as fuel for memes and the Lebron vs. Jordan debate re-ignition. Once I saw that ESPN was releasing a similar docuseries about Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees’ dynasty of the late 90s and early 2000s, I knew I had to check it out. Though baseball presently lacks basketball’s cultural cache, I still hoped that The Captain could live up to the entertainment value that The Last Dance provided. The Captain is essential viewing for any diehard baseball fan, but Jeter’s desire to retain complete control over the storylines it contains hinders its ultimate potential.
The Captain covers Jeter’s ascendance from a prodigious, young athlete to the unquestionable face of the Yankees franchise. This journey is told primarily from Jeter’s perspective, whose recollections of events frame the direction of the docuseries. Much like The Last Dance, sit-down interviews with people who either had a direct hand in Jeter’s on-field successes (Mariano Rivera, Roger Clemens), covered Jeter throughout his career (Buster Onley, Tom Verducci), and witnessed his play from afar (Jadakiss, Michael Jordan) add meaningful context to Jeter’s journey.
The primary issue with The Captain is Derek Jeter himself. It’s not just that his truly spectacular on-field play dwarfs his mild-mannered persona, but Jeter actively strives to maintain control of the narratives about him at all times. Jeter’s attempts to center his voice and quash dissenting opinions amount to an intentionally bland recollection of his career and off-field life. When discussing his on-field accomplishments, Jeter is willing to let his guard down and taps into his competitive nature in a truly compelling way. He throws shade at a longtime adversary, Nomar Garciaparra, who said that the 1999 Red Sox were the better team despite losing in the playoffs to the Yankees (“That’s what losers say”). He callously dismisses anyone who believed the Mets had a legitimate shot at beating the Yankees during the 2000 World Series (“There was never a hatred of the Mets…it was just the Mets”). Most controversially, in reflection on the Yankees’ 2003 triumph over the Red Sox, Jeter offered a truly Jordan-esque soundbite (“It’s Boston”). Given that the Red Sox would provide Jeter with a historic comeuppance in the following season, Jeter’s icy, sarcastic tone in delivering such a remark makes the Jordan parallels particularly clear.
The docuseries reaches a compelling high when Jeter’s racial identity and whether he could have spoken out against social justice issues more during his career come into focus. This discussion was rooted in a controversy that his teammate Gary Sheffield was involved in, in which he called out Yankees manager Joe Torre in an interview for treating the Black players on his team poorly. When the interviewer mentioned that Derek Jeter was Black, Sheffield replied that Jeter wasn’t “…all the way Black.” This, along with a remark from white New York sports writer Wallace Matthews that Jeter was “almost colourless” sent Jeter into a particularly interesting tirade. Visibly uncomfortable with the discussion, Jeter asserted that he was raised to understand that he was Black. He asserted that throughout his career, he worked through indirect means (namely his Turn 2 Foundation, which aims to discourage youth from drug and alcohol use) to signal support for the Black community.
What’s most compelling about Jeter’s remarks is what he doesn’t say. Jeter doesn’t sympathize with the point raised by Sheffield, even with the benefit of hindsight. Jeter also does not give credence to the possibility that his lighter complexion and league-wide profile made his navigation of the predominantly white sport relatively easier. Even Jeter’s justifiable anger about Matthews’s remark seems directed towards the deliverer of the statement, rather than the stereotypical undertones of its content. Regardless of where you land on whether Jeter should’ve been more outspoken about race (I personally echo the remarks shared by Howard Bryant in the docuseries), the discomfort that Jeter experiences when discussing his race is compelling and informative viewing.
However, when the narrative shifts to Jeter’s interpersonal conflicts however, Jeter balks. As the numerous media members who covered Jeter throughout his career can attest, he refuses to share anything of personal significance. He handles the most softball of topics like a sentient PR firm, recycling the same talking points about loyalty and trust, and never delving into specifics. Unlike Michael Jordan’s willingness to embrace his unsavoury personality traits and putting them on display in The Last Dance, Jeter’s near-robotic phrases and clichés are a clear attempt to ensure that no media outlet can spin his words into a larger controversy. Jeter’s disdain for former teammate Alex Rodriguez and current Yankees president Brian Cashman is also palpable throughout the docuseries. Rodriguez and Cashman, both of whom are interviewed on camera for The Captain, show genuine interest in delving into the extent of their feuds with Jeter, even admitting personal failings. Such good faith engagement is not reciprocated by Jeter, who icily refuses to go beyond the surface and express how he truly feels about the two, even with prodding from The Captain’s director, Randy Wilkins.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with being overly conscious about how one comes across in the media. This is especially true for someone like Jeter, who has been in the public eye since he was a teenager. However, if you are in the business of entertainment and soliciting viewer attention, you have to meet the viewers halfway. Jeter’s milquetoast public persona and reluctance to share truths beyond the contents of his Wikipedia page make him a tough subject to base a complete series on. All in all, The Captain is far more invested in feeding Jeter’s brand than creating a compelling viewing experience.
