Deep into the fifth episode of “The Captain,” a new ESPN documentary series acknowledges the difficulty of solving its chosen topic. Perhaps a short-lived star, Derek Jeter was an iconic Yankees player whose meteoric, declining career mirrored his team’s trajectory as a New York athletic dynasty. But it’s also, according to both himself and the many frustrated journalists who couldn’t get past its surface, an overly cautious (read: boring) interview.
“That’s by design,” Jeter confirms to the camera, grinning a genuine smile upon acceptance. He even goes on to say “there are things I still won’t talk about” here, now, for the supposed in-depth docuseries about his private life (which premieres July 18 after the Home Run Derby and will run seven episodes in total). This inconsistency lies at the heart of “Captain” Randy Wilkins, which can only go as deep as Jeter himself allows.
The image that appears in the early episodes, according to Jeter himself, is that of a masterful professional who worked hard, achieved success and avoided distractions at all costs. As a general rule, the closest Jeter can reveal to anything remotely personal is to admit how biracial his upbringing in Kalamazoo, Michigan formed a mindset that “must be twice as good as anyone else” moving forward. Interviews with Jeter’s black father, white mother, and biracial sister underscore this fact, explaining that even when white reporters thought Jeter was “colorless”—a direct quote from a Yankees reporter outweighed in a later episode, much to the obvious and atypical Jeter. Anger – couldn’t be further from the truth.
This discussion of Jeter’s perception, as a star and as a black athlete who earned others passes even on his team, wasn’t particularly impressive (as would be expected from a series for which Spike Lee is also an executive producer). Only a few episodes come into the series’ examination of what made Jeter such a phenomenon – which seems too late even if by design, to keep regular ESPN fans engaged when they might have changed the channel at the first mention of the race.
Speaking of baseball, Jeter follows the standard of his career by keeping his quotes as direct as possible. The difference between him and someone like Alex Rodriguez, his daring rival turned teammate, couldn’t be more evident than in the converging memories of grievances, where Rodriguez raises his hands about putting his foot in his mouth while Jeter sits down with a narrow smile. Far from the series’ most revealing interview, “The Captain” inevitably becomes more of a deep dive into the Yankees of the late ’90s and early beginnings as a cultural juggernaut, while remaining grounded in Jeter’s existence as a narrative constant.
So, if you’re a baseball fan in general, or even just in passing familiar with the full control of the Yankees at the turn of the century, there’s plenty to chew on here. Jeter was joined not only by A-Rod, but not only by Daryl Strawberry, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, manager Joe Torre, and (Jeter’s personal favorite) Dave Winfield. Occasionally, New York sports and mainstay writers at the time of the Yankees and Jeter peaks chime in to give context on how and why this team and player became what they did. With Jeter as the main character visible, though, “The Captain” can’t go into the nitty-gritty of what made the Yankees so good — or when they fell into a team like the Boston Red Sox 2004, so frustrated — in enough depth to really satisfy. (If you’re looking for Jeter’s thoughts on A-Rod vs Jason Varitek, don’t bother: they don’t even point out He. She.)
And so with Jeter on the alert to give away so much, the series sometimes struggles to find a lot more to say about it than we already know. But that frequency is also what makes the moments when he cracks, even just a little bit, all the more noticeable. When Jeter allows himself to be a little petty, arrogant, or a loser than his sweet post-match interviews might betray, “The Captain” becomes more compelling, despite his subject’s best efforts.
“The Captain” premieres Monday, July 18 at 10 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN+.
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