[Originally published: Oct. 2, 2014 in The Ionian]

Growing up, most sports fans have their favorite athletes.

Whether it’s the hometown hero, the underdog, the best player in the game or the leader of your favorite team, everyone has that one athlete that they look up to. For me, Derek Jeter was my favorite, but not for the reasons you might think.

For starters, we share the same birthday–June 26. In elementary school, my big claim to fame was that I had the same birthday as the Captain. So naturally, that sparked my interest in him.

Now you might be thinking: of course this kid liked Jeter. He grew up in Westchester County (less than 10 miles from Yankee Stadium) in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s and was born on Jeter’s birthday. He’s probably been a Yankee fan his whole life and only knows how to root for Jeter and the Yanks.

Well, my next sentence will surprise you. I grew up a Boston Red Sox fan. That’s right, my favorite team was the Red Sox and my favorite player was Jeter.

I can explain this almost oxymoronic situation quite simply. I liked rooting for the underdog instead of the highly successful Yankees. Yet I also still had the birthday tie with Jeter.

But then, as I grew older, I began to realize why I gravitated toward No. 2. These reasons made me change my outlook on the two teams and balanced out my preference between the two.

While sharing a birthday with him is unique, it could not be the only reason why Jeter was so appealing to me.

It’s his demeanor. It’s his consistency. It’s his drive. It’s his passion. It’s his humility. It’s his poise.

“You knew from the start there was something special about him,” Joe Torre, who managed Jeter for 12 years, said. “The way he carried himself, the way he played the game. He’s just all about winning.”

Every time Jeter stepped onto the field, you knew he was going to give it 110 percent. Not only did the fans expect and demand that–he expected and demanded it of himself.

Jeter, a model of consistency, wrapped his career up with over 3,400 hits, which ranks sixth all-time. The five-time World Series Champion posted a .310 career batting average.

A clutch player, Jeter has performed at the most crucial times. Some of his most memorable plays have come in the playoffs, including being the relay man on an errant throw down the first base line in the 2001 postseason and his home run as the month entered November in the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

He never shied away from the big moment on the biggest stage. He recorded a .308 postseason batting average, including a .321 mark in his seven World Series appearances.

In fact, he played in only four games over the course of his 20-year career in which the Yankees were not in contention.

On top of everything that he has done on the field, his personality off the field is what I really admire.

While being one of the biggest celebrities in New York City and in the sports world, he has managed to keep a very pristine image and has never been involved in a scandal.

It has truly been a pleasure to watch Derek Jeter play baseball for the first 20 years of my life. I, along with the rest of the baseball world, am going to miss seeing No. 2 on the field in the future.