“He was a phenomenon,”Derek Jeter bulldozed Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods as No.1 on AMERICA’s center stage

“He was a phenomenon,”Derek Jeter bulldozed Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods as No.1 on AMERICA’s center stage

Kobe Bryant, Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods

Derek Jeter entered the 2011 Major League Baseball season with just 74 hits short of the legendary mark 3,000 career hits. Within that year, America’s attention focused on New York Yankees’ Captain as the country favorite sports star. He became the 28th player in the history of MLB to register 3,000 hits.

In 2011, America voted Jeter as the top male athlete whereas Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods slipped to the 3rd and 5th positions respectively. In 2010, Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods were tied for the first spot in the top male athlete list.

YouTube video

The Harris Poll- The top 10 favorite male athletes 2011:

FS Video
  1. Derek Jeter (MLB)
  2. Peyton Manning (NFL)
  3. (Tie) Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan (NBA)
  4. Tiger Woods (Golf)
  5. Tom Brady (NFL)
  6. (Tie) Albert Pujols and Hines Ward (MLB and NFL respectively)
  7. 9. Derrick Rose (NBA)
  8. 10. Aaron Rodgers (NFL)

The list where Jeter topped, NBA star Lebron James slipped entirely out of the list. Bryant and Jeter both played for their favorite teams for their entire career, winning 5 championships each.

Also Read: “Literally willed himself to attend Old Timers’ Day” John Stearns passes away at 71, Former Mets’ catcher was battling cancer

Derek Jeter was overwhelmed by the commitment of Kobe Bryant for the sport

Kobe Bryant, Derek Jeter
Kobe Bryant, Derek Jeter

“All I ever needed to know about Kobe Bryant was this: That throughout our friendship, the most meaningful conversations we had, they were always about family,’’ Jeter said in a first-person article on The Players Tribune

“Put aside one of the all-time great basketball careers for a second,’’ Jeter wrote. “Put aside his famous work ethic, the Mamba mentality, that incredible will to win. I’ll let everyone else tackle that. But when I think of Kobe,”

“I really just end up thinking about those special few personal conversations that we were lucky enough to share together, each time one of us had a new baby daughter. I end up thinking about how, here was this guy who was beyond gifted as an athlete, who was obsessed with being a champion, who was known as an absolute assassin with a ball in his hands,’’

Derek added. “And in the moments, I got to spend with him? He didn’t really talk about any of that. He cared much more about being a husband to Vanessa and a dad to his girls. He loved his family — he was his family.’’

Also Read: “Hanging by the thread”: N.Y. Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman could near disappointing departure as Derek Jeter replacement seems unlikely

Also Read: “Proud to wear 21” Tampa Bay Rays’ honor legendary Roberto Clemente with a 1st-in-history All-Latino line-up