Derek Jeter used to have a line of protection around him. Security guards, police officers, Yankees' staff members and MLB officials used to block the former Yankees' captain from heckling fans. Now, in retirement, Jeter doesn't have that blockade.
But it's all right, because Red Sox fans are not as harsh as they used to be, as Jeter explains to Seth Meyers, a noted BoSox fan.
"The Boston fans, let me tell you what," Jeter began. "You always meet people time and time and they always say, 'I'm sorry, but I'm a Boston fan.' I really don't care if you're a Boston fan. That's fine. We're not at the stadium, just don't yell me at restaurants. But it doesn't happen anymore.
"I can say this now because I'm retired, but the Boston fans have softened up since you guys have won."
The Red Sox ended the Curse of the Bambino in 2004, when Jeter was just 30. The Red Sox won rings again in 2007 and 2013. Jeter's five titles came in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009.
Meyers takes a subtle swipe at Jeter, reminding him of the Red Sox' three-game sweep of the Yankees this past weekend. Jeter fends this off by revealing he watched almost no baseball in 2015, his first year out of retirement, other than seeing the Yankees on trips to Tampa, where he resides, and following some of his old friends (we'll put CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and Brett Gardner in this equation, but perhaps not Alex Rodriguez.
Jeter is starting to watch more baseball now because, as he says, "Ultimately, I have ownership aspirations, so I need to actually know something about the players, so I'm trying to get back into it."
Hmmm…what's going on here?
Derek Jeter has a boatload of money. He made hundreds of millions of dollars in salary during his career, but he also raked in sponsorship dollars. He is the founder of The Players' Tribune, a publication that allows athletes to create their own content. The Players' Tribune launched on Oct. 1, 2014, the week after Jeter played his final MLB game.
With all that said, the Steinbrenner family has a tight grasp on the Yankees. How about the Tampa Bay Rays though? According to Forbes, the Rays have the lowest value in baseball at $650 million (the Yankees are first at $3.4 billion). Is it that farfetched for Jeter to formulate an ownership group and buy the Rays? Look at what Michael Jordan did with the Hornets.
But yeah, he should probably watch a little baseball to understand what he would be getting himself into.
P.S. Jeter also hinted to Meyers that the hole-in-one video his sister recently posted was staged.
-- Follow Jeffrey Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband.
