( CNN ) -- It was a June day in 2000 . The Yankees were facing the Braves at Turner Field . I was on hand to profile one of Atlanta 's players for Sports Illustrated , but my cell phone rang , and a dreadful request followed . `` Supposedly Derek Jeter and Mariah Carey are dating , '' my editor said . `` Can you go ask him about it ? '' Glub . I was 27 years old , relatively new to the baseball beat . There are things I 'd have been willing to ask Jeter . Do you like cats ? What 's your favorite song on the new John Oates CD ? Have you ever been to Malta ? The one thing I did n't want to ask him about was his all-over-the-gossip-pages relationship with Mariah Carey . Alas , I needed to keep my job . I entered the Yankee clubhouse and immediately spotted Jeter , alone by his locker , changing into his uniform . I introduced myself . He nodded . `` Derek , '' I said , `` I hate asking you this , and I 'm really embarrassed , but my editor insisted . He wanted me to approach you about Mariah Carey . '' I expected Jeter to tell me to bug off . I expected Jeter to demand my removal from his space . I did not expect what ensued — laughter . `` Listen , '' he said , grinning , `` I understand you 're just doing your job . I really do . And I 'm not mad or irritated . But I 'm not going to comment , because it 's no one 's business but mine . Just because I play baseball does n't mean I have to tell everyone everything . My life is my life . '' We shook hands , and I walked off — content and relieved , but mostly impressed . Now , 14 years later , with Jeter announcing that the upcoming season will be his last , I remain impressed . Actually , scratch that . Really , when I think of Jeter , the classy Yankee shortstop whose 2019 Hall of Fame induction is a 100 % lock , the word that pops into my head is encouraged . Yes , I am encouraged . Derek Jeter , you see , does not have a Twitter account . He does not refer to himself in the third person or have his nickname tattooed across his back . ( Come to think of it , he does n't really have a nickname . ) He 's never gone out of his way to publicly humiliate an opponent or prop himself up with inane boasts of superiority . If the words `` I 'm the man '' ever escaped his lips , they were surely followed by , `` ... who ordered the pizza about 20 minutes ago . I decided to pick it up instead . Can I also grab a bottle of water and some napkins ? '' Throughout the first 18 seasons of his career , Jeter has often been labeled `` dull '' by the media . His answers to questions are unimaginative and full of cliché baseball nothingness blather . In hindsight , however , such lameness is almost to be admired . We live in an era where too many athletes feel as if they need to draw attention to themselves — for confidence , for commercials . If you 're not tweeting trash talk , you 're texting trash talk . Or making bold promises . Or demanding money or respect . Jeter has both money and respect , byproducts of a dogged work ethic and a need to play with 100 % ferocity , health be damned . His 3,316 hits are the most in Yankee history , and his 256 home runs , 1,261 RBIs , 348 stolen bases and .312 lifetime batting average serve as odes to a continued brilliance . Most important , you never hear a bad word about the man . Back in 1997 , Sports Illustrated ran a cover story on the next generation of Major League shortstops . The piece highlighted the skills of Jeter , Seattle 's Alex Rodriguez , Toronto 's Alex Gonzalez , Florida 's Edgar Renteria and the Mets ' Rey Ordonez . The men were listed as near-equals , and writer Tom Verducci noted that , `` Not since 1941 have so many young shortstops arrived with this much potential . '' Before long , however , things changed . Ordonez never learned to hit . Gonzalez was merely OK. Renteria spent many years in the game as a good but not especially great player . Rodriguez was doomed by accusations of doping . That left Jeter — the most understated of the group , the most professional of the group . He will be remembered by many people for many things . Among Yankee fans , he 's grouped with Ruth , Gehrig , DiMaggio and Mantle as pinstriped royalty . Among Red Sox fans , he 's a thorn to the skull . Among Oakland fans , he 's a killer of dreams . To me , though , he 's a guy who merely wanted to be a guy . That 's what makes him exceptional . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jeff Pearlman .
Years ago , reporter Jeff Pearlman asked Yankee Derek Jeter about dating Mariah Carey . Pearlman : Jeter , who ' retiring , is classy baseball hero . He says shortstop does n't self promote , his stellar record shows brilliance on field . Pearlman : He 's at the top of heap for shortstops , but is just a guy who wants to be a guy .