Former MLBer DEREK JETER after 20 years with the Yankees "has shifted into his second career, in business, with two ventures." One is The Players' Tribune, a "slickly produced site" that has "achieved a fairly high profile, partly because of its identification with Jeter." The other is Jeter Publishing, "an adult and children’s book imprint at Simon & Schuster" that is "about to release the second book in a series about Jeter’s childhood." Jeter "has been planning the next phase of his career" since at least '12, "when he fractured his left ankle" during the ALCS. Jeter has "been an irregular presence in The Players’ Tribune’s office but communicates by telephone and texts and by video conferencing, offering ideas and suggestions about which athletes to pursue for articles." Jeter is "less of a personal presence with his publishing partners at Simon & Schuster, whose offices he has not yet visited." His sister, SHARLEE, is "deeply involved in the side of the imprint that handles children’s books" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/6).
NO DICE: An MLB investigation "did not find evidence" that Marlins P JARRED COSART "bet on baseball, but fined him for betting on other sports with bookmakers." The league "launched an investigation into gambling allegations involving Cosart after tweets surfaced indicating that he might have placed sports-related bets." Cosart "could have faced a lifetime ban" from MLB if the league's investigation found he had "bet on baseball" (MIAMI HERALD, 4/4).
REMEMBERING HOT ROD: Between "75-100 people" attended a funeral Saturday for late Jazz broadcaster HOT ROD HUNDLEY at the Moon Valley Country Club north of Phoenix. Among the speakers at the service were Basketball HOFer JERRY WEST, NBA President of Basketball Operations ROD THORN, Jazz President RANDY RIGBY, Jazz TV broadcasters RON BOONE and CRAIG BOLERJACK and Suns radio broadcaster AL MCCOY. Former Jazz coach JERRY SLOAN "was on hand," as was current Suns coach JEFF HORNACEK (DESERET NEWS, 4/6).
NAMES: Discovery Communications in a regulatory filing Friday said that President & CEO DAVID ZASLAV's compensation last year "topped" $156M. His "total compensation" in '13 was $33.3M, and he earned $49.9M in '12 (L.A. TIMES, 4/4)....A Hockey HOF spokesperson confirmed that former Toronto Mayor ROB FORD, who in '13 admitted to having used crack cocaine, was elected to the HOF's BOD late last month. He will "hold a non-voting position on the board alongside two other city councillors," meaning he will "have no say in who is inducted" (THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 4/5)....A film project using Davidson College as its backdrop "has been approved" for $1M in state incentives. “LATE IN THE SEASON,” an inspirational sports comedy-drama by writer and director GARY HERSHBERGER, is "about a young stockbroker with a mysterious past who shows up at a small North Carolina college and, as a walk-on, inspires the basketball team on its championship run" (CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.com, 4/3)....Pro Football HOFer DAN MARINO will help kick off the Hall’s “Gold Jacket Great Days” series April 24-25 in Canton (PALMBEACHPOST.com, 4/3)....Actor TOM CRUISE attended last night’s UConn-Maryland Women’s Final Four in Tampa. He sat in a suite above Maryland’s bench and “received a loud ovation from the crowd” when shown on the Amalie Arena videoboard (AP, 4/6).
IN MEMORY: Bay Area broadcaster LON SIMMONS, whose voice “provided vivid accompaniment to the treasured early years” of the MLB Giants, died yesterday at 91. Simmons “served three stints with the Giants” from ’58-73, ’76-78 and ’96-02, and is their “lone broadcaster to call Opening Day games” at all three S.F. homes -- Seals Stadium, Candlestick Park and AT&T Park. Along with play-by-play for the Giants, Simmons “was at the microphone” for the 49ers (’57-80, ’87-88) and the A’s from ’81-95 (MLB.com, 4/6). Simmons was “one of the original voices of the Giants when they moved West” in ’58 and was “honored with the Ford C. Frick Award” by the Baseball HOF in ’04 (AP, 4/6).
