Derek Jeter and All That

The first time I heard of Derek Jeter, he was not a star shortstop, but instead a politician.

In 1996, my fifth grade teacher, Ms. S, tried to teach a group of fidgety ten year olds about the presidential election between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole.

To do that, she had the class divide in two, and each group had to dress up a life-size paper doll, come up with a name and come up with a platform for the candidate. Someone in my group decided that ours should be Derek Jeter. I didn't know who Derek Jeter was, and I didn't ask.

When I did start to follow the Yankees closely, I made a conscious decision that Derek Jeter could not be my favorite Yankee. Everyone loved Derek Jeter, and I needed to be different. I chose Mariano Rivera instead.

I don't regret my choice, but I've also come to realize that there's a reason everyone loves Jeter, and it's not entirely about his looks.

It's hard to explain Jeter to the uninitiated--he's not the most prolific home run hitter nor is he the greatest fielder--but there's only one Derek Jeter.

It's not just that Derek Jeter has a knack for doing the right thing at the right time, like that October night in Oakland in 2001, or that he won four World Series rings in his first five years (discounting 1995), or that he's now tied with Lou Gehrig as the Yankees all-time hits leader, but that he's done it all in a simple way: team first. Always, always, team first.

During Spring Training, Jeter was asked if he'd consider batting leadoff instead of batting second, to reduce the chances of him hitting into a double play. Jeter has the pull and the clout that he could have said no, and it would have gone unchallenged, but that's not who Jeter is. Jeter agreed, and now not only is 2009 a great year for him, but it's also been a great year for the guy with whom he switched places--Johnny Damon.

If ever the Yankee ghosts and the baseball gods have blessed someone, they've blessed Derek Jeter, and they've blessed all of us who have had the ability to watch him for these fourteen years.

It strikes me that Jeter should be tying a mark set by Lou Gehrig, because in many ways the two are similar: they play(ed) with grace and with class, role models in every sense of the word.

Gehrig and Jeter will likely have the two most well-known speeches in Yankees' history--Gehrig's already is, and Jeter's, given at the end of last season, will be made more with the passage of time. There aren't any other two Yankees you would want to give such speeches.

***

My nephew's much too young to understand all this--he's only four months--but when he's old enough, I'll take him to a Yankee game, and if his father hasn't already, I'll tell him to be like Jeter. To put one's team first. To play hard, even if you don't play well. To behave with dignity and class.


That's just the Jeter way.

So What *Is* Jeter Stealing from the Stadium?

Rumors have abounded as to what Derek Jeter wants to steal from the Stadium. The most prevalent one concerns the Joe DiMaggio quote sign, but word has reached me of another, more interesting memento...

I quote, from a friend who works in the press box:

In the original clubhouse underneath the bleachers there's a chair, where in 1939, after Lou Gehrig retired but stayed with the team as captain, he'd go and sit after every game and weep. Before games, Jeter goes and sits in the chair and meditates.
To give himself "strength"

Apparently, the team found out and sent the chair to Cooperstown before Jeter gets his hands on it.

Now, unlike a good journalist, I'm going to admit that as far as I know, it's just a rumor, but given Jeter's recent feat, which, coincidentally (or not so coincidentally) involves Gehrig, I have to wonder if Gehrig doesn't live on in the Captain...

You know it's bad when...

...When you turn on the Yankee game and see empty seats behind home plate during the last homestand at Yankee Stadium, ever.

Whether this is a reflection of the Yankees' poor performance or the current financial crisis, I have no idea. It's probably a little bit of both, but it's still telling.

***

Congratulations are due to Derek Jeter for breaking Lou Gehrig's record for hits at Yankee Stadium. He needed just one more at bat to do it.


***

Congratulations are also due to the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees and the Trenton Thunder for winning the International League (AAA) and Eastern League (AA) playoffs, respectively.

There is a lot of young talent at both levels, and if you're reading this, chances are you're already familiar with some of the names--Melancon, Jackson, Curtis, et al.

This year might be bleak, but the future is not--as far as baseball is concerned, anyway.

The Price Is Right (Postgame Notes 14 September 08)

The Yankees won the game, but today belonged to Derek Jeter.

Jeter needed just three hits today to tie Lou Gehrig's record for career hits at Yankee Stadium, and...wow, the Jets need a kicker...I mean, Jeter did just that, going 3-4.

His Gehrig-tying hit came on a solo home run, perhaps not in true Jeterian up-the-middle fashion, but it did make you remember, if just for a moment, that watching Derek Jeter is watching greatness.

The other story of the game, and no, I don't mean Carl Pavano getting hurt (again), was the major league debut of David Price.

He came in early for an ineffective Edwin Jackson and motored through the Yankee lineup as though it was an AAA line up.

Okay, so given the offensive struggles, that might not be saying much, but even so...



Right. Going to moan about the lack of defense from the Jets. Pulling my hair out now...

Giants fans, enjoy your win.

Yankees' Classic Moments, Week Six

In honor of Thanksgiving, and the spirit of being thankful, I present, in entirety, Lou Gehrig's famed speech:

"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

"Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.

"When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift - that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies - that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body - it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed - that's the finest I know.

"So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for."

Taken from here



I don't need to say any more--any Yankee fan, hell, any baseball fan, will be familiar with the circumstances.

We all have something for which we are thankful.