“I had no idea obviously — no one could — of the longevity of its life."
Derek Jeter found himself in quite the dilemma on live TV recently.
The 51-year-old Hall of Fame baseball player, who now works as a studio analyst for Fox Sports, was stuck at work on Oct. 7 after the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners playoff game entered a rain delay.
The rain delay lasted three hours — and MLB on Fox kept fans entertained the entire time.
Unfortunately for Jeter, that meant missing a key dad duty.
At one point during the broadcast, Jeter was mid-sentence when his phone started ringing. When he went to silence it, he notified viewers at home that he was missing his child’s parent-teacher conference.
“Sorry. It’s a rain delay. I had a parent-teacher conference that I’m going to miss. So, sorry guys," he said into the camera.
His former teammate Alex Rodriguez, rival David Ortiz and Fox host Kevin Burkhardt — all of whom are dads — were quick to encourage Jeter to take the meeting, even if it meant missing some work.
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“Take it! Take it! Take the call, man,” Ortiz said to Jeter. “Kids first.”
Burkhardt went on to joke about the incident before taking the show to a commercial break.
“Derek has a parent-teacher conference to go to, so we’re going to take a break,” he said on air. “Well I mean, we weren’t supposed to be on the air. You’re right. This is a surprise to all of us.”
Derek Jeter was understandably conflicted over the ordeal
Fans were quick to comment on the hilarious exchange under a video posted by MLB on Fox.
“The best part was all the other supporting men on that stage actually meaning when they say ‘go man, take it,’” one user wrote in the comment section.
“These men are the best thing to happen to sports in a long time… they’re funny, real humans and pro hands on dads,” another fan commented.
One fan, in particular, pointed out that Jeter has been open in the past about his work-life balance.
“The man who refused to have children until he finished playing because he wanted to be totally committed to fatherhood or the game. Way to go Derek for being an incredible father,” they wrote.
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The fan was alluding to a comment Jeter made during a 2023 appearance on the “Calm Down” podcast with Erin Andrews and Charissa Thompson.
“I’ll be honest with you,” he said on the podcast. “There’s no way I could’ve had kids during my career. I just, I couldn’t have done it.”
“I was way, way, way too selfish. It was all about my career,” he added.
Jeter spent 20 seasons with the New York Yankees before retiring at the end of the 2014 season, according to Baseball Reference.
He and his wife, Hannah Davis Jeter, tied the knot in 2016 and welcomed their first daughter, Bella Raine, in August 2017, according to People.
They have since welcomed daughters Story Grey in 2019 and River Rose in 2021 and son Kaius Green in 2023, per the outlet.
During an August appearance on the “Drink Champs” podcast, Jeter was asked if he “purposely waited” to have children until after he retired.
“Purposely waited — I didn’t meet the right woman,” he said into the camera.
He went on to explain that he always admired his teammates who would bring their kids to the clubhouse and field, but reiterated that he was “too selfish” to juggle fatherhood and baseball at the same time.
“It was all about me,” he said. “And it wouldn’t have been fair to my significant other or kids.”
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“Thank God I met my wife when I did, towards the end of my career,” he added.
