Report: Selig backs Jeter's decision
Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig went to bat for Derek Jeter on Tuesday, insisting he had no problem with the New York Yankees shortstop's decision to skip the All-Star Game and said he would have made the same decision if he were in Jeter's situation.
"I have no problem with Derek Jeter," Selig said. "I've known him for 15 years. He's already done the right thing. I completely understand the situation. And to tell you the truth, I probably would have done the same thing myself."
Selig was hoping to put an end to the controversy involving one of the sport's biggest stars.
"Let's put the Derek Jeter question to bed," Selig said at a brunch with baseball writers.
"There isn't a player I am more proud of the last 15 years than Derek Jeter. Jeter's played the game like it should be played. He's even a better human being off the field as he is on the field. With what Derek Jeter has brought to this sport, a great pride, he's become a role model, so any suggestion that I or anybody else is unhappy with him not being here is false."
Jeter was voted by fans as the American League's starting shortstop. FOXSports.com was told by someone familiar with Jeter's mindset that "emotional and physical exhaustion" was the reason he decided to skip Tuesday night's game at Chase Field in Phoenix.
Jeter came off the disabled list July 4 after rehabbing from a Grade 1 calf strain. He spent his first week back getting the six hits he needed to reach 3,000, a feat he accomplished with a home run against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday on his way to a 5-for-5 performance.
"I am proud of what he's done," Selig said of the historic hit. "I tell him that quite often and I'll continue to do that."