| BataviasBest.org
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
The day was Sunday, October 27, 1996.
There I sat on my old ’90s sofa with a bowl of Corn Flakes watching a VHS version of the final innings of the Yankees’ Game 6 victory over the Atlanta Braves in the World Series the night before. With the win, the Yanks clinched the series and provided me with my first taste of championship glory as a young sports fan.
I was only 5 years old.
Being so young, I didn’t really know who Derek Jeter truly was back then. I didn’t know how he liked to hit the ball the other way, or how he cherished the 90 feet from home to first, but I knew one thing – he was my favorite player.
On the major league club for only two years, #2 caught my eye right from the beginning and found his way into my heart almost as quickly. With his cool batting stance, his charisma, and just the fact that he was my favorite baseball team’s starting shortstop made me take a liking to Jeter unlike any other athlete I had watched during my young life.
To put it plainly, Jeter was my man.
Lucky enough to go to the Bronx and take in the experience that was the old Yankee Stadium several times throughout my early years, my level of love for Jeter was only escalated through these trips. I remember my first experience like it was yesterday.
Facing the Oakland A’s in a matinee matchup early in September of 1999, my brother, my father, my grandfather, my cousins, and myself, were in the upper deck down the first base line in ‘The House that Jeter Built’ watching the Yanks get smacked 7-1 in a blowout. However, I wasn’t there to see the Yankees win.
I was there to see Jeter.
The Captain went 1 for 4 with a double (his 30th of the season) on the day with no other statistics to speak of, but the extra base hit was good enough for me. As an eight year old kid, I got to see my favorite player of all time, in the flesh, and he came through for me with a double. I was pumped to say the least.
Since that day, I have returned to the Bronx several other times, and in these instances i experienced a few Yankee victories. Each time that I would go back, my reverence for the cathedral that was the old Yankee Stadium, as well as the Yankee shortstop, grew and grew.
Something about the smell of the stale Budweiser that would end up sticking to your shoe as you walked down the exit ramp at the end of the game, and the atmosphere on the street with the Subway running overhead as you walked to the stadium – the entire experience was unforgettable.
Even more unforgettable was the time my brother, father, and I attended another Yankees game several years later, and returned to our car post game only to find out that it had been broken into. Being 7 hours away from home on a cool fall evening, with no means of repairing the window that had been smashed by the a****** who robbed us, we were forced to endure the frost-bitten ride home down the thruway, finally reaching warm salvation when we arrived home hours later.
My most recent experience, however, was a much more positive one. Experiencing another weekday matinee, this time during Jeter’s final home stand, I was able to get plenty of photos throughout the game – including a video of The Captain’s final at bat at the stadium that day.
It is memories like these that make you realize the great times you had growing up watching your favorite athletes and your favorite teams whether it be at the stadium or home on TV. You remember the golden years, and the players you have come to love along the way, and you never forget them.
Now, far removed from my younger years, the Captain is calling it a career and this past week several members of the national media felt inclined to speak about Jeter’s career and whether or not he deserves the praise he has been receiving as it came to a close.
That is when I heard about some hack named Keith Olbermann going on an unwarranted, snotty tirade. Apparently, during his last week as an MLB player, Olbermann felt the need to rip apart everything Jeter has worked for during the past two decades.
My idol being ripped apart on ESPN.
As was the case with many Jeter fans around the world, Olbermann’s arrogant, ungrateful, derogatory words did not sit well with me. Here is a video of the ESPN host’s incredibly jealous rant:
What Keith doesn’t seem to understand is the affect Jeter has had on the thousands, if not millions, of people around the globe who have been emotionally touched by his career.
Although his statistics are much better and much more meaningful than Olbermann lets on (we will get to that in a second), Jeter’s impact on the game and those who watched him, extends far beyond the gates of Yankee Stadium, far beyond the franchise itself, and far beyond baseball.
Number 2, to this day, has given so many young kids out there motivation to get off the couch, go out, and make something of themselves. This fact is none clearer than when you listen to all of the current Major League players speak about Jeter and the incredible influence he had on their career and their love for the game dating back to when they were young.
Despite his emotional influence on the game, however, Jeter’s statistics are what put him over the top as a great player – contrary to what Keith Olbermann has to say. Widely known as a compiler who has accumulated stats only because of his extended time in the league, this assumption of Jeter could not be farther from the truth.
Universally considered the most encompassing statistic there is, Wins Above Replacement, or WAR, calculates the number of wins a player adds to his team’s season total, above what a replacement player (AAA) would add to the team.
Over the course of Jeter’s career, he has finished in the AL’s top 10 in WAR a total of 4 times, and in fact, in 1999 the Yankees shortstop finished second overall, while finishing first among position players (8.0 WAR). In terms of active players, Jeter ranks 4th in career WAR behind only Adrian Beltre, Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez.
Along with being considered a stat compiler, Jeter has also often been labeled a sub-par defensive player over the course of his career. Despite this misconception, however, he has disproven the negative evaluations of his defense and been awarded the Gold Glove Award in the American League 5 times. The Gold Glove is awarded by the managers throughout the league, and although it’s not the best way of determining a player’s worth defensively, it’s certainly not worthless.
In addition to his underrated defense, #2’s consistency on offense is also overlooked by the likes of Keith Olbermann.
Over the course of his career, Jeter has finished with over 200 hits in a season 8 times, leading the American League two of those years. The only other players with as many or more 200 hit seasons as Derek Jeter are Paul Waner (8), Lou Gherig (8), Ty Cobb (9), Ichiro (10), and Pete Rose (10). That is just five other players in Major League history who have climbed to the level of consistency that the Yankees shortstop has reached throughout his years in the lineup, all of which are or will eventually become Hall of Famers.
To end my argument, although Jeter was never an MVP, never hit over 30 home runs, or anything flashy like that, the aforementioned consistency was what defined him. Despite his failure to win the MVP, Jeter displayed this consistency by finishing in the top 10 of the voting 8 times out of his 20 seasons as a professional – the last time being in 2012, when he was 38 years of age and still playing shortstop.
So for anyone to place him in a negative light not only disturbs me, but it makes me sad. Players like Jeter should be celebrated over and over until they are no longer on this earth and then they should be celebrated some more. Derek Jeter’s of the world don’t come around every year. Heck every lifetime.
Being afforded the privilege of watching such a historic individual for the entirety of his career has been something to cherish over the years and now that Jeter’s gone, I find myself asking the same question again and again: Will it ever be the same without him?
After plenty of time to think of the answer I have realized that things won’t be the same without Jeter – but that’s ok. Although we will never see Jeter on the field as a player anymore, we will always have the memories.
And those never go away.
