Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Jeter. After this season Derek Jeter will be immortalized in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park, joining those former New York greats.
Derek Jeter announced on his Facebook page today that he is retiring after the 2014 season, and he did it in inimitable Yankees style: “I’ve experienced so many defining moments in my career: winning the World Series as a rookie shortstop, being named the Yankees captain, closing the old and opening the new Yankee Stadium. Through it all, I’ve never stopped chasing the next one. I want to finally stop the chase and take in the world.”
Wags might point out that Jeter has already taken in plenty, what with his $253 million in career salary and a roster of celebrity girlfriends long enough to fill out a batting lineup. There’s no question, though, that Jeter has little left to chase on the baseball diamond and whatever career milestones he hasn’t yet achieved, like becoming the all-time hits king, are probably not within his reach.
He is quite simply one of the greatest shortstops ever to play the game. It is rare these days that athletes in any sport play their entire career for one team. Jeter has been the Yankees starting shortstop —and the face of the franchise — since his rookie year in 1996. As he prepares for his final season, he has won five World Series titles, produced a career batting average of .312 and ranks tenth all-time with 3,316 hits.
Best of all for fans of the game, in the age of steroids, Jeter never got caught up in the scandals. He managed to avoided negative press throughout his entire career. Sure, he made the pages of the tabloids, but it was usually for his play on the field or his bachelor lifestyle off it, not for performance-enhancing drugs. As celebrity athletes go, Jeter has one of the most recognizable faces in the world. But, unlike with other athletes, the fame never destroyed him.
The moments where his star shined brightest will never be forgotten by any fan who watched him play. He’ll always be Mr. November. He’ll always be the gutsy player emerging from the stands with his face bloodied after making a great catch against the rival Red Sox. He’ll always be the shortstop who – somehow, someway – ranged toward first base to make “the flip play” in game 3 of the 2001 ALDS.
Six years from now, he will be in Cooperstown. But this season he will be in Bronx and we will watch every at bat.
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