Loria tried to trade for Jeter in '99
Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has apparently had his eye on Derek Jeter for some time now, and not just because of his interest in selling the Miami Marlins to a group led by the former New York Yankees shortstop.
A group comprised of Jeter and former presidential candidate Jeb Bush reportedly agreed in principle Tuesday to purchase the Marlins from Loria for around $1.3 billion.
Related: Jeter-Bush group reportedly agree to buy Marlins
This isn't the first time that Loria's tried to link up with Jeter somehow - although the latter was still a player during Loria's earlier attempt.
In December 1999, when he was managing partner of the Montreal Expos, Loria instructed the team's front office to find out what it would take to acquire Jeter in a trade, reports Steven Marcus of Newsday. The Expos even ended up offering superstar Vladimir Guerrero.
"Mr. Loria really wanted Jeter," former Expos general manager Jim Beattie told Marcus. "I kept telling him it wasn't going to happen and he said, 'Well, you have to make the call.' I called (Yankees GM Brian Cashman) - at a point, I said, 'Jeffrey is really interested in Jeter.' Cash said, 'No, we're not going to trade.' I said, 'I understand that, just for conversation, and I'm not even sure we would do this, would you trade him for Guerrero?'
"There was silence on the other end. He said 'Would you do that?' Cash said, 'That's a crazy offer but I'm just not going to trade him. He is a franchise player for us and we're not going to trade him.' You could try to trade for him, but they weren't going to trade him. Yeah, there was an effort."
A swap of Jeter for Guerrero would have been interesting, considering both players put together Hall of Fame-caliber careers.
Career Stats
| PLAYER | R | H | HR | RBI | OPS | WAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derek Jeter | 1923 | 3465 | 260 | 1311 | .817 | 71.8 |
| Vladimir Guerrero | 1328 | 2590 | 449 | 1496 | .931 | 54.3 |
"I remember (Beattie) asking me about Jeter and obviously I remember telling him no," Cashman said. "He told me 'My owner asked me to make the call,' something like that."
Guerrero barely missed being inducted into the Hall of Fame this past January in his first year of eligibility by 15 votes, while Jeter is almost certainly a first-ballot Hall of Famer.