Derek Jeter on resisting Twitter: `I try to stay out of trouble'

NEW YORK—On Sunday, Derek Jeter was in Yankee Stadium where his number “2” was retired and he was honored with a plaque in Monument Park.

On Monday, the former New York Yankees superstar shortstop appeared in a very different kind of playing field, at the TechCrunch Disrupt tech conference in Manhattan.

Jeter came to discuss direct messaging in his role as co-founder of two-and-half-year old The Players’ Tribune, a site dedicated to giving athletes a platform with which to communicate directly with fans.

“This wasn’t about me, I’m private to begin with. There’s some things I choose not to share on purpose,” Jeter said on stage.

Jeter joked about how not knowing how many characters you get on Twitter, adding that he has resisted social media because, “I try to stay out of trouble.”

But Jeter said that his fellow brethren in sports need a “trusted” place to share what is on their minds.

“I don’t want to say that athletes are scared to speak to the media, I think they’re just very very careful of what they say. Because I think a lot of times people are looking for headlines and they twist and turn their words. And I thought if athletes had a trusted platform where they can speak openly and honestly, you’d be surprised at what they would say. And we based our company on that thesis and we’ve had a lot of success and a lot of athlete-contributors.”

Jeter said he couldn’t speak on behalf of other athletes when asked if players are looking at tech as the new hot place to invest.

“I’ve always been a believer that you invest in things that you believe in and I believed in what we’re doing here and what we’re building at the Tribune—it just so happens to be a media company.  But yeah, you see that nowadays, that’s the hotspot now, for athletes to invest in tech.”

Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow Paste BN Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig on Twitter