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Derek Jeter delivered the commencement speech at the University of Michigan Saturday and spoke about the importance of fighting through failure.
The New York Yankees legend would’ve played baseball at Michigan, the state he called home in Kalamazoo, if he didn’t turn pro right away as a first-round pick in 1992. But he did attend classes at the university and has always showed his fandom for its teams over the years.
Jeter, who received an honorary degree from Michigan, spoke to the hundreds of students graduating and used his own failure in his message to the class.
“Failure is essential,” he said. “If I can promise you one thing for certain, you will fail. The bigger the dream, the bigger the risk. But what’s the price if you don’t take the risk – if you don’t commit to the dream? You might end up overmatched, or maybe you won’t.”
When Jeter decided to go pro, it wasn’t smooth sailing in the minor leagues.
“I failed publicly, I failed miserably. There were days I literally cried because I was so bad. My first season as a professional, I made 56 errors. For the non-baseball fans, it’s hard to do intentionally,” Jeter said, as the crowd burst into laughter. “And that’s also not funny.”
Jeter’s fight through adversity worked out in the long run.
He made it to the big leagues in 1995, and the rest is history. Jeter put together a Hall of Fame career while becoming one of the most accomplished players for arguably the most storied franchise in American sports.
But he wouldn’t have gotten there if he had let failures define who he was on the diamond.
That’s the message he gave the Michigan students preparing for professional lives.
“You, me, every one of us has to learn to deal with failure,” Jeter said. “I wouldn’t have had the success without the failures. It’s your job to make sure that a speed bump doesn’t become a roadblock.”
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