Last weekend the New York Yankees rightfully retired Derek’s Jeter’s #2. This of course could have been done when they honored him with a plaque in Monument Basement (the new mall in the Bronx they call Yankee Stadium features a version of Monument Park which cannot be seen in many seats at the mall).
But the Yankees would never miss an opportunity to double-dip on late 90s nostalgia. They did the same thing with Mariano Rivera accept they retired his number first, then gave him a plaque later.
This is also the reason for some guys from those teams who were terrific players but not in that highest echelon getting their numbers retired (more on that in later articles). Let me get this out of the way…Jeter’s number, like Rivera’s should absolutely be retired!
He is a first ballot Hall-of-Famer., top 10 all-time Yankee (sorry, not top 5 as some would like to rank him) and arguably the best all around player ever to play shortstop at the major league level.
I am grateful for his contributions to 5 world championships. The Yanks may have won some without him, but no way they would have 27 titles as I type this without “El Capitan” at short.
In addition to his production on the field, Jeter handled New York as well as any athlete could off it! He stayed out of trouble and was never involved in a PED scandal.
He hustled. He played hurt without excuses and was ultra-competitive (dying breed today).
Nobody from his era would surprise me if you told me they took PEDs. But if you put a gun to my head, I would bet that Jeter did not.
The issue I have with Jeter is two fold. I take issue with the way the fans and media treated him as this saint who was above criticism because he always said and did the right things. I always found him to be very rehearsed and aloof in his dealings with the media (which is his right).
He was painted as a player who always put the team and winning above himself. That was true in the early part of his career when it was easy.
In those days, losing the World Series was considered a failure. But when the winning became harder I didn’t necessarily see this team-first guy.
When Alex Rodriguez came to the Yankees in 2004, he seemed not to be himself at times. He would walk on egg shells making sure to always stress that he was playing on Jeter’s team.
Jeter and Arod were friends until Arod did a 2001 interview with Esquire Magazine in which he basically said that Jeter was not the guy in the Yankee lineup that you don’t let beat you; that was Paul O’Neill and Bernie Williams.
He was right. Those guys hit third and fourth in the order. You don’t pitch around the two hitter to get to them.
But who am I to say what should or should not offend Derek Jeter? The problem I had is that the fans often couldn’t wait to boo the s**t out of Arod based on some kind of Jeter loyalty.
Arod brought most of that on himself, but as seen in 2009 (the Yanks last championship when Arod had an enormous postseason) the team needed the best Arod to win when he got there.
Jeter could have easily asked the fans to back off through the media. He could still go on with his grudge privately if he wanted to.
If winning and the team were most important to him, why not do what you can to take some heat off your best player? I also recall how insulted Jeter was when the Yankees played a little hardball with him in his second contract negotiation.
He was given a 10-year $189 million deal in 2001. He was worth it! However, in 2010 he showed a drop-ff.
It was understandable at age 36. But he didn’t want to move from shortstop.
Jeter’s agent, Casey Close stated publicly that he was “baffled” by the initial Yankee offer. General Manager Brian Cashman responded by publicly challenging him to test the market.
A four-year $51 million deal was reached. Not bad for an aging shortstop. Jeter then let it be known at the press conference that he was not happy with the way things went down.
But it was Jeter’s people that went public first, not the Yankees. Team first? You decide.
Jeter had a rough start in 2011, but was better in the second half before an outstanding 2012. Unfortunately, his season (and career in reality) ended in the first game of the American League Championship Series when he was carried off the field with a broken ankle.
He missed most of 2013, and was back in 2014. He announced that 2014 would be the last of his HOF career and he was terrible. Between his age and the injury he was coming off this was completely understandable.
However, manager Joe Girardi continued to bat Jeter second in the order and play him regularly at short. It became apparent early on that he was not their best option for either.
I saw other greats accept diminished roles in the twilight of their careers. Girardi should have had the balls to move Jeter down in the lineup and limit his games at shortstop.
Jeter was at times asked about this and would say that he doesn’t make the lineup and still believed he would turn it around. But you didn’t hear him say he would play wherever was best for the team.
There were whispers that behind the scenes Jeter did not want to be moved down. If he were such a team/winning first guy, why would he not tell Girardi to play him where needed?
The Yankees were on the periphery of contention in 2014 but they sacrificed wins for Jeter’s ego. All the while, we were bombarded on Yankee telecasts with the “Jeter Farewell Tour”.
We had to watch all these dog and pony shows of Jeter receiving gifts from other teams. They hoped it would divert our attention from the team’s mediocrity.
All the while, we heard how Jeter hates this attention. But then, he held an interview with Brandon Steiner in September of 2014 which was open to the public for a nominal fee.
According to Forbes Magazine, you were able to purchase two tickets, lunch, a photo and an autographed baseball for only $3,000. For $2,000 you got all that without the autograph. For $149 you could buy one ticket, no lunch, no photo, no autograph.
In addition, the captain started hawking his game-used (I guess) memorabilia (that included his socks) through Steiner Collectables. How much would all this cost if he actually liked the attention?
Finally, there was this scripted Gatorade commercial showing Jeter being driven to the ballpark. He asks the driver to let him out on River Ave. so he can walk amongst the common folk to the stadium.
He shakes hands, stops in a local pub to say hello, etc. It looks nice and genuine. It’s a feel-good commercial. Looks like a give-back gesture.
But as Phil Mushnick (http://www.nypost.com) pointed out, why the cameras and the Gatorade cash? Was that genuine, or was Derek Jeter a phony? Talk soon.
-Marksman
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