Jeter truly one special ballplayer
Even for a Chicago baseball fan who dislikes everything about New York sports, it has become increasingly difficult over the years to deny Derek Jeter's greatness.
Now it's impossible.
If you have read this column long enough you know how much I respect athletes who live up to the moment.
Derek Jeter has done it his entire career and might have outdone himself Saturday.
How many baseball players hit a home run for their 3,000th career hit? How many get it off an all-star pitcher like David Price? How many crack 5 hits in 5 at-bats in that historic game? How many drive in the winner in a 1-run victory?
Jeter accomplished all that on his special afternoon.
“He looks forward to days like today,” longtime Yankees teammate Jorge Posada said. “I think he enjoys that moment. He looks forward to it, and today is an example of that.”
I used to be among those who thought that Jeter was overrated. You know, that he would be considered just another really good shortstop if he didn't play for the Yankees, in New York and in all those World Series.
Maybe I was just looking for a reason to slight Jeter because he was one of those damn Yankees who helped them be so much more successful than the White Sox.
Anyway, what a silly observation to harbor about Jeter. It doesn't take into account how difficult it can be to be the face of the Yankees and in many ways of New York sports.
Playing for that team in that town provides an athlete with myriad moments to fail. In a sport where making an out 70 percent of the time is considered OK, Jeter has succeeded in the spotlight more than anybody could expect.
Think about this for, well, a moment: Right behind Jeter in order on the Yankees' all-time hit list are Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle. As late Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen was famous for saying, “How about that?”
More impressive than anything is that Jeter has done what he has done with nary the scent of scandal on his report card.
My goodness, how do you stay clean in this era of ESPN, all-sports talk radio, the Internet, cellphone cameras, social media and proliferating tabloid journalism?
Nobody knows for sure whether any baseball player in the past couple of decades did or didn't use performance enhancers, but nobody I know of alleged that Jeter has.
When other shortstops were putting up slugging numbers to rival corner outfielders, Jeter kept playing the game the fundamentally sound way it traditionally was played.
Meanwhile, off the field Jeter dated incredibly beautiful women in the media capital of the world and never did anything to embarrass himself, his family or his team.
There were no domestic-violence incidents, no drunken driving, no gun possession, no unpaid gambling debts, no such foolishness.
Jeter's character was above reproach right to the point that Yankees management was perceived as the villain when his contract negotiations became messy last winter.
So, good for Jeter that his Yankees No. 2 some day will be retired along with the likes of Ruth's No 3, Gehrig's No. 4 and Mantle's No. 7.
Current Yankees closer/certain Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera said Saturday of Jeter's career, “For me, it's an honor to be a part of that.”
Yes, even I have to acknowledge that all those Derek Jeter moments have added up to a special baseball player.
mimrem@dailyherald.com