Before the New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter became “The Captain,” and before all those championships, the Hall of Fame place, and more, there was a scout who saw all these coming. His name was none other than Dick Groch. On Wednesday, the baseball world is mourning because he just passed away at the age of 84.

Sure, Groch’s name was not on the jersey or the scoreboard of the New York Yankee stadium, but his fingerprints are etched in the Bronx history. He famously, in 1992, while Jeter was only a teenager at Kalamazoo Central High School, had made a premonition. He said, “This kid is going to Cooperstown.”

It was a bold claim—but then it came true, as nearly three decades later, the kid he trusted in landed up in the Hall of Fame in 2021. And that really is what separates the greats

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