Video: New Yorkers read Derek Jeter’s love letter to the city

“I wasn’t born a Yankee, but you made me into one.” – Derek Jeter

The Yankees will officially retire Derek Jeter’s number on Sunday, but before they do Jeter has something he wants to tell the city he called home for 20 years. 

On Thursday, Jeter published an essay on The Players’ Tribune, the site he founded after his retirement in 2014, titled “Thank You, New York.” The site also released a video of New Yorker’s reciting Jeter’s letter. 

“Thank you, New York, for asking a lot of me,” Jeter wrote. “For challenging me. For giving this kid a place to grow up. I wasn’t born a New Yorker — you asked me to earn it. I wasn’t born a Yankee, but you made me into one.”

Jeter spent his entire 20-year MLB career with the Yankees. He debuted as a 20-year-old in 1995 and made his final Yankee Stadium appearance on Sept. 25, 2014, recording a walk-off single in his last at-bat.